5 ways to make your workplace more accessible for autistic people

20 Mar

Conservative estimates suggest that at least 1 in 100 people in the UK are autistic, but the true number is likely to be far higher given significant gender, age and ethnic disparities in diagnosis. Only around 22% of autistic people are in any kind of paid employment – the lowest employment rate of any disability type.

This represents a huge pool of untapped talent. Like anyone else, autistic people can bring a huge range of skills to any workplace. Businesses can also benefit from increased diversity in thinking styles, talents and approaches to improve their services and performance.

Making your workplace more accessible to autistic employees does not have to be complicated or difficult. Often, very simple changes can easily create a more welcoming and accessible environment for autistic people. Adapting your practice and policies in this way will enable you to support any existing autistic employees to work more effectively and achieve more, as well as unlocking access to a significant pool of talented individuals seeking employment. Moreover, many of the adaptations that can be made will actually benefit all employees, not just those who are autistic – meaning it’s a win-win-win situation for your business, all of your employees, and autistic job seekers.

However, it can be difficult to know how best to support autistic people in the workplace. These five top tips will help you make some of the simple changes to start improving the accessibility of your work environment.

1. Think about the sensory environment

Most autistic people will respond differently to sensory stimuli than allistic people might. Every autistic person is different, but increased sensitivity to noise, light and even smell are particularly common.

For most employees, the beeping microwave in the corner of the office, the constantly whirring printer, or the flickering light that never seems to get fixed might just be a mild annoyance, but some autistic people can find them excruciating. Particularly in open-plan offices with the background noise of conversations, online meetings and general office hubbub, it can often be impossible to focus. To me, it seems like I have to hear everything, all of the time – while non-autistic people seem to be able to tune out whatever isn’t important and focus on just the task at hand. For me, and many other autistic employees, a more comfortable sensory environment can make a massive difference to both productivity and wellbeing.

It can be difficult to know which aspects of your office environment might be problematic. Firstly, not all autistic people will have the same responses to the same sensory input. For me, bright and/or fluorescent lighting is sure to give me an unshakeable headache within a few hours, and background noise means I might as well not even attempt to work, but fire alarm tests are usually fairly bearable. For others, a fire alarm is a sure-fire route to a meltdown, while lighting is a non-issue. Moreover, if you don’t experience sensory differences yourself, you may not be able to identify many of the potential issues. If you’re supporting a particular employee, the advice is simple – ask them! They are likely to be able to tell you exactly what the problems currently are, and maybe even how to fix them.

If you’re looking for a more generic approach, some of the following suggestions could be helpful in making your office into a more suitable sensory environment for autistic employees:

If you can, think about designating particular spaces for employees to make/take calls and meetings.
Provide advance warning of any planned fire alarm testing
Can you reduce the reliance on fluorescent lighting? If employees have their own offices, can you make the lighting dimmable?
Allow employees to wear noise-cancelling headphones while working
Encourage employees not to bring strong-smelling foods into the office, or wear strong perfumes

2. Be flexible in your approach to work

Try to consider ‘work’ as what gets done, not when, where or how it is done. Allow employees to work from home if there’s no real reason to be in the office, accept flexibility in working hours, and allow people to work part-time if they prefer.

As we’ve already explored, office environments can often be sensory hell, and even the best offices usually cannot compete with the familiar and regulated environment of the employee’s own home. Not only is the sensory environment usually better, but home-working also eliminates a number of other potential issues. For example, commuting can be difficult, anxiety-provoking or even impossible for some autistic people, particularly if they rely on public transport during peak hours. Working from home also reduces unnecessary social interaction, reducing the need for masking. Additionally, autistic people often also have one or more co-occurring physical or mental health conditions that may make it more difficult or tiring for them to always be physically present in the office.

Flexible hours can be similarly helpful, if it works for your business. Maybe they always do their best work at 10pm, or perhaps they find that taking a longer break mid-afternoon helps them to focus. Perhaps they take a medication that takes a while to ‘kick in’ in the morning. Or if they do have to come into the office, maybe they need to avoid commuting during rush hour. Enabling employees to work when and where they are most productive is a simple way to enable them to feel more comfortable and achieve more.

It’s important to also think about how these kinds of working patterns are valued within your company culture. Introducing a theoretical possibility for employees to work flexibly is not enough, if it’s viewed as a grudging concession, or if the praise and promotions are only directed at those who stick to more traditional working patterns. Try to make sure that employees feel that it is genuinely acceptable, normal and even encouraged for them to make use of the flexibility that is available. A great way to do this is for you as a business leader or manager to visibly use it yourself!

3. Clear communication

Try to make sure that any instructions you give are clear, unambiguous and complete. Many autistic people can tend to be quite literal, and vague instructions can be particularly confusing. If you’re communicating in writing, try to take a step back to check whether your intended meaning can be easily understood. If it’s a spoken instruction, make sure to provide time for (and encourage) clarifying questions – and preferably follow up with a written summary of what was agreed, to reduce the chance of an accidental miscommunication. Be particularly thoughtful as to whether your intended message is clear from what you’ve actually said/written, rather than relying on employees to infer something you intended to be implied, or read between the lines. What you mean may be obvious to you, but may not be to someone else! Some commonly-used phrases can be especially unhelpful, particularly around timescales; I’m often unsure exactly what is really meant when a task is given as a ‘priority’, to be done ‘as soon as possible’ or ‘when you have a moment’. Try to be more specific. If what you actually mean is ‘by the end of the week’ or ‘after you’ve finished x task’ or ‘in the next hour’, then that can be a lot more helpful.

Also think about whether you have any norms, guidelines or expectations that exist only as unspoken rules. Maybe Fridays are ‘Jeans Day’, maybe you’re supposed to bring cake on your birthday, or perhaps your flexible working policy isn’t intended to mean that employees can work fully remotely. Where possible, try to write down this kind of unwritten rule. You could also consider creating a ‘buddy system’ for new employees to build a supportive relationship with a colleague who can be a point of contact for these kinds of questions.

4. Be proactive – but open to conversation and feedback

Don’t wait for your employees to approach you with problems before you try to create solutions. Genuine inclusivity is more than just a willingness to make adjustments. Try to be proactive in trying out some of the suggestions from this article, as well as in starting conversations around disability in the workplace. If it seems that inclusivity is the norm and valued within the company, then employees are likely to feel more comfortable starting conversations around their needs. Moreover, it helps to remove the administrative burden that many disabled people face when advocating for themselves and their needs, which can often be akin to a second full-time job on top of their actual role. However, it’s important also to keep sight of the fact that employees are the experts on their own needs, and you should always remain open to making further changes. Make sure that you are known to welcome feedback and suggestions, and that you act on these wherever possible.

5. Improve understanding of autism within the organisation

Specific changes and adjustments are essential, but genuine inclusivity needs to be built on a base of positive understanding and attitudes. Many businesses are starting to encourage employees to ‘bring their whole selves’ to work, but it is all too easy for this to feel shallow and inauthentic when many autistic people have experiences of being criticised for doing just that. Therefore, one of the easiest and most impactful changes you can make is to improve your understanding of autism – and help your colleagues and staff to do the same.

It's useful to consider engaging with sources that provide a more accurate and nuanced representation than that with which we are familiar with from popular culture. It can be hard to know where to start amid the chaos of dubious parenting blogs and media that invariably tends to focus on sensational tales of male savants. The National Autistic Society is a good starting point to learn more; there are also some great blogs and articles by autistic professionals about their experiences that you can find with a quick search. Why not commit to regularly sharing resources relating to inclusion and diversity with your employees, perhaps as part of an existing staff newsletter or similar?

If appropriate, you could also consider investing in autism awareness training for you and your staff. This could be a standalone session or come as part of a broader disability awareness package. Look for training delivered by autistic facilitators – there are numerous individuals and autistic-led small organisations offering different in-person and online training options to suit your needs.

Bonus tip – think about your hiring process

It’s easy to only think about accessibility in relation to existing employees, but failing to also consider the hiring process would be to ignore one of the biggest barriers to employment for many autistic, neurodivergent and disabled jobseekers. Many traditional recruitment practices can present particular difficulty to many autistic employees – at all stages of the process from job descriptions right through to interviews.

Be mindful that not all autistic candidates will enter the recruitment process having disclosed their disability. Some may choose not to inform potential employers due to concerns around discrimination – and many others will themselves be unaware of their identity! Therefore, it is not enough to be open to adjustments for autistic candidates. You also need to take action to ensure that your standard recruitment process is as accessible as possible for as many candidates as you can.

Consider the wording of your job description, making sure to use clear and concise language and accurately specify about whether skills and experiences are essential or desirable. You might also want to be clear whether good candidates will be expected to meet all of the criteria, or whether you are willing to hire candidates with the potential to develop in one or more areas. Think carefully before listing requirements that may not be necessary for the role; requirements such as ‘great communication skills’ or ‘a strong team player’ seem to appear on almost every job description but are vague and can be off-putting to some potential applicants.

Wherever possible, avoid the use of psychometric testing. As a tool that is explicitly designed to quantify aspects of candidates’ personality, and often to find employees who will be a ‘culture fit’ for the organisation, it will inevitably exclude many excellent neurodivergent candidates who may not meet the very restrictive criteria being assessed (that may not even be relevant to the role). The multiple-choice aspect to most psychometric testing can present particular difficulty in allowing only a very narrow range of potential responses, which may not reflect the way candidates would respond to real-life situations.

Interviews can also be an obstacle to some potential employees. Nobody will perform at their best in a high-stress, anxiety-provoking situation, and this is particularly true for autistic candidates. Typical measures of assessing interview performance may not be appropriate for autistic candidates; eye contact and body language will not be indicative of motivation or interest, for example. Some candidates may also find the focus on verbal expression a hindrance to their ability to provide effective responses. To make your interview process more accessible, consider the following:

Provide information in advance relating to who will be conducting the interview, and where it will be taking place
Allow candidates to choose between in-person and online attendance
Give candidates advance notice of the interview structure – and consider providing interview questions in advance to allow sufficient time for processing.
Provide interview questions in both verbal and written formats – for example, by pasting them into the chat box of an online meeting.
Focus on the content of responses, not the way they are delivered. Remember that the candidate’s eye contact and body language may be different to that which you might expect.
Be open to alternative styles of communication, including the use of AAC or typed responses.
Can you offer the option of alternative methods of assessment, such as submitting a portfolio, written answers to questions or a paid work trial?
Provide information about accessibility arrangements to candidates ahead of the interview, potentially even within the job advert.
Remain open to any requests for adjustments from candidates – the above suggestions are a strong start but do not represent a fully-accessible interview process for all candidates!