Synaptic

I nominated this piece for two reasons. First, it is an excellent example of this project, very well-researched and written. Second, I feel that the topic is very important and one that is not widely explored in professional contexts. It is important to share the information in this report as widely as possible so that we may enhance understanding of the lived work life of neurodivergent persons as well as ways supervisors and coworkers can adapt and enhance communication.

-Dr. Linda Laine

---

Ethical communication requires a broad consideration for the individualized needs of every person, regardless of their physical characteristics or cognitive abilities. Neurodiversity is a newly explored area of ethical communication that emphasizes how we can enhance communication for individuals with autism, ADHD, and other neurodiverse individuals. Changing the communication landscape to become more inclusive to people with differing levels of cognitive abilities and perspectives is critical to cultivating a more welcoming and productive workplace.

Given the increasing emphasis on diversity in the workplace, a limited focus has been spent on the experiences of neurodivergent employees, and particularly those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the U.S. alone, over 500,000 individuals with ASD will enter the workforce by 2027 (Autism Speaks, 2017). The unique social and environmental experiences of people with autism need to be sufficiently addressed in order to fully embrace the analytical strengths of neurodiverse employees. The lack of acknowledgement of these experiences provides a problem with ethical communication that can be remedied by employers to ensure the collective success of all employees in the workplace.

Employees with autism bring significant strengths to the workplace. People with autism demonstrate intense focus and attention to detail, reliability, and excellent visual skills (Hayward, McVilly, & Stokes, 2019). Neurodiverse employees provide substantial contributions to the technology sector in particular as a result of their ability to complete exacting and repetitive tasks, recall specific details and recognize patterns, and to focus single-mindedly on a task (Hayward et al., 2019; Krzeminska et al., 2019). Furthermore, working in a neurodiverse workplace can increase creativity. In an experiment where either single-neurotype pairs (both neurotypical or both neurodiverse) or neurodiverse pairs (one neurotypical and one neurodiverse) were instructed to build the tallest tower possible from dried spaghetti and plasticine, neurodiverse pairs constructed the least similar towers, demonstrating elevated creativity (Axbey et al., 2023).

Despite their significant contributions to the workplace, employees with autism report significant distress in woplace contexts. In a study interviewing 600 neurodivergent employees (95 with autism), significant negative experiences were found with almost no positive views about the workplace being expressed by those with autism (Cooper & Kennady, 2021). A majority (60%) of the employees with autism had been bullied or experienced other problems severe enough to lead to them being fired or resigning and 73% reported that managers did not adequately understand or value their neurodivergence (Cooper & Kennady, 2021). Colleagues and managers primarily focused on their areas of weakness rather than their strengths and important contributions (Cooper & Kennady, 2021).

One of the factors that contributes to the distress of autistic employees is difficulty in social communication. In-person communication with non-autistic people is often draining and elevates anxiety due to heightened awareness of eye contact and facial expression interpretation and management (Howard & Sedwick, 2021). Employees with autism describe difficulty starting conversations, understanding abstract language and jokes, and reading body language (Cummins et al., 2020). Despite a desire for social interaction, employees with autism report feelings of isolation and misunderstanding (Cummins et al., 2020). These communication difficulties are a result of both internal and external factors including anxiety, the communication environment, and one’s communication partner (Cummins et al., 2020). The communication environment is often filled with a lot of noises and voices that can create sensory overload for neurodiverse employees, with group contexts particularly amplifying this problem (Cummins et al., 2020; Hayward et al., 2019). These communication difficulties often lead to a withdrawal from work and society and produce feelings of isolation (Cummins et al., 2020).

Despite the overall negative experience of autistic employees in the workplace, there are numerous pathways to improve social functioning and positive engagement in the workplace. Restructuring the communication environment can significantly improve productivity and group connection for employees of all neurotypes. Making the work environment more inclusive can empower employees with autism rather than require them to change specific behaviors that are traditionally viewed as deficient (Cummins et al., 2020).

Altering leadership behavior has revealed promising results in improving the workplace for employees with autism. Leadership behavior plays a significant role in the successful acclimation of employees with autism and accounted for 34% of the variance in outcomes for employees with ASD (Parr & Hunter, 2014). Frequently, leadership training focuses on relationship building, emotional motivation, and communication skills, which is often unhelpful in supporting the unique needs of neurodiverse employees (Bowman, 2020). Specifically, transformational leadership is often touted as superior. This type of leadership can be ineffective for employees with ASD and can increase anxiety and decrease organizational commitment (Bowman, 2020; Parr, Hunter, & Ligon, 2013). Specific leadership skills that can improve outcomes for employees with autism include providing clear and direct communication, knowing about ASD, giving empathic and individualized support, and cultivating a work environment accepting of neurodiversity (Bowman, 2020). Furthermore, leaders who are able to understand how ASD impacts employees in the workplace and appreciate and accommodate these strengths and weaknesses are able to reap the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace (Bowman, 2020). Overall, the behaviors of leaders can play a significant impact in the well-being and job performance of neurodiverse employees.

An additional behavior that can be adapted to better fit the needs of employees with autism is the feedback process, which can often lead to workplace burnout and unnecessary anxiety. Well-structured feedback can improve work relationships, boost job commitment and engagement, and create a more inclusive work culture (Hamdani & Biagi, 2022). One of the best methods of giving feedback to neurodiverse employees is with the incorporation of compassionate and individualized consideration. Companies like Microsoft, JP Morgan, and SAP utilize peer mentors, job coaches, and work buddies to develop robust feedback channels between neurodiverse employees and the rest of the team (Hamdami & Biagi, 2022).

Once feedback teams are established, employers must consider the structure and content of their feedback to best support neurodiverse employees. Feedback should be based on observable, specific, and job-relevant behaviors, rather than abstract concepts such as leadership or teamwork, which need to be broken into their desired behaviors (Hamdani & Biagi, 2022). Feedback should be given frequently, with an emphasis on positive reinforcement. Positive feedback that describes specific behaviors and their impact is particularly reassuring to neurodiverse employees (Hamdani & Biagi, 2022). Positive feedback should be given immediately, but corrective feedback should only be given right before the task is performed again to help reduce anxiety (Hamdani & Biagi, 2022). Since neurodiverse employees are particularly sensitive to feedback and stress, neurodiverse employees prefer a direct approach with clear and direct corrective instructions and concrete goals to work towards (Hamdani & Biagi, 2022). By reforming the feedback process to center around positive reinforcement and concrete behaviors, employers can empower employees with autism to undergo significant personal and professional growth over time.

In addition to leadership behavior and feedback structure, general communication inclinations emerged that hindered or strengthened workplace communication for employees with autism. In terms of creating an ideal communication environment for employees with autism, a significant preference emerged for written and direct communication, with a strong aversion to communication over the phone (Howard & Sedgewick, 2021). Written communication was preferred due to greater thinking time and a greater sense of control over the conversation (Howard & Sedgewick, 2021). These insights reinforce the guidance given on the importance of in-person and direct feedback. Knowing these insights into the communication preferences of employees with autism, workplaces and employers can adapt their primary communication to alleviate unnecessary anxiety and streamline communication.

In summary, understanding the unique needs of neurodiverse employees can help employers harness positive strengths of intense focus, pattern recognition, and attention to detail (Hayward et al., 2019). Although employees with autism report significant negative experiences in the workplace surrounding social communication, structural and individual improvements can be made to alleviate the problem.

Works Cited

Autism Speaks. (2017). Autism and health: A special report by autism speaks. https://www.autismspeaks.org/science-news/autism-and-health-special-report-autism-speaks

Axbey, H., Beckmann, N., Fletcher-Watson, S., Tullo, A., & Crompton, C. J. (2023). Innovation through neurodiversity: Diversity is beneficial. Autism, 27(7), 2193-2198. https://doiorg/10.1177/13623613231158685

Bowman, A. D. (2020). What we know about employers’ perspectives on successfully integrating adults with autism spectrum disorders in the workplace. International Journal of Psychiatry Research, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.33425/2641-4317.1054

Cooper, R., & Kennady, C. (2021). Autistic voices from the workplace. Advances in Autism, 7(1), 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-09-2019-0031

Cummins, C., Pellicano, E., & Crane, L. (2020). Autistic adults’ views of their communication skills and needs. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 55(5), 678–689. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12552

Hamdani, M., & Biagi, S. (2022). Providing performance feedback to support neurodiverse employees. MIT Sloan Management Review, 63(3), 1–6.

Hayward, S. M., McVilly, K. R., & Stokes, M. A. (2019). Autism and employment: What works. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 60, 48-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2019.01.006

Howard, P. L., & Sedgewick, F. (2021). ‘Anything but the phone!’: Communication mode preferences in theautism community. Autism, 25(8), 2265-2278. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211014995

Krzeminska, A., Austin, R., Bruyère, S., & Hedley, D. (2019). The advantages and challenges of neurodiversity employment in organizations. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(4), 453-463. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2019.58

Parr, A. D., & Hunter, S. T. (2014). Enhancing work outcomes of employees with autism spectrum disorder through leadership: Leadership for employees with autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 18(5), 545-554. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361313483020

Parr, A. D., Hunter, S. T., & Ligon, G. S. (2013). Questioning universal applicability of transformational leadership: Examining employees with autism spectrum disorder. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(4), 608–622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.04.003