FEATURE NEURODIVERSITY AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
BY ROBERT D. AUSTIN AND GARY P. PISANO
96 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW MAY–JUNE 2017
SHARE THIS ARTICLE. HBR LINK MAKES IT EASY.
SEE PAGE 13 FOR INSTRUCTIONS.
WHY YOU
SHOULD
EMBRACE
IT IN YOUR
WORKFORCE
MAY–JUNE 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 97
FEATURE NEURODIVERSITY AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
IN BRIEF
THE PROBLEM
Many people with
neurological conditions
such as autism spectrum
disorder, dyspraxia, and
dyslexia have extraordinary
skills, including in pattern
recognition, memory, and
mathematics. But the
neurodiverse population
remains largely untapped.
THE CAUSE
Conventional recruitment
and career-development
methods (for example,
job interviews) and the
belief that scalable work
processes require absolute
conformity to standardized
approaches screen out
neurodiverse people
who could be valuable
employees.
THE SOLUTION
A growing number of
companies—among them
SAP, Hewlett Packard
Enterprise, Microsoft, Willis
Towers Watson, and EY—
have reformed HR practices
to capitalize on the talents
of neurodiverse people.
In the process, they are
becoming better able to
fully leverage the skills of
all workers.
Meet John. He’s a wizard at data analytics. His com- they’re loose. When they’re tight, though, John is the
bination of mathematical ability and software devel- department’s most productive employee. He is hard-
opment skill is highly unusual. His CV features two working and never wants to take breaks. Although his
master’s degrees, both with honors. An obvious guy assigned workplace “buddy” has finally persuaded
for a tech company to scoop up, right? him to do so, he doesn’t enjoy them.
Until recently, no. Before John ran across a firm “John” is a composite of people whose privacy
that had begun experimenting with alternative ap- we wanted to protect—people with autism spectrum
proaches to talent, he was unemployed for more than disorder. He is representative of participants in the
two years. Other companies he had talked with badly programs of pioneering companies that have begun
needed the skills he possessed. But he couldn’t make seeking out “neurodiverse” talent.
it through the hiring process. A lot of people are like John. The incidence of autism
If you watched John for a while, you’d start to see in the United States is now 1 in 42 among boys and 1 in
why. He seems, well, different. He wears headphones 189 among girls, according to the Centers for Disease
all the time, and when people talk to him, he doesn’t Control and Prevention. And although corporate pro-
look right at them. He leans over every 10 minutes or grams have so far focused primarily on autistic people,
so to tighten his shoelaces; he can’t concentrate when it should be possible to extend them to people affected
98 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW MAY–JUNE 2017
by dyspraxia (a neurologically based physical disorder), Today’s website. Robison, who himself has Asperger’s
dyslexia, ADHD, social anxiety disorders, and other syndrome, adds, “Indeed, many individuals who
conditions. Many people with these disorders have embrace the concept of neurodiversity believe that
higher-than-average abilities; research shows that people with differences do not need to be cured; they
some conditions, including autism and dyslexia, can need help and accommodation instead.” We couldn’t
bestow special skills in pattern recognition, memory, agree more.
or mathematics. Yet those affected often struggle to fit Everyone is to some extent differently abled (an
the profiles sought by prospective employers. expression favored by many neurodiverse people),
Neurodiverse people frequently need workplace because we are all born different and raised differ-
accommodations, such as headphones to prevent ently. Our ways of thinking result from both our in-
auditory overstimulation, to activate or maximally herent “machinery” and the experiences that have
leverage their abilities. Sometimes they exhibit chal- “programmed” us.
lenging eccentricities. In many cases the accommoda- Most managers are familiar with the advantages
tions and challenges are manageable and the poten- organizations can gain from diversity in the back-
tial returns are great. But to realize the benefits, most grounds, disciplinary training, gender, culture, and
companies would have to adjust their recruitment, other individual qualities of employees. Benefits from
selection, and career development policies to reflect neurodiversity are similar but more direct. Because
a broader definition of talent. neurodiverse people are wired differently from “neu-
A growing number of prominent companies have rotypical” people, they may bring new perspectives
reformed their HR processes in order to access neuro- to a company’s efforts to create or recognize value.
diverse talent; among them are SAP, Hewlett Packard At HPE, neurodiverse software testers observed that
Enterprise (HPE), Microsoft, Willis Towers Watson, one client’s projects always seemed to go into crisis
Ford, and EY. Many others, including Caterpillar, Dell mode before a launch. Intolerant of disorder, they
Technologies, Deloitte, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, and strenuously questioned the company’s apparent ac-
UBS, have start-up or exploratory efforts under way. ceptance of the chaos. This led the client company to
We have had extensive access to the neurodiversity realize that it had indeed become too tolerant of these
programs at SAP, HPE, and Specialisterne (the Danish crises and, with the help of the testers, to successfully
consulting company that originated such programs) redesign the launch process. At SAP, a neurodiverse
and have also interacted with people at Microsoft, customer-support analyst spotted an opportunity to
Willis Towers Watson, and EY. let customers help solve a common problem them-
Although the programs are still in early days— selves; thousands of them subsequently used the
SAP’s, the longest running among major companies, resources he created.
is just four years old—managers say they are already Nevertheless, the neurodiverse population re-
paying off in ways far beyond reputational enhance- mains a largely untapped talent pool. Unemployment
ment. Those ways include productivity gains, qual- runs as high as 80% (this figure includes people with
ity improvement, boosts in innovative capabilities, more-severe disorders, who are not candidates for
and broad increases in employee engagement. Nick neurodiversity programs). When they are working,
Wilson, the managing director of HPE South Pacific— even highly capable neurodiverse people are often un-
an organization with one of the largest such pro- deremployed. Program participants told us story after
grams—says that no other initiative in his company story of how, despite having solid credentials, they
delivers benefits at so many levels. had previously had to settle for the kinds of jobs many
Perhaps the most surprising benefit is that manag- people leave behind in high school. When SAP began
ers have begun thinking more deeply about leverag- its Autism at Work program, applicants included peo-
ing the talents of all employees through greater sensi- ple with master’s degrees in electrical engineering,
tivity to individual needs. SAP’s program “forces you biostatistics, economic statistics, and anthropology
to get to know the person better, so you know how and bachelor’s degrees in computer science, applied
to manage them,” says Silvio Bessa, the senior vice and computational mathematics, electrical engineer-
president of digital business services. “It’s made me ing, and engineering physics. Some had dual degrees.
a better manager, without a doubt.” Many had earned very high grades and graduated with
honors or other distinctions. One held a patent.
Not surprisingly, when autistic people with those
WHY NEURODIVERSITY PRESENTS OPPORTUNITIES sorts of credentials do manage to get hired, many turn
“Neurodiversity is the idea that neurological differ- out to be capable, and some are really great. Over the
ences like autism and ADHD are the result of nor- past two years HPE’s program has placed more than
mal, natural variation in the human genome,” John 30 participants in software-testing roles at Australia’s
Elder Robison, a scholar in residence and a cochair Department of Human Services (DHS). Preliminary
of the Neurodiversity Working Group at the College results suggest that the organization’s neurodiverse
of William & Mary, writes in a blog on Psychology testing teams are 30% more productive than the others.
MAY–JUNE 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 99
FEATURE NEURODIVERSITY AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Inspired by the successes at DHS, the Australian You might think that organizations could simply
Defense Department is now working with HPE to seek more variety in prospective employees while re-
develop a neurodiversity program in cybersecu- taining their traditional recruiting, hiring, and devel-
rity; participants will apply their superior pattern- opment practices. Many have taken that approach:
detection abilities to tasks such as examining logs Their managers still work top down from strategies
and other sources of messy data for signs of intrusion to capabilities needed, translating those into orga-
or attack. Using assessment methods borrowed from nizational roles, job descriptions, and recruiting
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), it has found candi- checklists. But two big problems cause them to miss
dates whose relevant abilities are “off the charts.” neurodiverse talent.
(The IDF’s Special Intelligence Unit 9900, which is The first involves a practice that is almost uni-
responsible for analyzing aerial and satellite imag- versal under the traditional approach: interviewing.
ery, has a group staffed primarily with people on the Although neurodiverse people may excel in import-
autism spectrum. It has proved that they can spot ant areas, many don’t interview well. For example,
patterns others do not see.) autistic people often don’t make good eye contact, are
The case for neurodiverse hiring is especially com- prone to conversational tangents, and can be overly
pelling given the skills shortages that increasingly af- honest about their weaknesses. Some have confi-
flict technology and other industries. For example, the dence problems arising from difficulties they experi-
European Union faces a shortage of 800,000 IT work- enced in previous interview situations. Neurodiverse
ers by 2020, according to a European Commission people more broadly are unlikely to earn higher scores
study. The biggest deficits are expected to be in strate- in interviews than less-talented neurotypical candi-
gically important and rapidly expanding areas such as dates. SAP and HPE have found that it can take weeks
data analytics and IT services implementation, whose or months to discover how good some program partic-
tasks are a good match with the abilities of some ipants are (or, equally important, where their limita-
neurodiverse people. tions lie). Fortunately, as we’ll see, interviews are not
the only way to assess a candidate’s suitability.
The second problem, especially common in large
WHY COMPANIES DON’T TAP NEURODIVERSE TALENT companies, derives from the assumption that scal-
What has kept so many companies from taking on able processes require absolute conformity to stan-
people with the skills they badly need? It comes down dardized approaches. As mentioned, employees in
to the way they find and recruit talent and decide neurodiversity programs typically need to be allowed
whom to hire (and promote). to deviate from established practices. This shifts a
Especially in large companies, HR processes are de- manager’s orientation from assuring compliance
veloped with an eye toward wide application across through standardization to adjusting individual work
the organization. But there is a conflict between scal- contexts. Most accommodations, such as installing
ability and the goal of acquiring neurodiverse tal- different lighting and providing noise-canceling head-
ent. “SAP focuses on having scalable HR processes; phones, are not very expensive. But they do require
however, if we were to use the same processes for managers to tailor individual work settings more than
everyone, we would miss people with autism,” says they otherwise might.
Anka Wittenberg, the company’s chief diversity and
inclusion officer.
In addition, the behaviors of many neurodiverse HOW PIONEERS ARE CHANGING THE TALENT
people run counter to common notions of what makes MANAGEMENT GAME
a good employee—solid communication skills, being The tech industry has a history of hiring oddballs.
a team player, emotional intelligence, persuasiveness, The talented nerd who lacks social graces has be-
salesperson-type personalities, the ability to network, come a cultural icon, as much a part of the industry
the ability to conform to standard practices without mythos as the company that starts in a garage. In his
special accommodations, and so on. These criteria book NeuroTribes, Steve Silberman points out that
systematically screen out neurodiverse people. the incidence of autism is particularly high in places
But they are not the only way to provide value. In like Silicon Valley (for reasons not completely under-
fact, in recent decades the ability to compete on the stood). He and others have hypothesized that many
basis of innovation has become more crucial for many of the industry’s “oddballs” and “nerds” might well
companies. Innovation calls on firms to add variety have been “on the spectrum,” although undiagnosed.
to the mix—to include people and ideas from “the Hiring for neurodiversity, then, could be seen as an ex-
edges,” as SAP put it in the press release announcing tension of the tendencies of a culture that recognizes
its program. Having people who see things differently the value of nerds.
and who maybe don’t fit in seamlessly “helps offset In recent years a few pioneering companies have
our tendency, as a big company, to all look in the same formalized and professionalized those tendencies.
direction,” Bessa says. Although their programs vary, they have elements
100 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW MAY–JUNE 2017
in common, not least because they draw on the body (the duration varies by company). During this time
of knowledge developed at Specialisterne. Thorkil they use Lego Mindstorms robotic construction and
Sonne founded the firm in 2004, motivated by the au- programming kits to work on assigned projects—first
tism diagnosis of his third child. Over the next several individually and then in groups, with the projects be-
years it developed and refined noninterview methods coming more like actual work as the process contin-
for assessing, training, and managing neurodiverse ues. Some companies have additional sessions. SAP,
talent and demonstrated the viability of its model by for example, established a “soft skills” module to help
running a successful for-profit company focused on
software testing.
Dissatisfied with the rate at which his own com-
pany could create jobs, Sonne established the
Specialist People Foundation (recently renamed the
Specialisterne Foundation) in 2008 to spread his com-
pany’s know-how to others and persuade multination-
als to start neurodiversity programs. Most companies
that have done so have worked with the foundation to
deploy some version of the Specialisterne approach. It
has seven major elements:
Team with “social partners” for expertise you
lack. Managers in, say, a tech company know a lot
about many things but usually are not experts in au-
tism or other categories of neurodiversity. Also, for
many good reasons, companies hesitate to extend
their activities into employees’ private lives, where
neurodiverse people may need extra help.
To fill these gaps, the companies we studied en-
tered into relationships with “social partners”—
government or nonprofit organizations commit- candidates who have never worked in a professional
ted to helping people with disabilities obtain jobs. environment become familiar with the norms of such
SAP has worked with California’s Department of a setting. These efforts are typically funded by the
Rehabilitation, Pennsylvania’s Office of Vocational government or nonprofits. Trainees are usually paid.
Rehabilitation, the U.S. nonprofits EXPANDability Despite the social difficulties experienced by
and the Arc, and overseas agencies such as EnAble many neurodiverse people, candidates often display
India, while HPE has worked with Autism SA (South complex collaborative and support behaviors during
Australia). Such groups help companies navigate the project-based assessment period. At HPE, for
local employment regulations that apply to people example, groups were asked to devise a reliable ro-
with disabilities, suggest candidates from lists of botic pill-dispensing system. During the presentation
neurodiverse people seeking employment, assist in of solutions, one candidate froze. “I’m sorry, I can’t
prescreening, help arrange public funding for train- do it,” he said. “The words are all jumbled up in my
ing, sometimes administer training, and provide the head.” His neurodiverse teammates rushed to his
mentorship and ongoing support (especially outside rescue, surrounding and reassuring him, and he was
work hours) needed to ensure that neurodiverse em- able to finish.
ployees will succeed. In Germany, recognition of the By extending the assessment process, such pro-
benefits of moving people off public assistance and grams allow time for candidates’ capabilities to surface.
into jobs that generate tax revenue has led to publicly There are, of course, other ways to do this. HPE has
funded positions to support the retention of neurodi- begun using internships that include similar elements.
verse employees. Although estimates of the benefits Train other workers and managers. Short (some
a government gains by turning such people into tax- are just half a day), low-key training sessions help ex-
paying tech workers vary, they often are on the order isting employees understand what to expect from their
of $50,000 per person a year. new colleagues—for example, that they might need
Use nontraditional, noninterview-based as- accommodations and might seem different. Managers
sessment and training processes. To this end, get somewhat more-extensive training to familiarize
Specialisterne created “hangouts”—comfortable them with sources of support for program employees.
gatherings, usually lasting half a day, in which neuro- Set up a support ecosystem. Companies with
diverse job candidates can demonstrate their abilities neurodiverse programs design and maintain simple
in casual interactions with company managers. At the support systems for their new employees. SAP defines
end of a hangout, some candidates are selected for two “support circles”—one for the workplace, the
two to six weeks of further assessment and training other for an employee’s personal life. The workplace
MAY–JUNE 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 101
FEATURE NEURODIVERSITY AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
support circle includes a team manager, a team buddy, participants can build skills that will allow them to
a job and life skills coach, a work mentor, and an “HR perform well and eventually to transition out of their
business partner,” who oversees a group of program pods into more-mainstream jobs.
participants. Buddies are staff members on the same Scale the program. SAP has announced an in-
team who provide assistance with daily tasks, work- tention to make 1% of its workforce neurodiverse
load management, and prioritization. Job and life skills by 2020—a number chosen because it roughly cor-
coaches are usually from social partner organizations. responds to the percentage of autistic people in the
Other social partner roles include vocational rehab general population. Microsoft, HPE, and others are
counselor and personal counselor. Usually, families of also working to enlarge their programs, although they
employees also provide support. have declined to set numerical targets. It’s easiest to
HPE takes a different approach. It places new neu- expand employment in those areas, such as software
rodiverse employees in “pods” of about 15 people, testing, business analytics, and cybersecurity, in
where they work alongside neurotypical colleagues which tasks are a good fit with neurodiverse talent.
in a roughly 4:1 ratio while two managers and a con- SAP, however, has placed its more than 100 program
sultant are tasked with addressing neurodiversity- employees in 18 roles. “The original expectation, as
related issues. I understood it, was that these colleagues would be
Tailor methods for managing careers. Employees mostly focused on repetitive work, such as software
hired through these programs need long-term career testing,” one manager told us. “But in practice they
paths, just as other workers do. This requires serious have been able to add value in a much broader range
thought about ongoing assessment and development of tasks.” Those include product management, which
that will take the special circumstances of neuro involves coordinating the development of new SAP
diverse employment into account. Fortunately, over offerings; HR service associate, which entails organiz-
time supervisors usually get a good sense of program ing and planning HR activities; associate consultant,
employees’ talents and limitations. Participants un- which requires helping customers apply SAP solutions
dergo the same performance evaluations that other to business problems; and customer support, which
employees do, but managers work within those pro- means working with customers on the phone to help
cesses to set specific goals. Although some goals may them use SAP software. The latter two defy the as-
relate to participants’ conditions, no allowances are sumption that people with autism can’t hold jobs that
made for unsatisfactory performance. If anything, require social skills.
neurodiverse employees must satisfy more require- HPE is deploying neurodiverse specialists nine
ments than others, because they must meet program at a time, in pods, to client organizations—in effect,
objectives in addition to the performance objectives selling packages of the advanced capabilities derived
expected of anyone in their role. from neurodiversity. The model has intriguing scale
Some participants quickly demonstrate poten- possibilities, both because many workers are placed at
tial to become integrated into the mainstream orga- once and because client demand enlarges the domain
nization and go further in their careers. HPE’s pods of possible placements.
are designed to provide a safe environment in which Mainstream the program. The success of neu-
rodiversity programs has prompted some companies
to think about how ordinary HR processes may be ex-
cluding high-quality talent. SAP is conducting a review
to determine how recruiting, hiring, and development
could take a broader view. Its stated goal is to make
its mainstream talent processes so “neurodiversity
friendly” that it can ultimately close its neurodiversity
program. Microsoft has similar ambitions.
Companies have experienced a surprising array
of benefits from neurodiversity programs. Some are
straightforward: Firms have become more success-
ful at finding and hiring good and even great talent in
tough-to-fill skills categories. Products, services, and
bottom lines have profited from lower defect rates
and higher productivity. Both SAP and HPE report ex-
amples of neurodiverse employees’ participating on
teams that generated significant innovations (one, at
SAP, helped develop a technical fix worth an estimated
$40 million in savings).
Other benefits are subtler. One executive told us
that efforts to make corporate communications more
102 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW MAY–JUNE 2017
direct, in order to account for the difficulties autistic Some supervisors reported that the program gen-
employees have with nuance, irony, and other fine erated extra work for them. For instance, the perfec-
points of language, have improved communication tionist tendencies of some participants made it diffi-
overall. The perfectionist tendencies of some HPE cult for those employees to judge which defects were
software-testing pods have caused client organiza- worth fixing, which were not, and which required
tions to raise their game and stop viewing certain com- them to seek additional direction.
mon problems as inevitable. In addition, employee Managing neurodiverse employees’ stress presents
engagement has risen in areas the programs touch: another challenge. We heard reports that unexpected
Neurotypical people report that involvement makes and uncontrollable events, such as systems outages
their work more meaningful and their morale higher. that interfered with work routines, caused unusually
And early indications suggest that program employ- high levels of anxiety among participants. Many peo-
ees, appreciative of having been given a chance, are ple we interviewed emphasized the need to be sensi-
very loyal and have low rates of turnover. tive to program employees’ stress. To keep it under
Last but not least, the programs confer reputa- control, some participants work only part-time—a
tional benefits. The companies that pioneered them limitation that may create problems, especially when
have been recognized by the United Nations as exem- deadlines loom.
plars of responsible management and have won global To handle such situations, organizations need peo-
corporate citizenship awards. ple in place who can spot and address issues before
they escalate. Many managers said that with these
and other supports, they could perform their jobs in
CHALLENGES OF A NEURODIVERSE WORKFORCE a fairly normal fashion. And contrary to their initial
To be sure, companies implementing neurodiversity assumptions, SAP managers found they could even
programs have encountered challenges. Although supervise program participants remotely, as long as
there are plenty of potential candidates, many are buddies and mentors provided support locally.
hard to identify, because universities—sensitive to
issues of discrimination—do not classify students in
neurodiversity terms, and potential candidates do not A MAJOR SHIFT IN MANAGING PEOPLE
necessarily self-identify. In response, HPE is helping Neurodiversity programs induce companies and their
colleges and high schools set up nontraditional “work leaders to adopt a style of management that empha-
experience” programs for neurodiverse populations. sizes placing each person in a context that maximizes
These involve video gaming, robotic programming, her or his contributions.
and other activities. Microsoft, too, is working with SAP uses a metaphor to communicate this idea
universities to improve methods of identifying and across the organization: People are like puzzle pieces,
accessing neurodiverse talent. irregularly shaped. Historically, companies have asked
Another common difficulty involves the dashed employees to trim away their irregularities, because
hopes of candidates who are not chosen for place- it’s easier to fit people together if they are all perfect
ment—an inevitable circumstance that must be han- rectangles. But that requires employees to leave their
dled carefully. At one company, parents whose son did differences at home—differences firms need in order
not qualify for a job wrote to the CEO; the program had to innovate. “The corporate world has mostly missed
raised their hopes that he would finally achieve mean- out on this [benefit],” Anka Wittenberg observes.
ingful employment, and they were understandably This suggests that companies must embrace an
disappointed. Executives fretted about a potential alternative philosophy, one that calls on managers
PR problem. In the end, compassionate discussions to do the hard work of fitting irregular puzzle pieces
between the parents and managers of the program— together—to treat people not as containers of fungi-
some of whom had families that had experienced ble human resources but as unique individual assets.
similar issues—calmed the situation. The work for managers will be harder. But the payoff
Issues related to fairness and norms of interaction for companies will be considerable: access to more of
might arise as well. In one case we encountered, a their employees’ talents along with diverse perspec-
program participant who had overstimulation dif- tives that may help them compete more effectively.
ficulties was given his own office while four people “Innovation,” Wittenberg notes, “is most likely to
in a nearby department were crowded into a similar come from parts of us that we don’t all share.”
space, generating complaints. Those subsided af- HBR Reprint R1703F
ter an explanation was offered. We also heard of in-
stances in which the excessive honesty typical of au- ROBERT D. AUSTIN is a professor of information systems at
tistic people raised hackles. One concerned a program Ivey Business School and a coauthor of The Adventures
of an IT Leader (Harvard Business Review Press, 2016).
employee who told a colleague, “You stink at your GARY P. PISANO is the Harry E. Figgie Professor of Business
job.” Coaching by managers and mentors can help Administration and a member of the U.S. Competitiveness
address such situations. Project at Harvard Business School.
MAY–JUNE 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 103
Copyright 2017 Harvard Business Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Additional restrictions
may apply including the use of this content as assigned course material. Please consult your
institution's librarian about any restrictions that might apply under the license with your
institution. For more information and teaching resources from Harvard Business Publishing
including Harvard Business School Cases, eLearning products, and business simulations
please visit hbsp.harvard.edu.
