These days, more employers are using pre-employment personality tests to screen potential hires, and that can be an added hardship for autistic candidates. If your company is using them, ask yourself why. Does the position really require it, or are you just hesitant about working with different brain types?
No matter your neurotype, meetings can be a hassle, but your autistic employees may find them downright distressing due to the way they’re currently structured. The good news is, you can make your meetings more accessible – here is a list of 10 tips.
Whether your employee is sincere or being a jerk, elevating your approach to managing them will help the ones who need it while weeding out the ones who don’t. Your blood pressure goes down, your profits go up, and you become the next best company to provide a safe and accessible workplace for everyone.
When you eliminate unnecessary social expectations and respect individual boundaries, you create a safer, more comfortable working environment for not only your autistic employees but for everyone–employees and customers alike! Trigger warning: Food, eating, and eating disorders.
Nobody, regardless of neurotype, is a mind reader, and no matter how clear you think you’ve been with your non-verbal communication, your employee may have no idea anything is amiss until they’re being escorted out of the building, box in hand, tears in their eyes. And that’s a terrible feeling.
April is Autism Acceptance Month, and while acceptance is a step in the right direction, that’s all it is; a step. We have to keep going if we’re going to move toward true autistic inclusion in the workforce and in society as a whole.
The next time you think about firing your autistic employee because they didn’t greet you on their way to clock in, asked too many questions, didn’t do the thing you subtly suggested they do, or declined an invitation to hang out, remember, you may be dooming someone to homeless, for something that could easily be fixed with a better understanding of the autistic brain and more accessible communication.
When it comes to hiring, training, and retaining autistic talent, throw everything you think you know out the window, and allow them to take the lead and guide you through how their brain works. When you do, you’ll not only provide them with the accessibility they need, you’ll also allow them to grow and thrive, and that can help take your entire team to the next level!
Ask questions, get clarification, and always assume positive intent. The neurodivergent mind can be an incredible asset to your company, and the more you learn about it, the less often you’ll be offended and the more you’ll be able to broaden your horizons and take your business to the next level.
