In Ireland, 80% of individuals with autism are unemployed, in no small part because traditional hiring processes require strong verbal and nonverbal communication, which can be a struggle for many people on the spectrum. Yet, research by Autism Speaks has shown that performing work-related activities can actually reduce symptoms, and improve daily living skills, making the hiring of autistic staff mutually beneficial.
Fortunately various technology companies based in Ireland have created hiring programmes specifically geared towards those with autism, giving them employment opportunities which offer necessary support throughout. Here we look at some of Ireland’s most autism-friendly employers.
1. SAP
Multinational supply chain tech SAP was founded in Germany, and has become a market leader in enterprise application software. The company currently has over 100,000 employees in more than 140 countries, and was recognised in 2019 as one of the world’s best workplaces. It began operations in Ireland in 1997, and now has over 900 employees working in Dublin and Galway. There are a variety of job roles available in SAP’s Irish branch for developers, consultants and analysts.
As well as being a great place to work overall, SAP Ireland launched its ‘Autism at Work’ programme in 2013 to help integrate autistic individuals into the workplace. Now an internationally recognised programme operating in 12 countries and employing more than 175 autistic employees, SAP offers roles for those on the spectrum, with a commitment to having autistic employees as 1% of its workforce. Autism At Work enables employers to reach an underutilised talent pool, with a month-long screening process and workshops that focus on soft skills, communication, teamwork and workplace etiquette. It offers potential employees pre-employment training opportunities, and ongoing help after gaining employment in order to further improve their job and life skills.
While the programme benefits many people on the spectrum, it has also been good for the company as a whole. Having inspired around 250 organisations to implement similar schemes into their neurodiversity policies, SAP’s co-CEOs say: “SAP teams who have colleagues with autism report a rise in patent application, innovations in products, and an increase in management skills and empathy.” Overall, the programme has a 90% retention rate, which goes to show SAP’s success in helping individuals secure jobs.
2. Microsoft
BigTech corporation Microsoft began providing technology services in 1975, and has since become the world’s largest company. The organisation has transformed the way humans work, play and connect, and now has over 144,000 employees worldwide, working in its various business units. Microsoft’s Autism Hiring Programme has offered recruitment and career development opportunities since 2015, hiring 11 new full-time employees in 2016 in its first wave. Microsoft then piloted the scheme at a hiring event in Ireland in 2019.
The programme takes the form of a multi-day academy, which focuses on job capabilities, team projects and skill assessment, before an adapted interviewing process. These are spaced out over a few days to create a more relaxed environment, and involve multiple opportunities for individuals to demonstrate their skills. Microsoft lists its ‘hot jobs’ for those on the spectrum separately, including roles for software engineers, service engineers and data scientists. The programme has successfully hired more than 50 full-time employees, and has a 100% retention rate.
3. Ernst And Young
Ernst And Young is a huge international accounting firm with over 280,000 employees across more than 150 countries, including Ireland, to provide assurance, tax, consultory and advising services to clients. The firm’s neurodiversity policy aims to hire individuals from diverse backgrounds, no matter who they are or what their background is.
The company has stated that “though many people with autism are intelligent, well-educated, and eager to work, they often face interpersonal challenges that make it difficult to get in the door.” As a result, the firm has instituted a programme to find, train and place autistic employees in the workplace and, in 2016, it had four employees working as account-support associates. Ernst and Young adjusted its hiring process to be comfortable for autistic candidates, and while doing so, discovered those working on teams challenged the office’s status quo. This made it easier to broach questions about the efficacy of the company’s communication and management strategies. The programme leverages the skills of those with high-functioning autism, such as data analysis, attention to detail and the ability to focus over long periods of time.
4. New Relic
California-based software company New Relic has over 17,000 global customers, developing cloud-based software for website and application owners to track their performance. In 2019, the company was named one of the Best Workplaces in Technology by Fortune, explaining that the goal is to be a place where all employees “feel empowered to do their best work while feeling supported.” The organisation’s European headquarters are located in Dublin.
New Relic reassessed its recruitment and training programmes over the start of the last decade in order to see how they could help those on the autism spectrum, launching its Autism at Work internship in 2016. The programme began through a partnership with San Jose-based organisation Expandability, and was designed to help individuals find suitable work within the technology industry. The internship allows individuals to learn and gain career skills in a supportive, high-energy team, performing real work in an area which best suits each individual, such as engineering, marketing or people’s operations. New Relic’s diversity and inclusion programme manager, Marion Long, says that “diversity in the workplace goes beyond gender and ethnicity. People with different abilities can be such an asset to our company and culture.”
5. HP
Hewlett Packard is a market leader in IT testing tools and services, offering job opportunities in engineering, IT and design, as well as admin, finance and legal. The company has been supplying the world with technology for over 80 years, aiming to advance how people live and work. They have several offices in Ireland, located in Kildare, Galway and Dublin. HP is another organisation that has recognised its traditional hiring processes had previously filtered out talented, qualified applicants who had autism, so encouraged a neurodiverse workplace with the HP Spectrum Success Programme.
This focuses on recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified candidates with autism, helping to include them in the workplace and building their IT skills and careers. HP deployed ‘pods’ organised around eight or nine autistic employees to function as high-performance mini ecosystems, which proved to be 30% more effective than its average service teams. Creating an environment and business model that welcomes those with autism and seeks out and utilizes their abilities has seen HP win accolades within the diversity, inclusion and sustainability category at the 2019 NAB supplier awards.
