The strengths of a neurodiverse workforce – Learning at Work Week

Learning at Work Week is an opportunity to highlight the importance and benefits of continual learning and development in the workplace. We want to foster an environment that encourages our people to keep developing their skills and learning new ones too, with fantastic support from our Learning & Development team.

This week we’re shining a spotlight on the importance of a neurodiverse workforce – an increasingly important factor when approaching learning in the workplace.

What is a neurodiverse workforce?

You most likely have several neurodivergent colleagues working around you, as it’s estimated that between 15 to 20 percent of the UK population is neurodivergent in some way. Nurturing a neurodiverse workforce actively involves embracing all the different ways individuals think, learn, interact, and perceive the world.

Typically, when it comes to working and learning, it’s the neurotypical point of view that’s considered the “norm”, and they’re accommodated more than their neurodivergent colleagues. This leads to neurodivergent people being forced into adapting to the way neurotypical people act, learn, communicate, and conduct tasks, having to conform to the majority.

Only encouraging one or two ways of thinking can hinder a workforce more than help it. Neurodivergent individuals will constantly be second guessing themselves, hesitant to work against the norm, affecting their productivity and learning.

Embracing different thinkers

Everyone has a different way of thinking, whether you are neurotypical or neurodivergent. To see this in practice, ask a group of people from inside or outside the workplace, and get them to do the same task independently, with the same list of instructions.

This is likely to lead to a variety of different results. Everyone’s brains are wired differently and will work and interpret the task in a different way. There’s not always one right way to complete a task. Having a neurodiverse workforce recognises and respects these neurological differences, seeing the benefits of thinking differently.

The benefits of a neurodiverse workforce

Having a neurodiverse workforce can bring many benefits. Not all neurodivergent individuals are the same, and each can demonstrate different strengths, having their own advantages at work. To name a few; identifying trends and patterns in data, high levels of creative thinking, hyper focus on tasks at hand, high levels of empathy, and remembering large amounts of detailed information.

When neurodivergent people are not constrained by a rigid work environment, they’re able to flourish. By accepting these differences, they don’t have to actively struggle with an unnatural way of working to them – they’re free to work and learn in their own way.

It’s a win-win for the workplace. Diversity of thought contributes to more creativity and innovation, as does being able to share unique ideas and perspectives than if we just restrict ourselves to the accepted ways of thinking. Inclusion benefits everyone involved.

Working towards a neurodiverse workforce

So, how do we work towards an inclusive workplace? Bringing it back to ‘Learning at Work Week’, inclusive learning is one of the many steps towards achieving a neurodiverse workplace. Constantly educating your colleagues and raising awareness about neurodivergence and the challenges they can face is also something to be encouraged

We believe that learning is a critical component of personal and professional growth, and are committed to providing our staff with the resources and accommodations they need to succeed.

Our Learning & Development team and our wider business are focusing on neurodiversity, to continue our goal of fostering a workplace where everyone feels included and accepted and to give us a competitive advantage. Alongside this, our employee network group, ‘Diversability’, works all year round to inform our colleague, provide a platform to promote both visible and invisible disabilities, and celebrate positive aspects of their diversability.

So, watch this space as we continue to nurture and develop our workplace to embrace our neurodivergent colleagues