The world of business can be tricky to navigate for people who learn and think differently sometimes. Although there’s a lot of data to suggest that people who have neurodiverse brains excel in a business world (over a quarter of CEOs are thought to have dyslexia, as opposed to only 10-15% of the world population), many people can find the prospect daunting, and many businesses still hire an overwhelming predominance of neurotypical candidates. It’s estimated by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that up to 85% of adults with autism are unemployed or underemployed; a shocking figure when we consider that we find similar employment data across many forms of neurodiversity.
The Neurodiverse Centers for Excellence (NCoE) programme is part of Ernst & Young’s ongoing commitment to neurodiversity within their organisation, and represent a welcome paradigm shift in the way that businesses might view people with neurodiversities. Over the past five years, Ernst and Young in the US have also optimised their hiring process to be fairer and more inclusive for people with cognitive differences, switching from an interview behaviour-based assessment system to one that analyses a candidate’s performance in a prospective role to determine their suitability for a position.
And they’re bringing that to the UK trailblazing attitude to the UK, where up to 100 jobs will be created by the professional services giant in Manchester in the creation of a major NCoE hub to support employees with neurodiversities such as dyslexia, autism, and ADHD. It opens later this month with a founding team of six technologists -which includes neurodiverse personnel- and it’s set to grow rapidly throughout the early part of 2022. They’ll be joining an existing body of around 2,000 people already working for EY in the North of England, in areas such as consulting, intelligent automation, data analytics, cybersecurity, tax and assurance.
Stephen Church, EY’s Manchester office managing partner and North markets leader, said: "I couldn’t be prouder that EY has selected Manchester and the North of England to locate the NCoE, recognising the innovative spirit in the city and the strength of the community we have locally. We have joined cities around the globe that are opening-up the world of work to neurodiverse individuals, whilst offering local businesses largely untapped talent to help fuel their growth in ways they haven’t imagined before."
You can find out more at Business Live.