Benefiting From Employees With Autism And ADHD
Succeeding together…
Our Support for Your Business
We support companies that want to improve the conditions for their employees with autism and ADHD – for the benefit of everyone.
With this goal in mind, we work with your teams to establish a beneficial collaboration. Furthermore, we offer coaching for individuals with autism and ADHD, as well as consulting services for managers.
Benefits from extraordinary skills
Employees with autism and ADHD are a real asset to any team. This statement goes against popular opinion, but recent research confirms it. We strongly encourage hiring people with atypical profiles.
In people with autism and ADHD, the brain functions slightly differently in specific areas. The term used to describe this is neurodivergence, and it is present from birth.
Their unique perception can bring valuable skills to a team. However, neurodiversity also comes with certain challenges that are not immediately apparent to others, as well as behaviors that may be misunderstood. This can lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary conflicts.
Misunderstandings could be easily avoided. We are here to help you by providing you with the necessary knowledge.
Avoiding pitfalls
Neurodivergent people, particularly those with autism and ADHD, face many obstacles in their workplace that are not easily noticeable to outsiders. They might be severely disturbed by certain noises, smells, bright lights, etc. Interactions with others could be so exhausting for someone with autism that they avoid them, without this necessarily meaning that they are uninterested in other people. The performance of someone with ADHD can fluctuate greatly, without them being able to consciously control it for the most part.
As a result, these individuals may easily be perceived as overly sensitive, haughty, lazy—or simply unmotivated to make an effort. On the neurodivergent side, misinterpretations may also arise. If necessary, we can help you avoid this spiral of misunderstandings so that you can enjoy a rewarding collaboration.
Promoting mutual understanding
Misunderstandings are mainly due to a lack of knowledge about how autism and ADHD manifest themselves. It is easy to consider the behavior of neurodivergent people as insincere and their requests as excessive. Their real suffering goes unnoticed and can lead to loosing their workforce. As a result, you may lose a valuable member of your team. Here are some common misunderstandings to be aware of.
Autism
Most autistic people avoid meetings, breaks, and lunches because these activities exhaust them too much. In doing so, they are simply trying to preserve their own energy. Instead, they show their connection to the team through high-quality work, which can go unnoticed when their social withdrawal is mistaken for arrogance. Another obstacle may be their frankness, whereby they simply want to improve quality without understanding why someone might feel criticized by their comments.
ADHD
People with autism are often accused of doing things on purpose, even though they are unable to do otherwise. This reaction is also common toward people with ADHD, as their performance may vary between excellence and mediocrity. In particular, when they are given too many tasks that run counter to how ADHD works, one should not expect extraordinary performance. It's like in soccer, where an excellent striker is often a below-average defender.
Our support for your teams
Are you looking for support to (better) integrate a person with autism into a team? First, it will be necessary to replace mutual assumptions, which are often incorrect, with reliable knowledge. Furthermore, you will need to take into account the fact that needs can vary considerably from one neurodivergent person to another.
Instead of formal training, we promote open communication within the team. Through a structured dialogue (based on IBM's “Team Charter method”), we give autistic individuals and their colleagues the opportunity to express their needs, ask questions, and clarify how to work together. The outcome of this process will form the basis of a high-performing team in which each individual can leverage their strengths.
Taking the autistic needs seriously
People with autism are usually appreciated for their extraordinary knowledge, reliability, and perseverance. Their performance in their area of expertise is normally well above average. To benefit from it, people with autism need working conditions that take in account their needs, which vary from person to person.
Common requests
Autistic people often express the following needs
- Reduce participation in group activities (meetings, breaks, meals)
- A quiet workplace without distractions (no shared office space)
- Clear and explicit communication without expecting the other person to understand implied meanings
- A balanced perspective, which means clearly stating what you are satisfied with and what causes problems
- Listen to requests and pay attention to the needs behind them
How to respond?
Who wouldn't like to have the parking lot right next to the entrance? We unquestionably leave it for people with reduced mobility. However, when a neurodivergent person expresses their needs, their requests are often considered unnecessary or excessive. We cannot imagine the effort and courage it probably took them to make this request—and the suffering that lies behind it.
The request for adjustments is a good sign, as it shows that the person is motivated and wants to give their best. It is wise to take it seriously. Otherwise, the employee's performance will remain below their capabilities, or you even risk losing that person due to burnout. These adjustments do not constitute an unfair advantage or privilege, but are a necessity.
Our support for managers
Someone who is unfamiliar with autism generally cannot imagine the severity of the difficulties that lead to such requests. We are happy to provide you with the knowledge you need to assess these types of requests.
With an understanding of how autistic people function in your workplace, you can make informed decisions and justify them to others when necessary—for the benefit of your team and your company.
Our coaching for employees
Besides supporting your teams and your managers, we also offer coaching for employees with special needs. This way, you can help them deal with any challenges that can't be fully eliminated by your accommodations.
Our neurodiversity expert
Quite late in life, at the age of 61, Beát Edelmann was diagnosed with autism and ADHD. His personal journey has led him to experience all aspects of the business world. He worked in the non-profit sector and private companies, both nationally and internationally. As a result, he understands the demands of the companies as well as the needs of neurodivergent individuals.
Multilingual support
We offer support and coaching in
- English
- French
- and German
Our interventions are a valuable investment and bring you significant and lasting benefits.
Contact us
We would be happy to present our solutions for (better) integrating people with autism and ADHD into your teams. – Please get in touch with us!
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