Neurodiversity And Work

Neurodiversity in the Workplace presents a timely and needed perspective on the role and responsibility of employers and those working to increase the effectiveness of workplace practices to examine the many ways we preclude large segments of the population from employment; minimizing opportunities for building a truly inclusive work environment. This collection provides an opportunity to look at how discrimination can occur across the employment process and what can be done to minimize the exclusionary practices that prevent neurodiverse individuals from getting into the workplace, advancing, thriving, and contributing as each of us desires to do. With expertise from leading professionals, this book provides a holistic look at the application of leadership theories in a neurodiverse context and how the workplace can be adapted to accommodate for neurodiverse employees. This book also explores effective recruitment strategies by looking into applicant screening as well as interviewing and selection, adapting internal organizational resources to a neurodiverse workforce, and legal and regulatory environment considerations for autism hiring programs. Each chapter provides an overview of existing knowledge on effective workplace inclusion practices across the employment process, specific implications of research to date for a more neurodiversity-inclusive workplace, and what future research is needed to further inform these practices. This volume is intended to increase awareness about the challenges and opportunities in making the workplace more neurodiversity-inclusive, making it instrumental for I/O and other psychologists. This book is also crucial for management and business consultants; employers; diversity, equity, and inclusion specialists; human resource professionals; and others interested in neurodiversity inclusion more broadly.

Estimates suggest that up to 20% of employees, customers and clients might have a neurodivergent condition - such as dyslexia, autism, Asperger's, ADHD or dyspraxia - yet these individuals often struggle to gain and maintain employment, despite being very capable. This practical, authoritative business guide will help managers and employers support neurodiverse staff, and gives advice on how to ensure workplaces are neuro-friendly. The book demonstrates that neurodiversity is a natural aspect of human variation to be expected and accepted, rather than a deficit to be accommodated. Employer responsibilities are highlighted, including the 2010 Equality Act, and a range of strategies and policies are provided, including recruitment advice and the benefits of neurodiverse employees, along with advice on physical environments, interaction and communication, and working with clients and customers. This book is an ideal resource for all employers wanting to support and empower people with specific needs to help create a more inclusive workplace, benefiting both neurodiverse individuals and the companies employing them.

This interdisciplinary work explores creating more inclusive workplaces around neurodiversity. It focuses on how organizations can promote true inclusion for neurominorities, a large segment of the emerging workforce while underlining the difficulties as well as the strength-based characteristics faced by this population. Beyond social, learning or communication challenges, neurominorities are often highly intelligent, honest, authentic, hyper-focused, innovative, skilled in various forms of perception, reliable, and resilient. Discovering ways for true inclusion can add value to organizations, helping all employees to learn and develop as colleagues while also helping neurominorities fulfill the goals of achieving dignity, respect, independence, and flourishing through work. This volume connects neurodiversity to disability in the workplace and examines the factors that contribute to the successful employment and integration of neurodiverse workers, including the transition from school to the labor market. It also highlights barriers and challenges faced by neurominorities. This book will appeal to scholars across business and the social sciences looking to better understand how neurodiversity should be addressed in organizational contexts. The multidisciplinary approach will accelerate management research and practices by providing insights already captured across a wide variety of disciplines, rather than prompting management researchers to build upon what currently exists solely in the management literature

WINNER: Business Book Awards 2022 - Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Category SHORTLISTED: getAbstract International Book Award 2022- Learning Impact Category An organization's employees are its biggest competitive advantage. Performance gains can be achieved through cost saving, process improvement or technology adoption, but the biggest difference is made by people. This means that recruiting, engaging and retaining the very best talent has never been more important. Crucially, these employees should be a diverse group of people with different approaches, skills and strengths in problem-solving and driving innovation. As well as focusing on gender, race, age and class, it is critical that businesses also develop a neurodiverse workforce if they are committed to outperforming the competition and achieving sustainable business growth. Neurodiversity at Work is a practical guide that explains what neurodiversity is, why it's important and what the benefits are. It covers how to attract, recruit and engage neurodiverse talent and provides guidance on how to adapt HR policies, processes and workplaces to ensure that all employees, including the 2 in 10 employees in the UK who are neurodiverse, can reach their full potential. Neurodiversity at Work is packed full of case studies from leading organizations like Microsoft who are already seeing the productivity, performance and financial benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace. Individuals in these companies are also experiencing benefits in their working environments. Also featured are interviews with prominent figures in the neurodiversity community and people who have successfully adapted their HR processes for neurodiversity, including members of the ND@IBM Program and the Head of People and Culture at Autotrader. With tips, advice, examples and 'how to' actions in every chapter, this is essential reading for every HR professional.

How can your teams meet their true collective potential? ​Diversity is a hot topic in the business world, but it has been largely restricted to meaning a diversity of experiences based on a person’s heritage, upbringing, or gender. As A Hidden Force points out, however, there is another type of diversity that has been overlooked until recently: neurodiversity—the differences in how our brains process information. Through his research, personal experiences, and extensive interviews with global neurodiversity experts and neurodivergent people in the workforce, Ed Thompson convincingly shows: • Why neurodiversity has historically been overlooked by society and in business and why it’s so relevant • Why embracing neurodiversity will help us be part of and build more innovative and effective teams • How we can take our new understanding of the topic and neuroinclusive principles into our everyday work and interactions A Hidden Force makes a timely, apt, and critical contribution to today’s business world. Written for business leaders, talent management professionals, and neurodivergent employees, this book shows why and how creating a work environment that welcomes the full spectrum of talent benefits everyone.

This book defines neuro-diversity and neuro-divergence in a workplace context. It continues on to outline both the effects of neuro-diversity on employees and also the ways in which a manager can positively utilise their neuro-diverse employees to optimise organisational productivity and innovation. Finally, this book explores ways in which managers and team leaders can address and accommodate neuro-diversity needs of their employees to optimise organisational culture and enhance staff performance.

The Autism Job Club is a groundbreaking book for bringing adults with autism and other neuro-diverse conditions into the work world. This second edition of The Autism Job Club includes a new Foreword by Steve Silberman, author of the best-selling NeuroTribes, along with an Afterword by the authors. The Afterword covers the many employment initiatives for adults on the autism spectrum launched just in the three years since the book was originally published. The book has its basis in the autism job club that the authors have been part of in the San Francisco Bay Area, the job-creation and job-placement efforts the club has undertaken, and similar efforts throughout the United States. The authors review the high unemployment rates among adults with autism and other neuro- diverse conditions more than two decades after the ADA. Bernick and Holden also outline and explain six strategies that, taken together, will reshape employment for adults with autism: the art of the autism job coach; the autism advantage in technology employment; autism employment and the internet economy; autism employment and the practical/craft economy; autism and extra-governmental job networks; autism and public service employment. The Autism Job Club is a vital resource for adults with autism, their families, and advocates who are committed to neuro-diverse employment, not unemployment. But it also speaks to a far broader audience interested in how to carve out a place for themselves or others in an increasingly competitive job world.