Supporting autistic employees: Understanding and confidence in UK workplaces

Abstract

Autistic adults are underemployed. This means that workplaces are not meeting expectations of support for autistic employees and are not benefitting from a diverse workforce. This brief study investigated the current understanding in UK workplaces of adjustments and confidence with regard to supporting autistic employees. An online questionnaire was completed by 98 employees, mostly within the education sector. 15% of the respondents had a diagnosis of autism themselves. Understanding and confidence across all employees were moderate. Attending autism training in the workplace was associated with a better understanding of adjustments that could be made, but having autistic family or friends and having autistic colleagues were both associated with higher confidence in supporting autistic employees and understanding of positive workplace contributions. The findings corroborate the benefits of autism training in increasing understanding of adjustments that can be made in the workplace; however, a minority of employees had completed such training. The research provides a positive focus on personal understandings of autism which aid understanding and confidence when supporting autistic colleagues. The recommendations are to update and increase the accessibility of autism training, and notably to include the perspective of autistic employees and acknowledge workplace strengths in order to improve employment prospects within the autistic community.