Their skills balance the team, they cover a gap in cognitive thinking
Manager – Tier 1 investment bank
Getting to know and manage an autistic member of staff will develop your understanding of the huge strengths which an autistic person can bring to the workplace.
It is essential that you take the time to understand how autism affects the person you are working with, so that you are able to meet your legal responsibilities under the Equalities Act (2010) and Northern Ireland Disability Discrimination Act.
Many autistic people have excellent technical and creative skills but may struggle more with the sensory and social environment. It is essential that you take the time to understand how autism affects the person you are working with, so that you are able to meet your legal responsibilities under the Equalities Act (2010) and Northern Ireland Disability Discrimination Act.
Autistic employees may struggle with:
- Communicating with other people, misunderstanding social cues and may be misinterpreted by colleagues as being rude or unfriendly
- Sensory environment in the office, especially being more sensitive to lights, sound and smell which can cause pain and increase anxiety
- Unstructured time, changes to working routines and unclear expectations
- Participating in meetings, team building and social activities
In a noisy place I can’t understand speech, because I cannot screen out the background noise.
Dr Temple Grandin – Thinking in Pictures, 2006
You will help your autistic employee to succeed if you:
- Train and develop the individual for their exceptional abilities – even if these don’t relate to their current assignment
- Look for where the individual can deliver the most value to the company
- Be clear and specific – explain exactly what you need, ideally in writing, so your employee can go back to your instructions for reassurance
- Meet regularly and often – so that you can work on any issues that arise promptly. Many autistic people will struggle if issues are not addressed.
- Be aware that many autistic people have been bullied – they may be very sensitive to criticism as a result. Bullying happens in workplaces as well as in schools and they may need help to resolve issues that arise
- Adapt the sensory environment – work with the autistic person to create an environment where they can work well.
- Create predictability and structure – For example, offer an allocated desk, rather than hot desking and diarise regular meetings.
- Provide support for transitions – many autistic people struggle with change so provide support and plan changes in advance
- Explain office etiquette – be very clear about the unwritten rules of your workplace
- Provide a mentor – make sure that they are trained in understanding autism and set a regular time and place to meet.
- Provide autism training for all staff – to reduce the chance of misunderstandings with colleagues. But do not tell other members of your staff about an autistic person’s disclosure unless they consent.
- Provide reassurance in stressful situations – many autistic people are especially meticulous and will struggle if things aren’t completely correct
- Problem-solve together – When issues arise, work together to solve them and build capability.
Reasonable adjustments and management
The key to successfully managing an autistic employee is by responding to their specific needs, as you would with any other employee. Just as people and roles change over time, so will any adjustments that you make for individual employees so this should be the subject of an ongoing dialogue.
Don’t share an employee’s autistic diagnosis with other staff unless they consent
Consider the possibility that there may need to be adjustments made during your management conversations:
- Training and development – This includes training autistic employees for their strengths, and also training all staff for neurodiversity sensitivity.
- Clarification and specification – Be clear and specific with any instruction or information. Ideally put this in writing. Reducing vagueness in your instructions or memos will benefit all employees!
- Communication –Organise regular meetings with your employees to make check in with their progress and how they are adjusting to their workplace. Communicating can allow you to quickly address newly arisen issues, and problem solve together with your staff.
- Adaptation of the sensory environment – Create an environment where an employee feels physically comfortable, this include adjustments to reduce sensory sensitivities.
- Consistency and routine – Such adjustments include making sure that events or meetings don’t change time unexpectedly, allowing an autistic employee to consistently work in the same way in the same place, and keeping a regular and easily accessible schedule for working hours.
- Flexibility – Some of your processes and standards can become barriers to autistic employees. Some of the easiest adjustments you can make are being flexible about things like working hours, location, and dress.
- Support during transitions – Many autistic people struggle with change. When transition is unavoidable, you may need to provide additional adjustment to support autistic employees.
- Support with etiquette – It’s important to make sure autistic employees are aware of, and understand workplace standards, written or otherwise.
- Mentoring – Some support can come from providing interested autistic employees with a mentor who they feel comfortable asking for help. Consider offering specialist training for employees who are interested in being mentors.
- Reassurance – Sometimes, autistic employees need somewhere to turn for emotionally draining or stressful situations. You may be able to provide relief for those situations.
- Career planning – help them to see and make connections.
When considering adjustments, there will always be situations where an adjustment would be impossible or unreasonable. For instance, an autistic employee taking orders from customers at a food venue would not be able to wear ear defenders.
It may be easier to think of reasonable adjustments as removing barriers as an opportunity to improve an autistic employee’s ability to demonstrate their strengths
When issues arise, your usual processes should be adhered to, but managers should be mindful of the individual.
If you have any concerns about your autistic staff, approach them respectfully and compassionately, as you would any employee. Privately invite them to discuss the problem.
My employers have told me I can always approach them if I have any autism-related issues
Kevin – autistic employee
Legally, you must treat your autistic employees as well as anyone else, but there are some other things to keep in mind:
- Stress and anxiety – Autistic people function really well when allowed to work in a way that suits their needs. Stress may not be evident in the person’s face but may show in the way they act with others. Sometimes, the concerns that you have about an autistic employee may be caused by stress and anxiety resulting from the environment. These issues may be resolved by making reasonable adjustments. It is helpful to provide a place where all staff can retreat without disruption to allow them to relax. Every person will be different, so talk to each member of staff to ask how they want to handle stressful situations.
- Dealing with situations swiftly and tactfully – When there is a misunderstanding, relationships can break down quickly. Always deal with a concern quickly, before they are irreparable.
- Looking out for bullying – It is possible for bullying to inadvertently exist in your workplace, especially if there is a lack of understanding about autism. An autistic employee may feel bullied even if the person bullying them is unaware that their behaviour is being perceived in this way. Increasing the level of understanding about autism amongst all staff will help create understanding. There are legal ramifications to bullying so it’s important to resolve it immediately.
- Difficulty with communication – As autism is an invisible condition, colleagues may think the individual is being rude, unfriendly, insensitive or not listening when this is rarely the intention. Conversely, vague or nonliteral communication can sometimes be difficult for an autistic person to understand. As a manager, it will be your responsibility to clarify and mitigate miscommunication regardless of the parties involved. Again, informing all staff about autism will help to reduce misunderstandings.
- Workplace transitions and scheduling disruptions – Autistic people often feel comfortable when they have a regular and expected routine and may feel anxious or distressed when a routine is disrupted. Give warning about changes in task or routine, and ask your staff member how to make transitions or changes easier for them.
- Transport difficulties – The commute to the workplace presents a host of potential problems for autistic employees. Traffic or road closures might distress an autistic person who relies on the comfort of a regular routine. Autistic employees who rely on public transportation may face their own difficulties when getting to work, like overstimulation from noise and crowds. Allow time and space for someone to calm down.
- Sickness and timekeeping – Autistic people are usually highly punctual and likely to go to work even when they are feeling ill. They may also be under significantly higher levels of stress on a daily basis. Be clear about the company attendance policy and work with them to reduce their stress.
- Housing, finance and mental health skills – When work lines up well with an autistic person’s skills and passions, they can function brilliantly at work. However, they may struggle to manage issues outside the workplace such as housing and living independently. These issues may bleed over into the workplace and they may require signposting to sources of support.
- Sensory hypersensitivity – Autistic people can be exceptionally sensitive to light, sound, and smells, and this can lead to stress, pain or being overwhelmed. Allow adjustments to accommodate an individual’s needs.
For some people, being able to wear earphones or have the lights turned down makes the difference to being able to cope in a workplace
Dean Beadle – autistic freelance speaker
This list may seem intimidating, but every person is different and may not face every, or even any of these difficulties. But all employees may experience some of these sources of stress. When you see an employee struggling in the workplace, regardless of whether they are autistic, it’s important to approach them in a collaborative way.
Make it clear to employees that you will work with them to resolve concerns
A workplace mentor could be helpful initially to assist with settling into a job, and on an ongoing basis as someone to turn to if difficulties arise.
Mentoring is a partnership between two people in which the mentor (an experienced person doing the guiding) assists the mentee (the person being guided) to help them towards personal and/or work-related goals.
Mentoring involves listening and helping the mentee to identify and work towards their own goals
A workplace mentor could be helpful initially to assist with settling into a job, and on an ongoing to support in the resolution of future concerns. You could also utilise a buddy system, as a more dialogue-driven form of mentorship.
Mentors can also be brought in from outside the organisation to support your staff. Funding from Access to Work could be used to finance a workplace mentor.
A good mentor can make a big difference for the employment of an autistic person. The most important attribute is the ability to listen and work in partnership with the individual. It is vital that a mentor be well-trained with an in-depth understanding of autism. That way, your autistic employee will be able to work with someone they can trust. If you are appointed as a mentor for an autistic person you must always:
- Be sensitive to the sensory environment – Always ask what sensory sensitivities your mentee might have. Keep these sensitives in mind when planning meetings.
- Be respectful – It is important to treat everyone with respect and compassion. Keep the social model of autism in mind, and never view your mentee as someone who needs to change.
- Listen – In addition to listening to someone’s words, you can also consider their body language and the way that they communicate, verbally and nonverbally.
- Respond to the individual – There is no one solution for everyone!
- Be positive – Acknowledge the struggle the person is facing but focus on finding effective solutions.
- Build capability – Act with and not for the individual so that they learn the skills that they need.
- Give plenty of time – Autistic people may take longer to process social or sensory information, so use fewer words and allow time for what you say to be understood
- Meet frequently – In addition to meeting at a consistent and routine time, it is important to meet often. The more frequently you meet, the quicker you can learn about your mentee’s concerns and work to collaboratively solve them.
