{"id":6498,"date":"2026-06-09T22:29:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=6498"},"modified":"2026-06-09T22:29:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:29:40","slug":"neurodiverse-hiring-gains-relevance-in-the-ai-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=6498","title":{"rendered":"Neurodiverse hiring gains relevance in the AI era"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1684226?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CIARAN RYAN:<\/strong> Just like people come in different heights, personalities and backgrounds, our brains also work in different ways. There\u2019s no single right or normal way for a brain to function. Human brains are naturally diverse. That\u2019s called neurodiversity.<\/p>\n<p>Some people have great attention to detail; others are better at creative tasks.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>There\u2019s now an abundance of research showing measurable gains in productivity and innovation from neurodiverse hiring, and that\u2019s particularly relevant in the AI age.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s an interesting subject that goes beyond the narrow confines of the HR department. We\u2019re now joined by Dr\u00a0Sarah Babb of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, GIBS, to discuss this.<\/p>\n<p>Greetings, Sarah. A good place to start would be to explain what exactly is neurodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DR SARAH BABB:<\/strong> Greetings, and I think you hit the nail on the head. None of us think in the same way or process information in the same way.<\/p>\n<p>So, just as we\u2019re looking at the screen, I might be picking up environmental noises, temperature noises, be more sensitive to visual displays than somebody else \u2013 which means that I\u2019m processing information, communication and my environment very differently.<\/p>\n<p>There are strengths and their benefits to this too \u2013 that we can interpret things differently and work with them differently. So neurodiversity is simply that \u2013 that \u00a0how we process the world around us differs.<\/p>\n<p>And within that we have clusters of certain behaviours, so neurodivergence, which would mean that there are people who have processing around information detail \u2013 and that would be your autism spectrum or ADHD, pattern recognition, really good at picking up environmental cues \u2013 ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder through to dyslexia.<\/p>\n<p>There is a challenge in reading and spelling. So a huge range in terms of differences in how our brains work. Exactly that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CIARAN RYAN:<\/strong> All right. Now let\u2019s talk about the research on this, because there is quite a lot of fairly recent research showing the benefits of neurodiverse hires from a productivity and innovation point of view. So tell us about some of that research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DR SARAH BABB:<\/strong> If we start off, the Stanford professor I love, Doctor [Lawrence] Fung, talks about the \u2018spiky\u2019 profiles.<\/p>\n<p>So the strengths of neurodivergence bring abilities like ADHD to really think creatively, to be able to focus on innovation, creativity, loving novelty \u2013 because that brain is needing dopamine \u2013 through to the autism brain, which focuses on hyper detail, hyper focus, dealing with data, critical thinking.<\/p>\n<p>So these are the skills if we just generalise that the World Economic Forum talks about in terms of future capabilities, creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, agility.<\/p>\n<p>Ernst and Young did some research among 2 000 participants last year across 22 countries [and] eight organisations. They found, for example, that there is 31% more proficiency, <em>31% more proficiency,<\/em> among the neurodivergent brains when they\u2019re included.<\/p>\n<p>So when their brains can think the best and when there are environments that can support that, through to organisations like Ernst and Young, which have over 23 centres of excellence \u2013 neurodivergent centres of excellence, where they bring intentionally neurodivergent brains to solve complex problems.<\/p>\n<p>They are reporting things like a 92% improvement in retention rates, up to a 1.5% improvement in productivity, quality, timeliness of output.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>And they have put a value of it \u2013 of $1\u00a0billion value creation \u2013 from just allowing brains to think and work the best they can.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Through the organisations like JPMorgan Chase, which talks about 48% faster, 92% more productive, companies like SAP, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Deloitte, Microsoft, Dell, Wells Fargo go even further to look at that.<\/p>\n<p>So when they have Go Counter against group think \u2013 typical ways of viewing the world \u2013 and allow people to actually bring their critical thinking, engage in their creativity, we can really see the benefits of that.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So I do want to point out it\u2019s not only new hires. There is actually about 20-30% of our population that is currently neurodivergent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That means your existing staff are being overlooked, because they\u2019re either not diagnosed or don\u2019t feel safe to disclose.<\/p>\n<p>But that means you have women at the peak of their careers who are often getting late diagnoses, as they see their children being diagnosed, as they recognise trends. You are seeing executives who are coming to the fore. You\u2019re seeing teams, new intakes, new generation. So it really is something we\u2019re looking at.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>One in five of us is neurodivergent and so we\u2019re missing out on talent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When it\u2019s not included there is disengagement. There are team dynamics that get affected. There\u2019s the cost of replacement of talent and essentially just missing out on these really unique ways that can help us build future-fit organisations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CIARAN RYAN:<\/strong> It does seem to be a little bit counter to the accepted narrative that companies want to employ people in a fairly narrow spectrum. You deliver what you\u2019re expected to do. They don\u2019t really harness this divergence.<\/p>\n<p>So how can organisations tap into this potential in terms of maybe workplace design?<\/p>\n<p><strong>DR SARAH BABB:<\/strong> I think you\u2019re right. We still have processes of onboarding, of selection, where we expect people to behave in a certain way \u2013 and when they may be a bit more socially awkward, or perhaps are being quite critical or being very innovative, we tend to see it as an outlier, when in our recruitment we could be doing simple things like sending out questions before for the autism brain.<\/p>\n<p>We could be onboarding in terms of looking at how we really can be specific in the skills that are required, and how to bring our strengths into our teams.<\/p>\n<p>We have managers that are just recognising that there are different ways of thinking and having environments where individuals can engage \u2013 through to the work design that is really about saying, \u2018How can we have inclusion for all?\u2019 So we don\u2019t need disclosures.<\/p>\n<p>As for the person with the wheelchair, we don\u2019t wait for somebody to join our organisation that needs a wheelchair before we put in ramps, before we put in accessible toilets, so the simple accommodations like having quieter work zones, like having noise-cancelling headphones, like having tech-assisted technology.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a dyslexic, voice-to-text technology is readily available. So we can make this at little or no cost available to all our employees.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, in the research they found that it\u2019s often the neurotypical people that want exactly those accommodations. Can I have hybrid working? Can I have a quiet zone when I need to really focus in on a job done?<\/p>\n<p>And companies like Zurich in the UK, just indicated they had a sensory map put online of their workplace settings. And when they just put that online, they already had a 31% increase of people coming to their careers\u2019 page.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So simple things actually benefit everybody and not just the neurodivergent brain, but it\u2019s being aware that those environments make all the difference to whether you\u2019re going to really raise the collective intelligence of your employees as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So work design can really support that, and having a manager who can see where there are people that are being excluded.<\/p>\n<p>I love the way that a report in the UK, the City and Guilds, put it. They said this is not about inclusion. They said it\u2019s actually about productivity strategy. It\u2019s actually about a health imperative, because our employee disengagement is 70% in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Our organisational maturity \u2013 how mature we are, as you say, in a time of AI when we actually need to leverage our critical thinking.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We need to leverage our human intelligence to partner with AI and create new ways of working. This is the time to actually be including our neurodivergent talent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>CIARAN RYAN:<\/strong> I\u2019m just curious when you talk about \u2018staff disengagement\u2019. What do you mean by that?<\/p>\n<p><strong>DR SARAH BABB:<\/strong> I mean the Gallup Survey \u2013 they do a survey every year across the globe, and the figures are getting worse from employee engagement.<\/p>\n<p>So they found in sub-Saharan Africa in 2025 that 62% of our employees are not engaged. That means you come to work, you do enough not to get fired, and you leave again. Over and above that, 18% are actively disengaged.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019d guess those are the ones active on LinkedIn during work hours or scrolling, et cetera. That\u2019s a huge number. Life-evaluation people who are struggling in life. This is a Gallup survey of sub-Saharan Africa \u2013 72%.<\/p>\n<p>So our mental wellbeing is under enormous pressure with the stress of the world we are in and the context we are in.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, then, if I happen to think a bit differently how much more I\u2019ll be battling to mask and camouflage and try and fit in, I\u2019m astonished how many adults have an adult diagnosis of dyslexia, which means they\u2019re finding ways to manage through life at huge pressure and stress. But they\u2019ve done it.<\/p>\n<p>So there is resilience, there is agility. If you have a work practice which says, \u2018I see what you bring as a strength, I see the skill that you have,\u2019 we can simply recognise and have environments where one can thrive.<\/p>\n<p>Your engagement figures will go up, which means you do have more discretionary effort, more ideation, more social engagement, more commitment and less turnover. So there are huge consequences of that, let alone neurodivergence, that need attention of all managers, actually.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CIARAN RYAN:<\/strong> All right. Finally, Sarah, let\u2019s just get the message out to business leaders and executives. They may be completely unfamiliar with this subject of neurodiversity. What do you say to them? How do they start to engage \u2013 if that\u2019s the right word \u2013 with the subject?<\/p>\n<p><strong>DR SARAH BABB:<\/strong> Yes. Well, I think firstly it\u2019s to recognise that it\u2019s worth it to really consider your cognitive strategy. How do you engage people to bring their best to selves. You need that for your organisation to survive \u2013 for new ideas, to be solving critical problems, to be working together.<\/p>\n<p>So start off thinking about your strategic drivers and then really looking at are we across our whole talent cycle, actually engaging and bringing in the base that we can so that we can grow into the future?<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I think awareness is a good starting point.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Have training for your managers. Have awareness sessions. What is this? How do we see it? Create spaces where people can share because I promise you, whenever I talk with corporate corporates, I call it the \u2018Me Too\u2019 movement \u2013 as soon as one person shares a story, like \u2018I\u2019m late-diagnosed ADHD, I talk openly about that.<\/p>\n<p>It has been a strength in my life in terms of being an entrepreneur and creating new ventures \u2013 and being an academic as well\u2019, I find that so many people say, \u2018me too\u2019, \u2018me too\u2019, \u2018me too\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>So as soon as I think you open the space for those conversations, you\u2019ll find that the needs can be found. Then you ask questions. What do you need? What supports you? How can we make sure that we\u2019re actually engaging in a positive way so that everybody can thrive?<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s what\u2019s exciting. I\u2019m seeing that happen more and more in South African companies.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So there are more requests for awareness, team sessions, training, coaching, coaching perhaps managers that have been neurodivergent and are now looking at the way forward.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And you\u2019ll see the returns come. Also in your reputation and being a top employer of choice this is becoming much more prevalent for us to consider. How do we include all of those talents and opportunities that we have already, actually.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CIARAN RYAN:<\/strong> Well, there you have it. Neurodiversity. Something new for me, and I\u2019m sure something new for many of the people listening to this.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you very much, Doctor Sarah Babb of the Gordon Institute of Business Science.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DR SARAH BABB:<\/strong> Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Neurodiverse #hiring #gains #relevance #era<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. CIARAN RYAN: Just like people come in different heights, personalities and backgrounds, our brains also work in different ways. 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