Neurodiversity in the Workforce: Fidelity’s Laura Kavanagh On Why It’s Important To Include Neurodiverse Employees & How To Make Your Workplace More Neuro-Inclusive

An Interview With Eric Pines

I would start with listening. Ask your neurodiverse employees, friends, and family what their challenges are and give them space and safety to share. Press pause and really listen — listen to understand and be curious. All too often we listen with the goal of fixing.

Research suggests that up to 15–20% of the U.S. population is neurodivergent. There has been a slow but vitally important rise in companies embracing neurodiversity. How can companies support neurodiversity in the workplace? What are some benefits of including neurodiverse employees? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about “Neurodiversity in the Workforce”. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Laura Kavanagh.

Laura Kavanagh is a senior HR Leader with more than 20 years’ experience in multinational companies with 60,000–200,000+ employees, passionate about combining culture, innovation, talent development, and inclusion to create a positive, high performance work environment, vital in attracting and retaining the best talent. Laura is a chartered fellow of the CIPD with Post-Graduate in Strategic Human Resource Management, background in Psychology and qualified executive coach with neuroscience. Her focus as a diversity, equity, and inclusion leader drives change and develops strong culture of inclusive leaders, with a proven track record of working collaboratively across all functions and levels to embed culture, provide strategic direction and increase employee engagement. Laura has been with the Fidelity team for 12 years and graduated from Bangor University in North Wales and earning a post-graduate degree from the National College of Ireland. She remains based in Ireland with her family.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?

I grew up in Kildare, Ireland, with a strong sense of family and extended family close by. My parents instilled a strong work ethic in us from a young age. They also built a business in the print industry, and because of their hard work, I was provided the opportunity to further my education and I am a proud first-generation graduate, with a background in Psychology and HR leadership.

I am a single mother to two little girls, Molly and Luisa. It is a very busy household with a lot of juggling.

I spent the majority of my career in HR leadership roles, until 2019, when I took on a diversity and inclusion role. I won’t lie, I was reluctant at first — only because in my mind, I had a defined career path in the HR track.

I’ve spent a lot of my career fulfilling my personal values in my spare time through volunteer work in the community. But now, with my new role, I’m able to infuse my personal values for social impact and justice into my work and demonstrate how they drive, while celebrating significant business value. Being able to shape the workplace environment to ensure everyone feels a sense of connection and belonging, while creating space for everyone to thrive from various backgrounds, is extremely rewarding.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Caring for people is important to me. I believe this is a quality that should be a requirement of all people leaders. As we invest in our talent and nurture our people to reach their full potential, we must care about others’ wants and needs. The sense of belonging that strong, positive relationships in the workplace creates is good for the soul. To wake up every morning and look forward to connecting with people you work with is a gift I don’t take for granted, and the familial culture is strong at Fidelity. Having grown up in a family business, this quality is core for me.

I like to think we are all born with an innate sense of fairness, but we live in an imperfect world where that expectation of fairness isn’t always reciprocated. I have experienced that discomfort in moments where we are well-intended, but in uncovering a bias, we discover it was unfair to someone. These growth moments have shaped me and my perspective.

Lastly, we all have different beliefs, different lived experiences and perspectives that shape our world. If we were all the same the world would be a very boring place. I believe in truth and respect, regardless of background.

Can you share a story about one of your greatest work-related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

Work-related struggles are part of life, but all can be taken as a learning opportunity. Life doesn’t always go according to plan — whether it’s anything from a difficult conversation with a colleague to not getting a promotion, it is all in how you choose to frame the moment. If you get lemons, make lemonade!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I have the privilege of leading our neuro-inclusion work across Fidelity which has been an amazing experience. Our neurodiverse employees often bring a unique approach and perspective, providing new ideas and challenging us to look at how we view our work in a different way. Inclusion efforts often enhance the overall employee experience and company culture positively for everyone, creating a space where we all thrive.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about neurodiversity in the workforce. Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to include neurodiverse employees? Can you share a story with us?

Fidelity’s approach to neurodiversity can be summed up as “nothing for us without us.” The neurodiversity working team was established in September 2022 and includes neurodiverse associates from across the firm leading this neuro-inclusion strategy. This group shows up to support each other with authenticity and vulnerability, which has been so inspiring to me. There were associates who had been covering or masking at work, but now are openly sharing their experience and bringing their whole selves to work. When this group of people come together, their openness to new ideas, passion, engagement and support they provide each other is impossible to ignore. Their energy and contribution to positive change is contagious, and they challenge me in my thinking and approach daily.

This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?

For decades, companies have been looking at employee engagement and recognizing the impact high employee engagement has on performance and retention. A strong inclusive culture is one where everyone feels that sense of belonging, and by default, creates high employee engagement. Diverse teams are also shown to have higher performance, retention and innovation. We also know potential employees and customers are making their decisions more and more based on the company’s values and culture, including diversity and inclusion. This work is a competitive advantage — a strong culture of inclusion benefits everyone and creates a work environment that you look forward to coming into every day. What could be more important than that?

Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help include neurodiverse employees? Can you share with us how the work culture was affected as a result?

Our focus is on building work practices that help shape a neuro-inclusive employee experience for everyone’s benefit.

Fidelity participates in Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. This provides a spotlight and raises awareness of our neurodiverse community and neuro-inclusion work.

As return to office began, we worked to ensure our office space was designed with neurodiverse associates in mind. We saw an increase in quiet zones, quiet rooms, and began providing noise cancelling earphones.

We also launched an accessibility marketplace, which provides associates with access to tools, technology, and software they may need to do their job. This access is available without any need to disclose or request approval from managers or HR.

Our neurodiverse associates were already finding ways to connect informally through team chats, but we’ve now provided them with the space they needed to connect, share, and support each other.

And most recently, we launched a neurodiversity knowledge hub providing our neurodiverse associates, managers and carers with resources, guidelines, training, and frameworks they need to succeed.

The feedback that we have received from our neurodiverse associates has been overwhelming with some sharing that they have never felt so seen before, which is powerful. However, we are at the beginning of our journey. Our aim is to build a workplace of the future that does not need to just accommodate neurodiversity, but one that fosters a t neuro-inclusive experience where all our employees thrive.

What are some of the challenges or obstacles to including neurodivergent employees? What needs to be done to address those obstacles?

Our neurodiverse associates consistently said that education and awareness was their biggest challenge. Our managers are our culture carriers and can impact the employee experience more than any policy or benefit can. A strong focus on our roadmap is education and awareness — encouraging neuro-inclusive and neuro-friendly work practices.

For example, some inclusive practices might include sending out an agenda and materials ahead of a meeting to give people an opportunity to review, be informed and engage in the topics. Additionally, providing space other than the traditional round table “voice in the room” approach, like chat or use visual collaboration tools.

Neuro-friendly work practices like these benefit everyone, not just neurodiverse associates. They allow folks across time zones to engage with the work and provide space for introvert profiles to engage.

How do you and your organization educate yourselves and your teams on the concept of neurodiversity and the needs of neurodivergent employees? Are there any resources, training, or workshops that you have found particularly helpful?

As mentioned, we recently launched our neurodiversity knowledge hub at Fidelity, which provides resources, training, guidelines, and frameworks for our managers, associates, and caregivers. This includes our neuro-inclusive view of our leadership principles and some fantastic learning materials.

There is no substitute for curiosity and understanding, taking the time to listen and understand our neurodiverse associates really helps you fully appreciate the magic and superpower their diversity of thought brings to your team, their unique approach to work and problem solving. It really does inject a fresh energy into projects that I would encourage all leaders to explore!

This is the main question of our interview. Can you please share five best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people who are neurodivergent? If you can, please share a few examples.

Oh, wow this is a hard one to answer! No neurodiverse person is the same and the definition of neurodiversity is so broad, it is difficult to boil it down to 5 best practices.

I would start with listening. Ask your neurodiverse employees, friends, and family what their challenges are and give them space and safety to share. Press pause and really listen — listen to understand and be curious. All too often we listen with the goal of fixing.

Then educate. Support your workforce in understanding neurodiversity, the power of it and challenges.

Build neuro-inclusive work practices, include neurodiverse employees in the conversation and invite feedback.

Not everything we do needs to be a big project. Small moments of inclusion add up. For example, distributing neurodiversity communications in dark mode — it may feel like a minor detail, but it was significant for some of our neurodiverse associates who received a communication for the first time that they felt included them!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

“It shouldn’t have to happen to you for it to matter to you.”

We all have a role to play in creating a better, brighter world for the next generation. Empathy for our fellow humans and understanding is key. I was raised to treat people how I want to be treated, but today, I try to treat people how THEY want to be treated.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Kindness and acceptance are key — and I hope everyone embraces that as much as possible.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

We have so many resources at Fidelity.com — feel free to look around!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.