Disabled people who ‘do the work of two’

Sometimes a disadvantage in life can be a workplace advantage. That is what some US employers found when record low unemployment forced them to tap overlooked pools of labour to find workers.

They found that disabled workers, particularly some on the autism spectrum, can do their jobs well, not despite their disability but because of it. They may even have a thing or two to teach other employees about how to work.

“In some cases their disability is actually an ability. They are predisposed by it to be successful,” says Becky

Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America.

JPMorgan Chase ’ s Autism at Work programme employs 175 people in eight countries in 40 job roles, including two personal bankers. Programme head Anthony Pacilio says they are in general “90% to 140% more productive” than “neurotypical” staff, and make fewer errors. “They are doing two people’s work,” he says.

Routine is important to neurodiverse employees, but disability experts say it’s too soon to say if they do any worse — or better — than others during the coronavirus pandemic.

“There has been a similar response from our neurodiverse and neurotypical employees to the anxiety surrounding the virus based on work-from-home needs. I haven’t had any indication that our Autism at Work employees are worse off than anyone else,” says Pacilio.

Outlining the business case for hiring employees on the autism spectrum, he says, they are can “pick patterns out of things that we were never able to see before”.

Some may struggle in traditional interviews and to talk to neurotypical colleagues.

But they have an “ability to stay focused on a task, no matter what that task may be. Sometimes it’s just boring work. These guys will take that, and just motor through it,” he says. “Sometimes you have to remind them to stop for lunch.”

Danny Lakes and Noah Pittinger, who are both on the autism spectrum, work at Procter & Gamble global headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, writing software to automate highly repetitive jobs. “We have an attention to detail more attuned than the average person,” says Pittinger.

Lakes explains: “Our jobs involve a large amount of detail work, reading through hundreds of lines of code and pinpointing one semicolon that is out of place. I consider being neurodiverse an incredible boon in this line of work. And because I pay such close attention to detail I can find connections that other people would miss.”

P&G worked with the disability charity Easterseals to build a team of neurodiverse employees. Its leader, Roman Yuvienco, says one reason they are better at their jobs is a trait that is often seen as a disability associated with autism: they may miss social cues, or communicate in ways not considered standard in the US workplace.

“They have a direct communication style. Tthere is no sugar coating,” says Yuvienco. That can put people’s backs up, but it has its advantages, he says. Because people on the autism spectrum may not know how to “tiptoe around” the emotions of colleagues, says Lakes, “we get to the root of problems quicker and solve them faster”.

JPMorgan’s Pacilio says those who manage neurodiverse employees have to learn to be more direct.

“That makes them better managers not just for people on the spectrum but for everybody”.

NOISY ENVIRONMENTS

Still, experts estimate that 85% of US graduates affected by autism are out of work, so there’s a long way to go.

Little things can make a big difference, they say. Of a job description lists requirements as bullet points, many autistic applicants will fail to apply unless they meet each one perfectly.

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