Thousands of employable adults with autism are unable to provide for themselves and left dependent on their families and social welfare systems due to a lack of competitive employment opportunities and interpersonal differences in the workplace (CDC 2018; Roux, Rast, Anderson, & Shattuck, 2017; U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Competitive employment is work for persons with disabilities in an integrated work setting, where the compensation is higher than minimum wage and comparable to non-disabled workers performing the same tasks (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Despite many programs focused on access to education and vocation transition services, the unemployment rates for autistic adults have not improved and are reported as high as 75% (Baldwin, Costley, & Warren, 2014; Taylor & Seltzer, 2011; U.S. Department of Education, 2011; U.S. Department of Labor, 2016). Increased education and work-related skills training better prepare adults with autism to enter the workforce; however, these efforts do not address the limited number of competitive work opportunities available to adults with autism.  

Employers’ reluctance to hire adults with autism is attributed to biases based on misconceptions, limited knowledge, and a lack of awareness regarding the capabilities people with autism bring to the workplace (Fassinger, 2008; Kaye, Jans, Jones, 2011; Markel & Barclay, 2009). If competitive employment remains elusive, the number of unemployed adults with autism is predicted to grow exponentially with the rates of autism diagnosis continuously rising with a prevalence currently 1 in 57 (Baio et al., 2018).  

Employers can employ autistics successfully.

A small collective of culturally inclusive and innovative organizations have implemented and sustained autism employment programs successfully. These programs were designed to provide work opportunities for people with autism who struggle to obtain and retain employment in competitive settings. The success of the programs, launched by autism employment collective (AEC) organizations, was attributed to modifications made by managers that bridged the differences between normative work behavior and patterns characteristic in adults with autism.  

Examining autism employment programs.

The practices of managers in inclusive departments at AEC organizations were examined to determine how they are able to support sustained employment for people with autism. Historically, managers and employees with autism had difficulties in the workplace that led to the employee resigning or being dismissed (Baldwin, Costley, & Warren, 2014). Understanding how these managers support adults with autism in their workplaces will help to address a larger problem, the limited number of organizations effectively hiring and retaining autistic employees in competitive roles.  

A qualitative study with managers and autism program leaders at AEC organizations enabled the identification and validation of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational (KMO) influences affecting managers’ ability to support employees with autism on their teams effectively.    

Autism-inclusive management practices.

The success of autism employment programs was aligned to two critical factors, having accessible recruiting processes so that adults with autism had the opportunity to showcase their skills to potential employers, and having managers who are willing and able to support adults with autism on their teams.  

Managers’ leadership skills and self-efficacy to lead diverse employees were enhanced through the experience of managing employees with autism. The managers were successful with autistic employees after making modifications in their management approach and communications. These changes led to practices aligned with an authentic leadership style. An authentic style of leadership was identified through the managers’ responses, characterized by the managers’ ability to adapt to their employees’ needs and willingness to provide additional coaching and support. The managers identified these leadership behaviors as necessary skills to apply universally across employees with and without autism.  

The procedural knowledge needed to lead employees with autism effectively was focused on communication and management practices that the managers applied consistently across their teams; specifically, direct communication, providing detailed tasks, setting clear expectations, following-up with employees to ensure understanding, and providing consistent workplace structures. These seemingly straightforward practices enhanced the managers' ability to support their employees with autism, and in turn, resulted in high-performance outcomes.  

Diversity and disability-inclusion was a central tenet of the culture at AEC organizations. In turn, the managers embodied these ideas in action and word. Managers viewed autism as a culture and appreciated the unique talents and diversity of thought employees with autism brought to the team. The managers and autism program leaders believed it was critical to promote and educate employees regarding disability-inclusion and to model these behaviors in the workplace.    

While the organizations promoted and provided autism education, half of the managers interviewed did not receive formal training prior to the onboarding of employees with autism. While helpful, training was not required to manage autistic employees successfully. However, even though the managers came to leverage similar practices to manage their employees with autism, training reduced the time managers spent learning by trial and error. Autism education showed to expedite the development of the skills needed to lead employees with autism effectively and increased managers’ self-efficacy during onboarding. The data confirmed that managers are the key to the success of autism employment programs and that investment in manager leadership and skills development will help improve their ability to support employees with and without autism.  

How to create autism-inclusive workplaces.

The experience of managing employees with autism led to an enhancement of management and communication skills that were applied across all employees on these inclusive teams; this suggests that autism inclusion training and autism employment programs can help support the continued leadership development of high potential managers. Therefore, a formalized education and strategic hiring program, along with corporate policies regarding disability-inclusion, are proposed.  

The learning goals for managers at organizations with autism employment programs will be achieved through a series of training and support programs that provide foundational knowledge regarding disabilities and autism in the workplace, corporate policies, and expectations for disability inclusion, resources, and expectations of conduct in the organization. Managers and employees would be provided autism-specific education focusing on autism and diversity inclusion and effective communication and management strategies.  

In addition to education, a strategic hiring and autism employment program with targeted recruiting would provide increased competitive employment opportunities for adults with autism. Corporate-wide policies on disability inclusion would also need to be implemented to ensure employees understand the culture and conduct expected in the organization. Resources on disability accommodations and inclusion standards would need to be readily available to managers and employees.   Developing an autism employment program in alignment with Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick’s (2016) four levels of evaluation will allow the monitoring of managers’ knowledge acquisition, beliefs, and application of the inclusive leadership and communication practices in the workplace. The overall learning experience and onboarding support should be evaluated to ensure that the methods leveraged are effective and increase the receptivity and adoption of inclusive practices by managers in the future.  

Program leaders must evaluate managers to ensure they understand key concepts and will apply inclusive management practices on the job. Evaluations aligned with organizational goal metrics, desired management behaviors, and skills managers are to exhibit in the workplace are necessary to ensure the success of the proposed education and autism employment program. Measures include the level of knowledge attained, satisfaction with the learning program, and overall experience with the autism employment program. Monitoring these metrics will allow leaders to assess the progress and effectiveness of their programs.  

Conclusion

Understanding the success of implementing autism employment initiatives at AEC organizations may help solve for two issues: the need to improve employment outcomes for people with autism (Chen et al., 2014), and to help companies address the growing talent gap and need for skills development in their organizations (ATD Staff, 2017). While AEC organizations drove the inclusive culture and provided the resources needed to implement autism employment initiatives successfully in their organizations, it was the daily interactions between managers and employees with autism that sustained these programs.  

Management practices were identified that could be adopted to improve employment outcomes for people with and without autism. The managers had increased awareness and appreciation of differences, and this impacted how they viewed and recruited talent. Modifications to management practices and communication style helped managers’ bridge the cultural differences between normative work behavior and patterns characteristic in people with autism. Not only were these managers able to support and retain these employees effectively, they believed they were better managers after working with autistic employees.  

The research also showed that typical employees benefit from inclusive management and communication practices adopted by these managers. Continued leadership development and autism inclusion programs will enable organizations to develop their managers’ skills to be more effective leaders and enhance their ability to manage diverse employees; in turn, these leaders lay the foundation of disability-inclusive cultures in their organizations.

This summary report is based on Haskins’ (2019) research, Building employers’ capacity to support competitive employment for adults with autism: A promising practice study. (University of Southern California) ProQuest One Academic.

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