Stepping Outside the Box: Harnessing Workplace Neurodiversity to Boost Performance

Amparo Johnston

Hiring the best people for the job is a core tenet of any efficient business practice, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any company that willingly sacrifices productivity and profits for any reason you care to mention. Many people put this fact forward as the reason for the drastic unemployment rates among neurodivergent members of the population, but we need to ask ourselves, is their assertion backed by the facts? Does pushing for neurodiversity in the workplace constitute a disadvantage to employers?

To help you determine the true facts behind this notion, this post will attempt a brief exploration of the nature of neurodivergent conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in today’s workplace, examining what it means and its relevance—good or bad—in the modern workplace. Let’s dive right in.

What Is Neurodiversity?

Neurodiversity is a term denoting the numerous differing ways that one person’s brain works compared to another. How you take in, process, and use information will often differ from those around you, and this is a blanket term referring to this cognitive variation among people. Now, a neurodivergent person will be an individual whose cognitive function differs in some way from what we consider a ‘normal’ or neurotypical person, although we should be careful not to attach a negative connotation to them. As we’ll see, it often translates to superior performance in certain circumstances.

According to the neuro-scientific world, there is a virtually limitless roster of neurodivergent classifications and assignations out there, most existing on a wide-ranging spectrum. Some of the most commonly encountered designations include:

  • ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
  • Sensory integration disorder
  • Tourette’s syndrome
  • OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)
  • Epilepsy
  • Dyscalculia
  • Dyspraxia
  • Dyslexia
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Autism

There are many more classifications out there, but you undoubtedly have heard of some of the more well-known conditions on this list, such as autism and ADHD. As society grows more aware and accepting of the differences among us, we will surely come to discover that neurodivergence is much more prevalent among us than we hitherto supposed.

The Advantages of Neurodiversity in the Workplace

While society as a whole has made great leaps toward recognizing, accepting, and providing support to neurodivergent individuals, employers seem to be lagging behind. The most obvious reason for this is a lack of awareness—employers simply do not know how much they stand to benefit from hiring neurodivergent employees.

There are various ways how including neurodiversity in the workplace can boost your bottom line, including:

  1. Higher Information Processing Capabilities. Neurodivergent conditions such as autism come with a greatly increased capacity to absorb and process large volumes of complex data. They are particularly adept at pinpointing or detecting critical data points out of large sets, where neurotypical employees would tune out or feel overwhelmed. This quality is particularly on display in STEM (Science, Technology, and Mathematics) fields.
  2. Enhanced Workplace Creativity. In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, where traditional solutions are struggling to keep up with newly emerging challenges, organizations need to come up with new ways of addressing problems. Certain neurodivergent conditions, such as ADHD, come with a complement of qualities that can be effectively applied in the workplace to achieve success.
    Creative thinking, risk-taking, multi-tasking, and high-energy personality traits can be highly effective when such individuals are placed in the right positions and assigned the right tasks.
  3. Enhanced Productivity. Certain aspects of business call for a high degree of attentiveness and focus, which are qualities that neurotypical workers often find challenging. An autistic employee tasked with poring over large volumes of routine information, such as data analysts, factory operators, scientific researchers, and so on, will often perform at higher levels and with greater degrees of accuracy.
  4. Out-of-the-Box Thinking. Even though this phrase has become a tiresome cliche at this point, it has never been more relevant and necessary for success than it is today. The best neurotypical employee will still be held back by traditional, neurotypical ways of thinking and evaluating problems, which places them at a disadvantage. Neurodiverse thinkers have a higher likelihood of discovering innovative ways of tackling emerging challenges.
  5. Attraction and Retention of Talent. Today’s employee talent pool is considerably more conscious and concerned with the workplace culture of the companies they work for, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs rank high on their list of priorities.
    Companies that can show a commitment to offering opportunities to all manner of employees will experience higher rates of engagement, employee retention, and talent attraction. Younger workers consider it much more important to work for companies with a ‘good’ reputation than employees might have done in the past.

Note: It’s important to keep in mind that not all examples of neurodivergence fit into the ‘savant’ category, where they display heightened or genius-level capabilities. The fact is that neurodivergent people show just as much, if not more, variation from one person to another. The idea here is to open up the hiring process to this demographic because, just like typical employees, you never know who is going to offer unexpected value.

The Challenges of Neurodiversity

Companies with the best intentions and a forward-looking approach to neurodiversity in the workplace will often face a host of challenges in their efforts. The best way to eliminate these obstacles is to understand and face them head-on. These include:

  • Scarce Developmental and Learning Resources: Neurodivergent employees, just like their neurotypical counterparts, desire to increase their skills and knowledge as they advance their careers. The tools, trainers, and resources needed to support neurodivergent employees are, however, much less accessible. The outcome is reduced enthusiasm, engagement, and development among this demographic.
  • Limited Adjustments and Accommodations: These refer to certain measures and changes employers need to put in place to make it possible and convenient for employees of all stripes to accomplish their tasks. Unfortunately, many employers look upon these measures as forms of unnecessary and expensive ‘special treatment’ of a kind.
  • Unwelcoming Corporate Cultures: Nobody likes to feel unwelcome in their place of work, and neurodivergent persons can be particularly sensitive to negative treatment. A workplace culture that allows discrimination, unconscious biases, microaggressions, and unfairness to thrive will make neurodivergent employees less likely to seek placement in your company, and less likely to stay when hired.

How to Support Neurodivergent Employees

There are numerous measures put in place through government policy protecting the welfare of employees with disabilities, but few employers know how to handle neurodivergent staff members. Here are a few practical measures you can take to support and encourage neurodiversity at work:

  • Facilitate Communication: Make it easy for neurodivergent employees to make their suggestions, complaints, and observations known freely and openly. This will make it easier for everyone in the workplace to work and collaborate effectively.
  • Foster Flexibility: Carry out sensitivity training workshops that train all employees to accommodate and work in tandem with fellow employees of all types. Understanding the needs of your fellow workers and learning how best to accommodate them will make things easier for everyone.
  • Establish Employee Resource Groups: During the onboarding process and throughout their working life, employees should be made aware of the tools, information, and general resources available to them. Part of these resources will be guidelines outlining how to adjust to and accommodate their neurodivergent colleagues.

Final Thought

At a time when companies are struggling to cope with economic downturns, global competition, the rise of artificial intelligence, and various other shocks, neurodivergence at the workplace might not seem like a critical priority. The reality is, however, that this might hold the key to unlocking new ideas and approaches for facing the challenges facing us.