Tips on Retaining ND Employees

We all have a preferred way of working. Whether you or your employees are neurodivergent or neurotypical, it doesn’t matter because we all prefer to work how we like. There are many paths to getting a job completed well. 

Problems occur when workplaces or managers aren’t willing to be flexible with someone else’s preferences; here is why companies should want to retain their ND professionals. 

• ND professionals can be up to 140% more productive, but generally, ND employees are 30% more productive than their NT counterparts. 
• Inclusive companies make 2.3 times more cash flow per employee. 
• A cognitively diversity team can increase innovation by up to 20%. 
• Some detail-oriented ND employees pick up technical skills quickly.
• Many NDs can give heightened attention to details or technical aspects of work. 
• They tend to create more efficient and unique solutions. 
• Some are excellent at connecting with people, pivoting mid-project, or seeing the whole picture. 

There are simple ways to help your ND professionals love their jobs, be loyal to the company, and be top performers. 

• Know your employees and their needs – Different NDs have different strengths and challenges. Ask them how you can help them be successful at their job. However, you must only share personal information with the team with permission. 
• Remove jargon from communications – Many NDs take words literally, so they don’t understand the jargon. Simple and straightforward communication will build trust by avoiding confusion and letting everyone know where they stand. 
• Include language around neurodiversity in your HR policies – Modifying your policy documents can make all the difference. As you would mention, any other background or identity neurodiversity must be in your diversity and inclusion policy. As a primarily invisible condition, neurodiversity can be forgotten in these policies.
• Be an example of creating a culture where everyone is welcome – Your team members must feel like they can be themselves and ask for help when needed. If they feel like asking for help is a sign that they might be disciplined or fired, no one will benefit. Focus on what is going well and find tools or other resources to help with areas of challenge. 
• Allow for all processing styles – some employees may prefer to have all project deliverables in written form instead of verbally. Others may want to wear earbuds to stay focused on work. Others may work better with a standing desk. 
• Encourage mental health initiatives – Make it okay to talk about stress or overwhelm, have HR do training on burnout, and allow people space when they need to regulate themselves. 
• Be conscious of comorbidities – NDs rarely travel alone. Anxiety and depression are two of the most common, but there are many others.
• Avoid using personality tests as part of recruitment – These tests can alienate NDs. Online personality tests have become increasingly popular for recruitment. Personality tests are meant to help the employer understand the candidate’s character traits, giving them insights into what they might be like to work with. While NTs might be able to quickly answer questions in a way that would produce a ‘good’ result, neurodiverse candidates may need help navigating these tasks.
• Use ‘culture-add’ instead of ‘culture-fit’ – As mentioned above, cognitively diverse teams produce more innovative solutions. You want to strengthen your team, not just hire people who agree with you. 
• Consider flexible and individualized workspace arrangements – Some people may work better in an office for accountability. Others may want a hybrid schedule. Others may wish to have the flexibility to decide where they will work best that day in the morning. 
• Cultivate workplace mentors – Often, the difference between retaining or losing a neurodivergent employee is not the quality or quantity of their work or results but all of the “little” things that start to pile up and that many employers feel they can’t appropriately address. These “little things” we tend to think people should already know or pick up on these ” little things ” as they go along (because we measure based on neurotypical experience), are easy to fix. Many companies find success in nurturing employee-mentoring programs. A mentor can be a peer or “higher up” who can meet with a mentee regularly and chat or work on specific career goals. Having access to a mentor is great for everyone, not just for someone whose brain works a little differently.

Retaining employees and providing meaningful work to people is great for both parties. Sometimes, it takes a little work and flexibility, but it is always worth the effort.