Neurodivergent perspectives can strengthen businesses
As the COO of Rising Tide Car Wash, a company whose workforce is composed of 80% people with autism, I understand as well as anyone the unique challenges of creating an inclusive workplace for neurodivergent talent. Still, the part of the conversation that usually gets left out is how much companies stand to gain by putting in the work necessary to do so.
When my father John and I started our company in 2012, we wanted to create a place where my brother Andrew could work, particularly after seeing him turned away by so many other companies. Once we opened, we hired Andrew and other employees with autism. We ran into challenges, as we expected we would, and created new systems and processes to accommodate our employees with autism — but what we didn’t expect was that those changes would have a transformational effect on everyone, in all parts of our business.
Today, our turnover rate is five times lower than our competitors, and our customer satisfaction levels are higher. What my dad and I learned in the process was simple: When companies and organizations design for their “extreme users” first, it often leads to a “trickle-up” effect of positive outcomes.
As Rising Tide grew from doing 35,000 washes a year at one location to serving more than 500,000 annual customers across three, it wasn’t in spite of our diverse workforce; it was precisely because of it. By taking the time to account for the neurodivergent perspective, we identified problems and patterns that our competitors didn’t, and we leveraged our staff ’s problem-solving abilities to fix them in ways our competitors couldn’t.
Our story is an example that businesses of all kinds should take to heart, particularly as we face economic volatility ahead and so much talent reshuffling in the wake of COVID-19. As companies everywhere are scrambling to fill workforce gaps, streamline processes and stay ahead of the curve, having a neurodivergent perspective can be invaluable. In many cases, it’s the “canary in the coal mine” signal that companies can leverage to change things for the better before it’s too late.
In the old model of hiring and recruiting, a lot of stress is put on finding “exceptional talent” and finding employees who can intuit solutions to problems as they arise and without much training. While these skills are valuable in some contexts, they can also create significant blind spots at scale.
An example of this might be hiring employees who seem charming or charismatic with the expectation that they’ll be great at customer service or sales without requiring much oversight or training. In some situations, however, trying so hard to find high-achieving individuals is a way of covering up systemic weaknesses in a business, such as unclear processes and systems (and sometimes, a lack of standardized processes and systems altogether). Neurotypical people have their own strengths, but one of their weaknesses (that is often interpreted as a strength) is their willingness to “go with the flow” in a corporate setting. They may notice that certain aspects of the business are inconsistent, inefficient or downright nonsensical, but many of them won’t speak out for fear of being reprimanded or because speaking up requires that they take on a social risk. These traits can be great in some contexts, but they are less-thanideal at identifying and fixing companywide problems or adapting to new challenges.
According to Harvard Business Review, some common traits among neurodivergent talent include a hyper-focus on processes and details and a tendency to be very honest about their own discomfort or any flaws they notice in their environment; thinking of these traits as “weaknesses” would be a major mistake.
In reality, these traits offer highly reliable and honest feedback and an ability to notice details most people would miss. In terms of quality and innovation, these insights can be a serious competitive advantage if companies create an inclusive context for them — but don’t take my word for it. While so many businesses write off embracing diversity and inclusion efforts for political or personal reasons, research shows that diverse companies are more innovative — and innovative companies are more profitable.
While changing a company culture to be more inclusive and accommodating is its own challenge, its potential benefits are enormous. Aside from being the right thing to do, it can improve a business’s bottom line and re-energize the workforce, which in light of ongoing economic challenges is more important than ever. By embracing new ideas, companies of all kinds can better position themselves for the future; considering the neurodivergent perspective is a great place to start.
Tom D’Eri is the cofounder and COO of Rising Tide Car Wash, a company that employs more than 90 individuals with autism, and the author of the forthcoming book “The Power of Potential: How a NonTraditional Workforce Can Lead You to Run Your Business Better.”