Check out the Topic and Advisory Board Response Below! New contributions will be added on a quarterly basis.
| Topic | Advisory Board Response |
| February/March 2025: Why is mental health so important for neurodivergent employees? How can employers provide tangible mental health support for neurodivergent employees? Describe the relationship between wellness and employee retention. | Maintaining positive mental health is vital in the workplace. This is very true when it comes to neurodivergent employees. Many neurodivergents can experience burnout, which is caused by chronic stress. Such burnout can lead a neurodivergent person to feel overwhelmed and have difficulty with functioning as they would normally do. This is why mental health is very important for neurodivergent employees, as preventing burnout would help them to be successful on the job. There are ways for employers to provide tangible mental health support for their neurodivergent employees. One way is for them to give the neurodivergent space to let them express what helps them to cope when they feel overwhelmed. Another way is for them to have check-in meetings to help them see where they are at mentally in their work. These are a few things that can be helpful. I believe that doing such things can also relate to wellness and employee retention. You see, if you provide the employee a space for them to maintain good mental health, this would give them the morale needed to stay with the company. This can be applied for both neurodivergent and non-neurodivergent employees. A place that provides positive mental health is a sure thing to make both the company and neurodivergent employees in a good state. –Robert Schmus , Advisory Board Member |
| September/October 2024: How can Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Employers promote a positive culture of allyship in the workplace? What are your thoughts on supporting the many intersecting identities of neurodivergent individuals in the workplace? | My name is Robert Schmus. I am an autism advocate and a mental health professional. For this article, I will discuss the importance of an ally ship between employers and Employee Resource Groups. One of the issues facing the neurodivergent community is the lack of employment. It’s not really that there is no employment, it is that obtaining the job can be difficult. The social cues, the environment, all of which can be difficult to navigate. Despite this, there are ways that this can improve for the better. One of these ways would be an ally ship Employee Resource Groups (ERG) and employers themselves. The purpose of ERGs is to help prospective employees find employment in the field of their skills. Within the past few years, there have been a growing number of such organizations that have been advocating for places of employment to hire those in the neurodivergent community. This is a great start to resolving this issue, but there is still more work to be done. One thing that I have noticed is that the employers that ERGs reach out to for allyship are limited. What I mean by this is that there seems to be a limit of what types of jobs are available for neurodivergents. For instance, the allyships in the past were with only certain types of jobs, such as service positions. These might be acceptable for some neurodivergents, but not for all. There are neurodivergents with a variety of educational and skill set backgrounds. Some have associates degrees, others have masters, while some have graduated from trade schools. These neurodivergents have skills that should not be wasted. For that, ERGs should reach out to employers that cater to a variety of roles. By doing this, we will be able to find more employment opportunities for our community. Speaking of which, an allyship between employers and ERGs is also important because it can have employers and access to the neurodivergent community. I always believe that if you want to know more about us, the best thing to do is to speak and listen to us. Many ERGs have been working with us and been letting us have our voices heard when it comes to helping us obtain employment. We can express to them what we feel would be beneficial for us and what we want in a job. We can express our skills and our eagerness to learn. Such an allyship would give us a foot in the door. A door that can improve the employment rate for neurodivergents. |