Tech’s autism at work programs: why these pioneering programs must evolve
Published on 2 June 2025 • Written by Dr Lisa Colledge
In 2013, SAP launched its now-celebrated Autism at Work program. It was a watershed moment. With redesigned hiring assessments, structured onboarding, and coaching support, SAP began to prove in a large corporate world what Specialisterne had already proven in a non-profit model: when you integrate the talents of people who are autistic, you add a powerful boost to your innovation, problem-solving, and team performance.
SAP wasn’t alone. Microsoft, EY, HPE, and JPMorgan Chase pioneered similar programs at about this time. The DXC Dandelion program, which connects neurodivergent people with suitable vacancies at multiple client organizations and supports them to establish appropriate hiring and onboarding, reported business outcomes of 30-40% productivity gains, and 92% saying they had gained a competitive advantage while coworkers did not experience any added workload in 80% cases. Collectively, these initiatives reshaped what neuro-inclusion could look like in the workplace.
And yet, if you lead a team today, you almost certainly don’t have access to one of these pioneering programs. You might be a founder hiring your first employees, a new manager trying to understand the friction in your team and how to reduce it, or a department head looking for ways to build innovation into your operating model. For all their successes, autism-at-work programs are limited in scale, scope, and applicability. They rely on diagnosis and disclosure. They demand significant central resources. And they don’t optimally address the broader cultural conditions that consistently enable cognitively diverse teams to thrive.
It’s time to evolve our approach.
The problem with program-first thinking
I want to be clear that I am full of adminration for the companies who pioneered autism-at-work programs. They opened the door to universal inclusion that has direct connections not only to individual health, but to organizational outcomes. But they are not our final destination.
Take ASML, for example—a Dutch technology powerhouse whose Executive Vice President of HR, Peter Baillière, credits the company's innovation directly to "neurodivergent people." Notice that he didn’t credit autistic talent exclusively although it’s certainly an important component, but his language includes a wide array of neurostyles such as ADHD, dyslexia, post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), anxiety, and simply unconventional thinkers with no diagnosis at all.
This recognition points to a broader truth. Dedicated autism- or even neurodivergence-at-work programs, by design, exclude many who would benefit from support:
People without a formal diagnosis.
Individuals unwilling or unable to disclose.
Those who just missed a diagnosis but still struggle in traditional environments.
And even within companies with dedicated programs that lead the way in non-traditional hiring, neurodivergent employees anecdotally report hitting a ceiling. Without revealing identities, one former autistic employee described how he had led the launch of major technical infrastructure in a strategic region, while also holding a U.S. patent, but was denied promotion on the grounds of not being "well-rounded," and another pointed to the systemic lack of psychological safety in an organization with a well established program.
These stories are not uncommon. They don’t negate the huge progress that these programs represent, or the benefits to some they have provided, but they do reveal a central weakness of program-first inclusion: it is still about identifying difference and asking others to accommodate that difference. This can create stigma amongst those accommodating, and build a feeling of otherness amongst those who are different.
The next generation solution we are seeking now should surely be a univerally inclusive approach that feels fair to all team members, involving each equally in appreciating and enabling the differences in their team members whether they have a label of neurodivergence or neurotypicality or anything else. It is a move from targeted interventions to universal design for inclusion.
What universal inclusion looks like
Neurodivergence inclusion is the ideal model to underpin universal inclusion. 100% team members have a preference in how they work, communicate and process information, and 100% of them are mentally healthier and produce better work if they can work at or close to that preference. Neurodivergence represents the extreme of this cognitive diversity, so when we are guided by neuro-inclusion best practises, we automatically improve our working environment and the outcomes for everyone.
The key is, then, how we apply neuro-inclusion in our teams and organizations. A universally inclusive system must function without requiring someone to identify as neurodivergent to benefit. It means creating clarity, flexibility, and fairness as standard operating procedure.
Through my work with teams and organizations, I have developed my FIT Framework to represent these principles:
Fair: joint responsibility for team culture between leaders and all team members. Leaders define clear vision, processes and policies that empower different working styles. Team members agree how to embed inclusive habits into their working norms.
Intentional: cultural inclusion is proactive, not reactive. It doesn’t wait until a diagnosis is presented, but accepts that cognitive differences are present and prepares for them.
Team-Minded: success is collective, not individual. Leaders model the value of diverse contributions, rather than championing individual contributors.
All of this is enabled by a leadership philosophy called Freedom within a Framework: alignment on the framework of goals and support, with freedom for the team to discuss and agree how they will deliver that framework in a way that makes sense in their context.
In a cognitively inclusive culture, you’ll see:
Flexible communication.
Energizing collaboration.
High psychological safety.
Decision-making that draws from diverse viewpoints.
Low stress through clear expectations and support structures.
These aren’t abstract ideals. They’re practical outcomes—and they make teams more adaptable, resilient, and innovative. This is the behavior of high-performing teams.
What it looks like in action
The evolution of EY’s Autism at Work program is a case in point. What began as an autism hiring initiative has become something broader. Their Neuro-Diverse Centers of Excellence now use universal design: all employees, not just those with a label, define their working preferences. No one is forced to disclose. Everyone benefits.
As Hiren Shukla, leader of the global initiative, put it:
"Large organizations are really good at assimilation to build large workforces that inadvertently shave away the beautiful, unique edges... But it’s the spiky profile you want to retain."
Neuroinclusive culture supports those edges. It makes space for people to contribute in diverse ways that are a close match their strengths, without trying to force them into a predefined mold. And it doesn’t require a significant budget or dedicated resources to get started.
In fact, it’s easier to start when your team is small because there is less legacy to unpick. Startup founders who are just beginning to hire, and new team leads, are perfectly positioned to embed neuro-inclusion by design; leaders of established teams will also be successful, although the path is a bit longer.
Why now?
53% Gen Z now identifies as neurodivergent. They are not queueing up with their proofs of diagnosis and asking for accommodations. They are choosing workplaces that already understand how to support and enable difference, which have the conditions they need to succeed in providing their skills already built in.
If your culture can’t support diverse cognitive styles, you’ll increasingly struggle to recruit, retain, and engage this top emerging talent. But if your team knows how to work across neurostyles—you’ll have a lasting competitive edge.
I’m Dr Lisa Colledge, and I help ambitious leaders build future-ready teams they trust to deliver now and adapt to whatever’s next — driving engagement, performance, and enduring resilience.
Learn more about building Neuro-Inspired Teams that outpace, outperform, and outlast your competition.
