When developing a work place that is neuroinclusive, Peter Hamilton, director of market engagement at Zurich, believes it is important to build awareness. And for all organisations that entails embarking on ‘a journey’.
Kirby adds to this, saying that while raising awareness of barriers is invaluable, “if we do awareness without action, we can raise expectations on individuals that something is going to happen, but it can have unintended negative consequences…
"Managers feel less skilled, and it puts them in the dark. We have to put awareness in place, but be careful that we have processes and practises in place as well.
"The more we can do things in an anticipatory way and design processes and principles and the more neurodiverse we can be then managers can have a toolkit to help them.
Measures to take
Measures that Zurich are taking as described by Hamilton include flexible working and hybrid working: “These are becoming more normalised, but have historically been fought for by marginalised groups like neurodivergent people for years.
As these become more common, it's important to be mindful that true flexibility goes beyond letting someone work from home 2 days a week” he says.
Zurich has also become the first insurer to sign up to Roleshare, a service which matches applicants searching for part time and job share roles with employers.
Aviva runs a Reverse Mentoring programme with Senior Leaders and members of the Ability Community, so they can share their experiences of being ND / physically disabled in the workplace.
Jonny Briggs, diversity equity and inclusion resource director describes how Aviva encourages colleagues to complete a Workplace Adjustment Passport.
The passport is designed to make it easy for colleagues to discuss with their leader how their circumstances, disability or condition impacts their ability to do their role.
The passport captures all agreed workplace adjustments, whether they are physical changes to working environment or alterations to working arrangements.
Briggs also says that at Aviva, “where leaders are comfortable we encourage them to share all their experiences and interest across the DEI spectrum. At a leaders' event recently a senior leader relayed how their children had a neuro-diverse condition and how they saw things differently.”
Trust is essential
Vic Mazonas, General Manager of GAIN, believes that feeling secure and safe are key to the fruitful contributions of staff: “Disclosure requires a feeling of psychological safety.
Workplace transitions are the times when we may need the most support, but they’re also the times where we’ll have the least amount of psychological safety.
