Many companies miss out on the huge potential of employing neuro-diverse people, who will not only do a great job for the company, but also enrich the workplace community.
Our business, Cotswold Fayre, was recently ‘Highly Commended’ in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work for our engagement rate with the disabled people we employ. Most of those declaring a disability in the survey saying they were neuro-diverse rather than having a physical disability. My thinking is to employ the under-served anyway but previously I may have considered it as a cost to the business rather than seeing the benefit of doing so. However, our experience over the past few years has changed my thinking. I now see that having neurodiversity in the business as a benefit rather than a cost to carry. Want to know more? Read on…..
At our retail business, Flourish, we planned from the start of the business in 2021 to work with a local agency to employ three neuro-diverse young adults to work within the business. They would build up their confidence and give them experience in a workplace. Three years later, two of the original three are still with us, and we now have two more neuro-diverse adults contributing to our business. The leaver went on to gain employment with a national chain business.
As mentioned above, I have always wanted to do the right thing in business by putting people and planet before profit, but I have seen how employing people with neurodiversity has enriched our business in many ways.
Firstly, those with neurodiversity, given the right role, can perform that role better than many without neurodiversity. Some tasks are better suited to the neurodiverse. I speak from personal experience here. One of my own children is autistic and he works on the tills in national supermarket chain and on the Customer Service desk. He is the most outgoing person on the tills, talks to customers and generally adds huge positivity to the rather stale atmosphere. Yes, possibly sometimes he overshares, but their customers love him!
Secondly, having neurodiverse people in our business helps develop the rest of our team, many of whom won’t have worked with, for example, those with Downs Syndrome or Autism before. They will learn about how best to interact with people different to themselves and how best to communicate in a way that others understand. And rather than possibly being slightly afraid of diverse people, they will learn to love them instead.
Thirdly, once settled into a workplace those with neurodiversity if they are treated with respect and care gain a huge amount of dignity and are far more likely to stay. There will be high degrees of loyalty and what business doesn’t need that?
Fourth, although clearly not the reason for acting in this way, the local community and our customers love that we are employing neuro-diverse people. I remember having lunch at a café in Jersey once where all the front-of-house team were people with Downs Syndrome. I have never been served food with so much love and joy anywhere else, so much so I was literally crying into my soup.
One of our neurodiverse young adults invited many other colleagues to her birthday party, at which her dad made a speech exuding the gratitude towards us as her employers. There was not a dry eye in the house and many people there were customers of the business.
And that brings me to my final point that having people who are different within our business add to the joy, love and gratitude within it. Rather than being a burden to carry, they enrich the business community and add to revenue and profitability.
There are still nearly a million unfilled vacancies in the UK, particularly in the hospitality and retail sector, but many others too. If you don’t already, I would encourage you as a business to investigate the huge untapped potential of the neurodiverse community in the UK. They could transform your business for better too.
