Wanting to increase your workforce’s diversity is an important goal shared by many organisations. Most start with gender diversity, as it is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as perhaps being more achievable than other forms of diversity. Regardless of the type of diversity however, the most important thing is to have the right mindset from the start.
Some businesses try to achieve their diversity targets by finding candidates who will ‘fit in’ with current organisational structures. In order to be truly successful, we need to flip this approach on its head. In fact, you need to be willing to implement organisational change so that you, your leadership team, your workforce, your business processes all come together to create a safe and inclusive environment.
This may sound like a lot of work, and indeed, it’s not something that can be achieved overnight. But research shows that when done well, these inclusive environments benefit all staff, regardless of gender, sexuality, neurotypicality, race or religion. The knock-on effects are increased engagement and productivity, boosted morale and reduced staff turnover across the broader workforce. So the benefits are literally huge.
These benefits are not limited to cultural and social. The team at Specialisterne recently shared a story with us about a data-centric government agency who employed a neurodiverse candidate. Within a few days of starting, the candidate approached their manager and said that they had observed that the jobs being done by two project members could be automated. The neurodiverse candidate went away and wrote some code that fully automated two full-time roles, allowing those workers to be redeployed and saving the project $250,000 a year.
This is just one example of the competitive advantage neurodiverse candidates offer.
If you’d like to find out more about what’s involved with hiring candidates on the autism spectrum, get in touch with your Clicks Account Manager to arrange an initial conversation. You can engage one or ten people, and they can be across a range of skillsets, projects and workgroups, on either a permanent, fixed term or contract basis.
The process is much easier than you think. When you collaborate with Specialisterne, you can be completely confident that you and your workforce are in the safest hands, and are receiving the best support and advice.
If you don’t have a designated Clicks Account Manager already, please reach out to me in the first instance and I will connect you with the best person to guide you. You can email me or call me on 03 9963 4802.
Sam Micich
General Manager, Operations
