Shelley Ferris-Smith, Regional Lead DEIB EMEA – Zurich
Many businesses, across the UK and beyond, are facing a significant skills shortage, especially when it comes to filling technical roles. Many members of the autistic community could provide a solution to these shortages, but it’s going to take bold steps and a change in the way we recruit to tap into the talent that is available.
Currently, only around 1 in 5 autistic adults is employed in the UK. This is striking as, despite these low figures, autistic people often possess the right skills, such as pattern recognition, logical thinking, central coherence (attention to detail) and accuracy, which make autistic candidates strong contenders for many specialist roles requiring these capabilities.
There are a plethora of reasons as to why many businesses are failing to attract talent from this incredibly viable pool. To explain, it helps to reference that Saturday 3rd December marks the United Nations’ International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which, this year, is focused on looking at the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world.
Innovation is key, as are changes in the way we traditionally recruit. Most Talent teams use competency based interviews, which relies heavily on past experiences, however, in order for businesses to fill the increasing skills gap many organisations are experiencing, it is essential that HR professionals look at alternative ways to assess all potential talent.
In the case of autistic talent, a competency based process can mean missing talent that can provide innovative and often fast paced, accurate solutions. Some may focus on the literal and, therefore, potentially deselect themselves if they do not hit 100% of the job role criteria. For those that do apply and reach the interview process, the unknowns of a blind interview, even travelling to the interview itself, followed by the pressure of many social expectations around small talk, making eye contact etc. can be exceptionally disadvantageous.
Yet work by organisations such as auticon, which employs IT consultants, shows that alternative methods of recruitment can be overwhelmingly successful when a more traditional framework is replaced by a different approach, that provides an equitable opportunity for this rich talent pool. At Zurich we have benefitted immensely from making those changes, almost taking a leap of faith, in order to generate greater access to those with the skills that we are looking for.
In countries like Germany, making reasonable adjustments, such as providing information around the type and style of questions we’re likely to ask, means we’ve been able to move from a traditional competency approach to more informal chats. Commissioning team training with colleagues who will be working with autistic consultants, means we have reaped significant benefits from working with neurodivergent talent. As a result of working with those who bring a unique perspective, alongside an exceptional ability to focus on tasks with an acute attention to detail, we have seen projects completed in significantly reduced time-frames and delivered to an incredible standard.
Moreover, by undertaking team training and embedding our autistic consultants alongside our wider workforce, more employees are gaining an understanding of what it means to build a more neurodiverse workforce and steps they can take to make the workplace more accessible.
Using an intersectional lens, we can further develop good practices which are beneficial for everyone. The more considerate we are as employers and employees, we embody a culture and ethos where everyone can appreciate diversity through different lenses, one where everyone is comfortable in being their authentic selves and bringing their skills to the table.
By using these changes as a blueprint, we do not just open the doors for autistic talent, but from many other groups who have otherwise often been overlooked as potential talent by businesses all over the world.
The business world is going through a highly volatile period, across Europe. It is, therefore, more important than ever that we take the right steps to ensure that we are accessing the very best talent and skills available, to help problem solve and innovate our way to the next stage of our businesses, whatever the industry may be.
The good news is that the changes needed don’t take a lot of work. They just take a bit of bravery and a willingness to embrace change. The results will speak for themselves.
