Diversity adds strength to a business.  Different people see the world in different ways and without diversity in a business there is a danger of narrow thinking rather than creative thinking.

I say this from experience: our business, Cotswold Fayre, was recently ‘Highly Commended’ in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work for our engagement rate with the disabled people we employ.  Most of those declaring a disability in the survey said they were neuro-diverse rather than having a physical disability.

Employing the under-served was always the intention in our company, but the initial mindset was that it was a good thing to do rather than seeing the direct benefit to the bottom line.  However, our experience over the past few years has changed my thinking.  I now see that having neurodiversity in the business as a huge benefit rather than being a cost to carry.

My experience

In 2019 I visited a café in Jersey where all the front of house team had Down’s Syndrome, and it was an amazing experience to be served by these beautiful, authentic and loving people.  The whole experience moved me and my friend to tears.

So, when we were planning our retail business, Flourish, I was very keen to offer employment to neurodiverse people.  Not only am I a strong believer in what all people have to offer a business, but I also have a neurodiverse son myself, who works for a supermarket chain that simply doesn’t appreciate what he has to offer their business.

We planned from the start of the business in 2021 to work with a local agency to employ three neuro-diverse young adults to work within the business.  The aim was to build up their confidence and give them experience in a workplace.  Three years later, two of the original three are still with us—the third went on to gain employment with a national restaurant chain—and we now have two more neuro-diverse adults contributing to our business.

Enriching a business

Employing people with neurodiversity has enriched our business in many ways.

Firstly, those with neurodiversity, given the right role, can perform that role better than many without neurodiversity.  Some tasks are better suited to the neurodiverse.  I speak from personal experience here.  My son is autistic, and he works on the tills in a national supermarket chain and on the Customer Service desk.  He is the most outgoing person on the tills, talks to customers and generally adds huge positivity to the rather stale atmosphere.  Yes, possibly sometimes he overshares, but their customers love him!

Secondly, having neurodiverse people in our business helps develop the rest of our team, many of whom won’t have worked with, for example, those with Downs Syndrome or autism before.  They will learn how best to interact with people different to themselves and how best to communicate in a way that others understand.  And rather than possibly being slightly afraid of diverse people, they will learn to love them instead.

Thirdly, once settled into a workplace those with neurodiversity, if they are treated with respect and care, gain a huge amount of dignity and are far more likely to stay.  There will be high degrees of loyalty – and what business doesn’t need that?

Fourth, although clearly not the reason for acting in this way, the local community and our customers love that we are employing neuro-diverse people.  One of our neurodiverse young adults invited many other colleagues to her birthday party, at which her dad made a speech exuding the gratitude towards us as her employers.  There was not a dry eye in the house and many people there were customers of the business.

And that brings me to my final point that having people who are different within our business add to the joy, love and gratitude within it.  Rather than being a burden to carry, they enrich the business community and add to revenue and profitability.

Buckland Report

With all this in mind, it is therefore astonishing that the unemployment rates for neurodiverse people are so high.  The government commissioned Sir Robert Buckland to review employment and autism, and this report said:

“Despite their wish to work, the latest official statistics show that only 3 in 10 working age autistic disabled people are in employment, compared with around 5 in 10 for all disabled people and 8 in 10 for non-disabled people.”

When we factor in that approximately one in 70 people in the UK is autistic, that’s around one million people who are impacted by these statistics.  There is bias against them in interviews, working conditions and pay disparity and we must do something about this.

There were 19 recommendations in the Buckland report, and I would encourage you to read it, but we can respond positively without knowing the details.  I would suggest you talk to other businesses who are tapping into the huge potential in this area, go and see what they are doing and talk to the other employees about the benefits they bring.  As I hope is clear from our experience, this isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s good for business. Your company will be positively impacted by creating space for those with neurodiversity.

Best practices

Here are five best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people who are neurodivergent:

1. Talk to other businesses who are doing better than you are in this area and don’t feel guilty about copying any of their best practices. Most of my good ideas are unashamedly stolen from others with pride, just as much of what we do we freely give to others.

2. Ensure that you undertake an anonymous employee survey at least once a year that measures how you are thought of as a business by the diverse people within your organisation. Ideally choose one where your results are analysed against the average business results, so you know how you are performing against other businesses in your sector.

3. Think about the roles within your business and which ones may particularly suit the different superpowers of the neurodiverse. For example, those with Down’s Syndrome are brilliant in a hospitality environment due to their cheerful and pleasant demeanour, people with dyslexia are known to be very creative and come up excellent ideas.

4. Ask people who understand this area to have a look through your job advertisements and descriptions and ask them to suggest where you might change them so as not to alienate those with neurodiversity. Certainly, say on the adverts that your company welcomes applications from those with neurodiversity.

5. In your team meetings, if they are up for it, ask someone who is neurodiverse to give a presentation on their diversity. When others understand their struggles and their ability to see the world differently, not only is it a very powerful and often moving occasion, but it will help others to work more effectively with those who are different to them.

I encourage every business to investigate the huge untapped potential of the neurodiverse community in the UK.  They could transform your business – for better, and in so many ways.