Autistic Employees and Workplace Social Skills
Just like most things in our society, we’ve structured the employment process around neurotypical social skills. Unfortunately, autistic social skills do not align with these expectations. It’s disheartening to read in Forbes that “a staggering 50–75% of the 5.6 million autistic adults in the U.S. are unemployed or underemployed.”
As an autistic, I know how difficult it is to get–and keep–a job. We are expected to transport ourselves to a neurotypical world 8 or more hours every day. So much of the employee experience operates against brains on the autistic spectrum. This includes the social skills needed to maintain long-term relationships.
Most workplaces are ripe with social nuances. Learning and participating in them can improve career success. But operating in an environment that runs counter to our innate social skills inhibits our ability to succeed in the workplace.
Companies are not prepared to shift the current formula for success to include autistic employees. It would require an overhaul of the entire hiring and promotion process.
Autistic employees don’t “fit in.”
As the saying goes, it isn’t what you know, but who you know. Networking begins the day you start your new job, and the first step in this process is to build…
