Inclusive Recruitment Pays Off

Providing employment for neurodiverse and disabled adults

While this career mobility and empowerment is good news for workers, many of whom suffered during the Great Recession, a choosier talent pool has a downside for employers: an estimated six million jobs are currently unfilled.

To adjust to a tight labor market, employers and human resources managers must exercise greater creativity in their hiring practices. One untapped and overlooked resource: individuals who are considered neurodivergent, such as people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Several years ago, I read a powerful book, No Greatness without Goodness, written by corporate executive Randy Lewis. As the father of a child with autism, Lewis had a vision to provide meaningful employment for neurodiverse and disabled adults.

The book lit a fire within me. As the largest diagnostic information and services provider in the United States, Quest processes tens of thousands of laboratory tests every night. While the demand for medical laboratory technologists is projected to grow by double digits in the next decade, labor economists note that retiring Baby Boomers and declines in training programs for laboratory personnel will exacerbate the shortage of available workers. Employees who handle specimen processing must be responsible, highly focused, and detail-oriented -- skills that many persons with ASD possess. 

Despite these unique capabilities, two-thirds of young people with autism were less likely to be employed not only than so-called “neuro-typical” individuals, but also than their peers with other disabilities. A 2015 report found 58 percent of individuals in their twenties with autism were employed, a rate far lower than employment rates of young people with intellectual or learning disabilities, speech impairments, or emotional disturbance, and a world apart from the nation’s overall employment rate.1

Recognizing the potential to tap into an overlooked source of talent, Quest launched its DiverseAbilities Employee Business Network program in 2017 by partnering with a team of national disability consultants who were recruited and supported by Autism Speaks and NEXT for AUTISM to help employers develop autism hiring initiatives to diversify and strengthen the labor pool. DiverseAbilities seeks out individuals who identify on the autism spectrum for jobs that match their abilities. The program is now operational at our clinical laboratories in Tucker, Georgia and Lenexa, Kansas, and will be rolled out to additional Quest labs in the future. The program has allowed us to fill positions that were historically difficult to fill with qualified individuals, but also created a more dynamic, innovative, and inclusive workplace for all of our employees.

As we enter into our second year of the program and prepare for its expansion, we’ve learned several important lessons that may help human resource executives who would like to develop a program at their own organizations:

Don’t make rigid assumptions about what positions will – and won’t -- work. According to Autism Speaks, every year 50,000 adults with autism are ready to enter the workforce. As you consider what positions within your organization might complement individual skill sets, keep in mind that autism is not one-size-fits-all, and that no one should be characterized by one aspect of his/her physical, mental or emotional characteristics. While our new DiverseAbilities employees have been a great fit in lab processing roles, per our original goal, we aim to consider DiverseAbilities candidates for other positions in our company as we move forward with the program.

Work on recruitment with a community of experts. Social service agencies and advocacy organizations can help ensure that your outreach touches the right people. Our DiverseAbilities program would not have been possible without the partnership with Autism Speaks, NEXT for AUTISM, key business and community organizations, and the team of national disability consultants. We also collaborate with other large employers, such as Staples, to share best practices for these types of programs.

Anticipate and address barriers to success. The investment in new processes can help employees acclimate successfully from the first moment of contact. For example, people with ASD may be disinclined from making eye contact with others, so Quest’s hiring managers engage in a customized interview process that helps them anticipate this behavior. We also implemented “autism etiquette” training for the existing employee population to help foster a harmonious workplace sensitive to the nuances of individuals with autism. New employees will benefit from employee manuals that help prepare them for their new roles and responsibilities.

At Quest, we also partner new hires with a “buddy” who provides one-on-one interaction until the employee feels comfortable in his/her role and in the workplace.

Be flexible, but keep expectations consistent and high. Laboratories typically require employees to process many specimens for testing according to rigorous quality criteria – and time measures. We encourage our new employees on the autism spectrum to learn slowly and at their own pace before any productivity factors are introduced. We found that this approach was a transferable “key learning” to benefit other new employees.

The results of our DiverseAbilities Employee Business Network program to date have been an unequivocal success. Our employees with ASD have, on average, higher productivity, less absenteeism, and lower turnover. And through the program we are providing opportunities for meaningful employment for people with ASD. By taking a creative approach in a tight job market, HR managers who are open to people with ASD and other neurodisabilities can tap into an overlooked source of talent, possibly filling open positions quickly and for the long-term while creating a more inclusive culture. As one Quest manager explains, individuals with ASD are “just great workers and co-workers, which every employer values.”

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