Your advice for a new employer?

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The software company I work for has recently interviewed a candidate that seemed to be on the spectrum and I believe he will be joining us

During our post-interview discussion, the general consensus was both that he's very smart and could have a lot of potential but also very socially awkward and those of us who have met other Aspies agreed he is pretty clearly on the spectrum. Some coworkers were hesitant to hire him because they are concerned about intra-team communication and unsure how to deal with the awkwardness and poor communication they saw in the interview. Others including myself felt that our company can be a great place for people that aren't quite "normal" and we're excited to give him a chance.

I'm looking for advice and resources to share with my hesitant coworkers as well as answers to some questions that come to mind.

Some more background about our workplace: We're a software consulting company with 30-some employees, with a "family" atmosphere. We have lunch together every day and our owner-CEO prefers to hire down-to-earth, authentic, and often rather quirky employees (many with spectrum traits but none openly Aspergers so far). His management style is relaxed and informal, and long-time employees are given a lot of leeway as long as their contributions outweigh their limitations.

The first question is if / when / how to bring up the question of Aspergers given that all of us who interviewed him noted the strange mannerisms - is it ok to straight up ask if he's been diagnosed? or try to ask about the specific mannerisms without a label? or is it better to ignore unless he brings it up? The purpose of asking would be to make accommodations right from the start while we're getting him trained up and for coworkers to be able to read up on Aspergers and understand what to expect.

Secondly, our informal office culture means that there's a lot of room for accommodation but also a lot of room for misunderstandings or unnecessary suffering because there aren't clear rules.

For example all desks are not created equal and their assignments are a mix of luck, seniority, initiative, and managerial intervention - there's no procedure for getting a better desk, but those of us who care have generally managed to orchestrate swaps and reallocation of vacated desks to get to a happy arrangement. I'd be concerned that our new hire might get stuck in a location that doesn't work for him and not know how to fix it. And this is only one of many examples. So would it be useful to have one person (probably me) offer to be a new hire mentor and help run interference for these things?

On the other extreme there's also the problem that our laid-back disorganized "family" culture results in very unclear expectations and norms - various individuals (probably more than half of us?) have unspoken special exceptions to do something that would earn a scolding for anyone else, and even some of our most socially-aware new hires have gotten into trouble by taking the laid-back atmosphere too far. Is it better to err on the side of seeming condescending by spelling out all the nuance? or better to say less and only bring up expectations if they're violated?

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

The candidate should be well-versed in the philosophies expressed in "The Prince" by Machiavelli, "The Art of War" by Sun Tsu, the Employee Handbook, "The Peter Principle" by Laurence J. Peter, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the IRS Tax Code.

Also, it is better for all if he starts out tough and "by the book" at the beginning and lightens up later than if he starts out as a softie and tries to lay down the law after the first employees take advantage of him.

Make this new employee feel as welcome as possible.

Don't scrutinize his/her every move. If he/she doesn't say "good morning," it doesn't mean that he/she is a social boor.

I'm no expert in business protocol, but I don't think it's appropriate to ask someone if they're autistic. I know you would be trying to sound accepting, but it could come across as judgemental whether they are or aren't on the spectrum. I think it would be more appropriate to ask the candidate if they would require any workplace accommodations, and to point out that your company is very flexible in meeting employees' needs (as they should be, by law and by ethics).

I agree with Isabella. Don't ask the employee if he/she is autistic. That's impolite.

I forgot to point out that there's no way to know "what to expect", whether this person is autistic or not.

There's a saying "If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person". This is because every neurodiverse person is different, and that's why it's called a spectrum.

If the person doesn't want to "hang out" right away, don't scorn the person.

I've been on my job almost 39 years---and I'm pretty well-respected now.

But when I first got my job, I didn't really talk to anybody for a few months. One person was very kind, and gently encouraged me to talk. Now...they can't shut me up!

Provide a growth path (technical, even managerial) and company inclusivity training - or else team building like Strengths (I came up Achiever, Learner, Ideas...). Mentorship is a great idea (for social "checks"). My company is failing me: I finally reached "expert" level and the technical track was yanked from under my feet. I asked for accommodations (not stating why), like working on an innovative project, and increased communication and was told "no", "no", "no", "I'll write you a letter of recommendation". I went to HR and they "don't see it". So clearly your company is doing better than that already by *proactively* asking for what works best for this individual. Wishing it stays that way.

Thank you for reaching out!

I think you're absolutely right to think this could go well, indeed if it's a mutual fit you might gain an out-of-the box thinker and a focused, loyal worker.

Instead of taking about possible autism, there's a couple of things your company can do.

Manage traits instead of the label.

For example, suppose co-workers feel insulted because the person tends to pass on opportunities for social banter, you can get ahead of this by (a) making sure the co-workers know ahead of time that such behavior is likely not intended as a personal slight, and (b), if such issues do come up, be ready to handle it directly, with plain language, in private feedback. The tone could be something like "hey, I noticed this thing and I think the other guy was upset, could you tell me your perspective, can I help you work out a good solution?"

Although expecting disclosure is a violation because we might reasonably fear that any disclosure could be used unfairly against us, one thing that's great to do is to create an environment where the person feels like they'd be safe to disclose.

This means, for example, zero tolerance on the use of "autistic" as a derogatory term, having written policies embracing neurodiversity, etc. There are advocacy groups who would be more than happy to contribute some help on the details. In Australia that might be AMAZE, in America I think perhaps ASAN.

If any employee (such as this one) seems clueless in a particular aspect of corporate survival, pick out a couple of podcasts from the career tools section at manager-tools.com for them to review and discuss learnings. Hopefully they'll notice that site is a gold mine for clearly explained and teachable steps to navigate pretty much every single aspect of professional corporate behavior.

Also it'll help to be mindful that, even if they hesitate to say it, sensory issues e.g. noise could make an impact. Keeping an open mind towards concessions like noise cancelling headphones, and defining performance criteria and guidelines under which they might be entrusted with telework opportunities, could support significant performance boosts.

Wishing your company and your new hire all the best.

His greatest asset may be that he can think out-of-the-box and find solutions that others may miss. But at the same time he may sit quietly and not contribute. So on issues that may be important for your company, you might want to solicit his opinion.

He may prefer to work alone rather than in a group. He may prefer a distraction free environment. Many times sensory issues may distract him. So a desk to the side rather than in the middle of the noisy office. Some Aspies are sensitive to lighting especially overhead florescent lighting, to noisy environments with many people speaking at once. He will communicate better one-on-one rather than in a group setting. In general, Aspies do not prefer to multitask. So the best way to handle this is a check-off list that break down the task into subtask. He should knock off one subtask at a time rather than focus on the entire big picture. He might surprise you.

First - thanks everyone for the replies!

As far as asking if he's on the spectrum, in general I get it - it is a nosy and perhaps offensive question. But on a personal level, particularly in a small office, if someone is acting strangely or having trouble with their work, they're going to get some kindly-meant questioning from colleagues trying to figure out what's going on.

In this case, us interviewers have already speculated that this guy is on the spectrum - and if we hadn't talked about it as a logical explanation for several concerns (an underwhelming resume with large gaps and sometimes seeming to ignore feedback during our coding exercises - "teachability" is a must-have given his lack of experience), we probably would have passed on hiring him. Generally as people settle in here they do come to find out what interviewers / teammates thought during the interview (i.e. some people were worried I'd be too timid to voice concerns and contribute in meetings- ha!). This time the concern relates to a diagnosable condition which is why I'm wondering how to bring it up or if we should go out of our way to avoid mentioning it?

For context, I have bipolar disorder and am open about it and I've receive nothing but support from colleagues here. I've told coworker-friends to please spread the word if someone is asking what's up with me - I'd much prefer that everyone knows and feels comfortable coming to me about it than to have them whispering behind my back or misinterpreting my mood shifts as a personal affront. It is such a small place that there's no HR department for official "accommodations", but in practice I do have allowances made - mainly to not schedule recurring meetings early in the day since I sometimes take sleep medicine that makes me very groggy the next morning, and secondarily that coworkers don't take it personally if one day I'm friendly and energetic and the next withdrawn and tired.

If you want him to feel comfortable and not cornered, don't ask him about whether he has autism or even suggest he has it. It would make a lot of people with autism feel very uncomfortable, especially as most of us have (great) experience of being rejected and assumptions made about them once the diagnosis is known. He is him, adapt to him and who he is. Not autism.

Do you really need to know whether he has it or not? Why not treat him as a person with a quirky personality and just adapt to that? You do not need to voice a diagnosis, you can ask him things like what would make him most comfortable and as a side something like, "If that fan is too noisy then let me know", little things like that that would make you come to a conclusion as to how to accommodate him and his needs.

Are you in a position to hire this person? I should have asked that earlier.....

I'm guessing that he/she has overwhelmed you with his apparent affinity for---and ability in-- the particular "job" you are seeking a person to perform.

Otherwise, with the "large gaps" in his/her resume, you would not be considering this person.

Truly, as a fellow autistic person, I do hope you hire this person. And I do hope colleagues will be able to overlook the eccentricities of the person's personality---and focus upon his/her productivity within the position.

You have a good point - and this is why I'm feeling a little lost - I don't want to borrow trouble by assuming negatives that may not happen, but at the same time there were concerns about communication from some of the folks who teach and mentor new hires. If someone can communicate their needs then it makes sense to maintain a friendly accommodating environment and allow the individual to ask for what they need - but if the nature of the difference impedes negotiation of a better way to work together...

At the same time, the technical mentors are humans with their own differences - one of the folks voicing concerns was as much talking about his own social limitations as about the candidate. If you have a group of people with traits like extreme introversion and discomfort with challenging social interaction, what can you do to make things more comfortable and productive for everyone involved?

The bottom line is: how good is the candidate at the particular tasks which would be assigned?

One of the problems faced by many Aspies as they grew up was bullying by their peer group. For males this generally occurs during Junior High School. As a result many Aspies have a hard time with accepting criticism. For many, they had to reject all forms of criticism just to keep their sanity during those years.

From my perspective, I would recommend that you take the new employee to the side and address the issue of criticism. Explain to him that there are two forms of criticism. These are destructive criticism and constructive criticism. Destructive criticism is criticism performed with the intention to harm someone, derogate and destroy someone's creation, prestige, reputation and self-esteem. Constructive criticism on the other hand is is the process of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions about the work of others, usually involving both positive and negative comments, in a friendly manner rather than an oppositional one. It is a tool for improving someone to enhance their capabilities and effectiveness.

Then explain at times you might offer him constructive criticism in order to make better. That you have his best interest in heart. That if he succeeds, then you and your company will succeed.