With the rising rates of neurodivergent diagnosis and ever-increasing awareness of neurodivergence, it’s more important than ever that workplaces adapt by removing traditional business standards and introducing modern ways of working.
In 2024, Autistica set out to conduct novel research into the neuroinclusive landscape of organisations in the UK by creating the Neurodiversity Employers Index (NDEI). Co-developed with neurodivergent adults and industry professionals, the NDEI measures organisations on three key strands: neurodiversity management, neuroinclusive management and neuroinclusive landscape. The NDEI is not only the first assessment tool for neuroinclusion in the workplace, but also has provided the first set of data for workplace neuroinclusivity across 10 different industry sectors with both Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations participating.
Jamescape’s NDEI Company Report boasted an overall score of 83 out of 100, with us scoring the highest in the neuroinclusion landscape category at 96 out of 100. Some of our highlighted areas of strengths were our company culture, our recruitment processes, and our neurodiversity commitment and strategy. Jamescape achieved the NDEI Silver Award, placing us in the top 9% of the 132 participating organisations. We’re immensely proud to have achieved this and to have contributed to Autistica’s important research.
James Barber, Chief Executive, said,
As an autistic/dyspraxic CEO, I know firsthand the struggles that neurodivergent people can have in the workplace, and the importance of making workplaces inclusive, supportive and accessible for this sizeable, but often overlook demographic. I am very proud that we have achieved this award, and grateful for the hard work of my diverse and dedicated team who enabled this.
You can find out more about Autistica’s NDEI here and you can read their 2024 Market Report here.
The NDEI 2024 Market Report found that SMEs are leading the way in inclusive workplaces, although many of these organisations lack aspects like neurodiversity staff training and inclusive recruitment practices. In our experience as an SME, we found that a lot of our workplace practices were already close to best practice. For example, when we became a Disability Confident Leader, we had to change very little about how we operate to meet the criteria. From our conversations with other SME leaders, many of them are also inclusive workplaces but lack the time, expertise, and resources to dedicate to EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion); sometimes even just the time to formalise it, and achieve certifications like Disability Confident. Larger corporations can often have entire EDI teams to manage their inclusivity, but in reality it’s just as important for SMEs to be fully inclusive.
This is why Jamescape is developing a web platform to guide SMEs through the Disability Confident scheme, offering best practice and SME-specific EDI expertise along the way. Our mission is to create a easy-to-follow guide for SMEs to formalise their inclusivity and go even further, giving them the right knowledge and tools to critically evaluate their own workplaces.
If you’re interested in our new project, feel free to get in touch and we can have a chat.