Neurodiversity & Advanced Manufacturing
What Can Make the Neurodiverse Community a Great Talent Pool?
What is Neurodiversity?
Myths / Facts About Hiring People With Autism
Myth
Employees with Autism have high absenteeism.
Fact
86% of employees with an intellectual disability or ASD rated average or better on attendance than their colleagues.
Myth
High performance employers are too competitive to hire people with ASD.
Fact
High performance employers are 37% more likely to hire people with an intellectual disability, because they are good talent matches for open positions.
Myth
Employees with ASD are at higher risk of injury or workplace accidents.
Fact
98% of people with a disability rate average or better in work safety than their non-disabled co-workers.
Myth
It costs too much to accommodate an employee with a disability.
Fact
The Job Accommodation Network studied 2000 employees and determined that 57% of employers reported no additional costs from hiring a person with an intellectual disability or ASD. 37% report a one-time minimal cost of less than $500.
Myth
Employees with ASD will not be able to contribute as much as their co-workers.
Fact
73% of employees report that they strongly agree that their new co-workers contribute as much as other to their organization.
Myth
Employees with ASD do not last in high performance workplaces.
Fact
Compared with the average turnover rate of 49% across all industries, employees with an intellectual disability, or ASD is considerably lower at just 7%.
RATES OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER IN ADVANCED MANUFACTURING VARY FROM 21% UP TO 47%. WE CHOSE THE MIDDLE: 37%
Average cost to recruit, hire and train an employee? $4,200
When we looked at the average cost to attract, hire, train and retain an employee, the numbers were quite staggering. Whether a small company of 40 or a global company of 3,000, the impact of employee turnover can be significant.
The perception is that the disability community would be an additional expense vs savings. This simply isn’t true. If an employee needs accomodation, that is usually less than $500 at the start and will usually result in a loyal, hard working employee who will repay your investment faster than you think.
Team Size
Average Turnover
Cost per Year
$63,000.00
$108,870.00
The turnover rate for the autism community is only 7%
Potential savings of: $50, 400
Disclosure
Most autistic candidates DO NOT disclose that they are autistic nor are they required to do so. Why? Because most autistic job seekers meet with resistance in being hired. And legally, they are not required to share their diagnosis.
This is NO different than if a candidate has an addiction, mental health diagnosis, allergies or learning disability. It doesn’t mean they can’t do the job! It just means they might need some support to succeed.
Typically, you’ll never know you’ve hired an autistic employee. Although in conversations with over 25 advanced manufacturing employers across Halton Region, we heard a lot of “That sounds like Name” after we described common characteristics of an autistic employee.
Of course, if a candidate comes to you through a disability employment support agency, disclosure is a given.
Discuss with the potential employee about whether they are comfortable discussing their diagnosis with their supervisor, and or all coworkers. It is up to the individual who they disclose to, how and when they talk about their autism diagnosis. This is a personal choice made by each individual as to who needs to know about their autism diagnosis.
If you’ve found yourself a valuable employee but need some support for questions or communication, then an autism employment specialist or employment support agency might be a good fit.