How Neuroinclusion Builds Organizational Capabilities

Changing processes to be more inclusive of neurodiversity can improve hiring, innovation, and culture.

- By Robert D. Austin, Neil Barnett, Chloe R. Cameron, Hiren Shukla, Thorkil Sonne, and Jose Velasco

COMPANIES HAVE MADE GREAT STRIDES IN neuroinclusion since 2013, when SAP announced its Autism at Work program. The first major corporate initiative of its kind, it was soon followed by programs at Microsoft and EY.¹ As the respective founders of these programs, Jose, Neil, and Hiren have seen firsthand that their companies have benefited greatly from neuroinclusion, and from much more than just filling jobs. The broader ways that their neuroinclusion initiatives are changing their organizations are much more important than the direct benefits from the individual contributions of program participants (though those are also real). This is especially true as they incorporate what they have learned from neurodiversity employment (NDE) into mainstream business practices to build organizational capabilities.

The concept of neurodiversity is simple: There is naturally occurring variation in human brains, which results in differences in the way people think. Almost 1 in 5 people in the world is neurodistinct, meaning they live with differences like autism, dyslexia, attention deficits, or other “neuro” conditions. Though we've historically labeled them “disorders,” which implies a problem, people who have them possess skills and talents, some scarce, that organizations need. People who think differently don’t need fixing; they often thrive because of these neurological differences, not in spite of them. And their organizations can harness the many benefits (some unexpected) of different ways of thinking.