If you saw this post back in August 2023, you’ll know WPG have been working hard to get things right for neurodivergent candidates and employees. With the right support and working conditions in place, organisations can help everyone to bring their unique strengths to work. So, what can be done to nurture the talents of everyone at work?
When we say neurodivergent individuals, we’re thinking about individuals with Autism, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and many other types of neurotype.
1. Make sure ‘reasonable adjustments’ are universally available
Supporting all candidates to access reasonable adjustments is a legal requirement. In the recent case of Sherbourne v N Power the organisation was found to have acted in a discriminatory fashion by denying reasonable adjustments to a candidate who had not yet received an official diagnosis of Autism, but whom was likely to receive one, and was thus considered as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 (Granger et al. 2023). This case illustrates how important it is to think about reasonable adjustments for all.
However, research shows that individuals’ ability and willingness to disclose their neurodivergence can vary. Neurodiversity experts Almuth McDowall, Nancy Doyle and Meg Kiseleva list many barriers to disclosure: over half of people surveyed mentioned a fear of stigma and discrimination from managers and/or colleagues as their number one reason for not speaking openly about their neurodivergence. You can read their report in full here. Recent research by Granger et al. (2023) has also found that women and people of colour are more likely to be underdiagnosed than their white or male peers, meaning organisations risk disadvantaging these candidates further by insisting that they disclose an official diagnosis in order to access reasonable adjustments.
Making a range of high quality, evidence-backed reasonable adjustments available to all candidates is far more than a tick-box exercise, and organisations also stand to place themselves at a competitive advantage. Prospective employees start forming assumptions about your organisation’s recruitment practices from very early on in the process (Pearn Kandola, 2024). Making it clear that you are committed to supporting all applicants with the adjustments they need sends a clear (and positive) signal about your company culture.
2. Consider a broad range of adjustments
Whilst neurodivergent individuals may experience some common symptoms, it’s not possible to effectively support all candidates with any ‘one size fits all’ approach.
This document, produced by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, lists many types of reasonable adjustments. If organisations have a clear, comprehensive list of reasonable adjustments available, this is a mindful way to remove barriers for candidates who may feel uncomfortable requesting adjustments or uncertain what to ask for.
It’s important to remember that, while there may be some symptoms which are more commonly seen in different diagnoses, the lived experiences of neurodivergent individuals can look immensely different. Getting opinions from neurodiversity experts and neurodivergent individuals can help shape a more inclusive recruitment process for everyone. That in turn allows managers to get ahead in accessing the vast spectrum of talent available.
3. Regularly re-visit and refine your processes
Here at WPG we know that the work never ends when making candidate assessments as fair, accessible and inclusive as possible. We have come up with a list of questions that we always ask of ourselves and the organisations we are working with during every assessment design process:
- Are we using the most appropriate type of assessment for the competency or skill we want to measure?
- Have we included a wide range of perspectives in the design process, including working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who are neurodivergent?
- Is the assessment we are using backed up by robust data on its adverse impact across different groups?
- Are all the competencies we are measuring actually essential to the role in question?
- Are the definitions of the competencies we are assessing as clear and accurate as possible?
If you would like to learn more about any of these questions, why not send us a message to start a conversation?
4. Commit to improvement and innovation
We pride ourselves on being experts when it comes to SJTs, and have worked with clients to deploy many SJTs over the years. However, we know that no assessment is perfect, and we want to continue making improvements. We are committed to:
- Making the SJT experience easier for people who find hypothetical scenarios difficult to interpret (e.g. individuals with autism)
- Maximising the compatibility of our SJTs with assistive technologies
- Learning more about how AI, SJTs and reasonable adjustments intersect
- Providing SJTs that are valid measures of skills and competencies important to our clients
- Exploring how new innovations in assessment design can help us to improve our work
We recognise that the true experts are neurodivergent candidates and employees themselves, and we welcome all perspectives. If you want to continue the conversation, please get in touch to share your thoughts.
References
AGCAS Disability Task Group. (n.d). Reasonable Adjustments – Neurodiversity. The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services. Reasonable_Adjustments_-_Neurodiversity.pdf (agcas.org.uk)
Granger, C., Hameed, Z., & Kelly, R. (2023). Neurodivergence and the healthcare workforce: A hidden facet within equality, diversity and inclusion? BMJ Leader, 7(2), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1136/leader-2023-000809
McDowall, A., Doyle, N., & Kiseleva, M. (2023). Neurodiversity at work: Demand, supply and a gap analysis. 2022 Neurodiversity in Business Report Commission. https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/50834
Zajac, M., & Kandola, B. (2024). Neurodiversity at Work. Pearn Kandola. Neurodiversity At Work Report 2024 – Pearn Kandola
