FUTURE TALENT November - January 2019/2020 | Page 17

FRONT OF HOUSE
and ADHD offer
employers, firms are
slow to recognise
these ‘mental deficits’
as potential strengths,
and unsure how to
embed neurodivergent
employees into teams.
Reversing this trend is
auticon, an international
social enterprise which
exclusively employs adults on
the autism spectrum as IT
consultants. It was founded in
Germany in November 2011 by Dirk
Müller-Remus (expanding into the
UK and France in early 2016, followed
by Switzerland, the US, Italy and
Canada in 2017 and 2018) and has
insights and lessons for any
organisation wishing to support
workforce diversity and inclusion
(D&I) – including helping
neurotypical employees to thrive.
UNTAPPED SKILLS AND ABILITIES
UK CEO Ray Coyle outlines the social
problem underpinning auticon’s
mission: “We have 700,000 autistic
people in the UK and only 16% in full-
time employment – compared with
about 78% for the population as a
whole and 48% for disabled people,”
he says. “Even among the disabled
community, autistic people find it
very difficult to access work.”
However, he also emphasises the
immense untapped value of this
demographic’s skills and abilities,
stressing that while there are moral
reasons for addressing inequalities,
there are business reasons beyond
these. Autism affects a person’s
There is very
little we do that
wouldn’t be a
valuable lesson
for anyone
dealing with
neurotypical
people
cognition,
p e rc e p t i o n ,
emotions and
behaviours, but
autistic adults
of ten have
extraordinary
abilities and
intense interest
in IT, physics,
mathematics and technology –
areas of expertise in which there are
crucial skills gaps.
“We did a lot of research with the
University of Berlin and others in the
UK and know that you’re more likely
to find very high levels of attention
to detail, pattern recognition,
Coyle on benchmarking employee satisfaction
“We work on the basis of a Japanese theory, ikigai, which assumes that you
will be happy in work if:
1 Y  ou think you are good at
what you do
2 You enjoy what you do
3 You’re well paid for what you do
4  You feel you’re making a positive
difference to the world
Every six months, we ask all staff these four questions, in the same order, in
a survey. Occasionally, we get uncomfortable feedback; we have developed
a culture of openness which we’re keen to retain. But we are ambitious in
what we’re trying to achieve for our colleagues: we want them to be happy.”
F
sustained concentration, error
detection and logical analysis in the
autistic community,” he says.
“We’re not trying to pigeonhole
autistic people or make sweeping
generalisations; there are lots of
people with autism who are
wonderfully artistic and musical. But,
because we are an IT consultancy,
we’re looking for particular skills.”
Auticon’s model is to employ
people with autism with the relevant
skills on a permanent basis and
match them with corporate
organisations who have specific
tech needs. High-profile clients
include Allianz, Direct Line Group,
Siemens and KPMG; Sir Richard
Branson is one of auticon’s investors.
“We offer businesses a means of
bringing autistic people into their
workforce, on a fixed-term basis, to
augment their teams,” says Coyle.
By taking the time to get to know
each employee’s skills, interests and
challenges, and carefully matching
these with the right tasks and
support mechanisms, auticon
creates careers that allow autistic
people to work to their full potential.
Meanwhile, clients receive high-
quality work, lateral and unbiased
thinking, and access to people with
the specialist STEM skills they
urgently require. It’s a win-win for
people with autism, for businesses
– and wider society, through the
acceptance of cognitive and
neurological diversity.
FOCUSING ON CAPABILITY
Of course, getting it right involves a
range of challenges, which lie in the
sourcing, onboarding, matching and
support of auticon’s people;
however, out of these come a wealth
of transferable lessons around
embracing individuality at work.
Adopting the perspective of the
autistic candidate, the company is
not p re s c r i pt i ve a b ou t j o b
descriptions or par ticularly
interested in CVs, which represent
“history rather than capability”.
Coyle explains: “We tell our
candidates ‘these are the skills we’re
looking for; if this sounds like you,
please apply’. We also ask people to
tell us what technical skills and
experience they’ve got; we don’t ask
for ‘three years of experience in this
or that’. Many people on the
November – January 2019 // 17