Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Organizations are recognizing the value of neurodivergent talent and developing more inclusive workplace practices to support cognitive diversity.

Key Neurodiversity Inclusion Challenges:

1. Limited Awareness, A 2018 CIPD survey of UK HR professionals found that 72% said neurodiversity was not part of their people management practices, and only about 10% said it was.

2. Hiring Barriers, Robert Austin and Gary Pisano argued in Harvard Business Review (2017) that neurodivergent people often have valuable skills but struggle to fit the profile conventional hiring processes look for, so employers need to adapt how they recruit and select.

3. Workplace Accommodations, The Job Accommodation Network’s Low Cost, High Impact report (updated 2025) found that 61% of surveyed employers said the accommodation their employee needed cost nothing, yet many organizations still perceive accommodations as financially burdensome.

Effective Neurodiversity Inclusion Strategies:

• Specialized Hiring Programs, Microsoft’s autism hiring program, was reported by HR Dive in 2016 to have recruited and retained a cohort of strong employees.

• Sensory-Friendly Workspaces, Simple adjustments, such as headphones to reduce auditory overstimulation, can help neurodivergent employees do their best work and often make the workspace better for everyone.

• Clear Communication Practices, Structured and explicit communication protocols reduce ambiguity for neurodivergent and neurotypical employees alike.

Key Takeaway

JPMorgan Chase’s Autism at Work program began as a pilot with a handful of employees in Delaware in 2015 and, by 2023, spanned more than 40 different roles across nine countries, which the bank describes as a competitive advantage.

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References:

• CIPD. (2018). 1 in 10 HR professionals say their organisation is now focusing on neurodiversity at work. https://www.cipd.org/en/about/press-releases-archive/150218-neurodiversity/

• Austin, R. D., and Pisano, G. P. (2017). Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage. Harvard Business Review, May-June 2017. https://hbr.org/2017/05/neurodiversity-as-a-competitive-advantage

• Job Accommodation Network. (2025). Low Cost, High Impact. https://askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm

• HR Dive. (2016). How Microsoft successfully recruited and retained coders with autism. https://www.hrdive.com/news/how-microsoft-successfully-recruited-and-retained-coders-with-autism/425846/

• JPMorgan Chase. (2023). Autism at Work. https://www.jpmorganchase.com/newsroom/stories/autism-at-work