This toolkit has simple, clear and practical information on how to hire and support neurodivergent employees in the public sector.
To use this toolkit, you don’t need to be recruiting or managing neurodivergent employees.
Our advice is helpful for all employees and will promote a neurodivergent-friendly workplace.
The public sector workforce benefits from having those with different experiences and perspectives work together.
Workplace diversity can:
When we wrote this toolkit, there were few resources for employers to learn about and create neurodiverse-inclusive workplaces.
Neurodivergent people face barriers to gaining and keeping employment. But in many cases, simple changes can reduce or remove these barriers.
The key to success for neurodivergent employees is a supportive workplace, manager and team.
Neurodivergent employees are often creative problem solvers. They may be able to suggest a wider range of solutions and identify problems in projects early on.
And many neurodivergent people also have strong interests. They can thrive in an environment where they can integrate their interests into their work.
We hope this toolkit is a useful resource that helps you to:
Learning how to be inclusive of neurodivergent employees or colleagues is an ongoing process.
Our intent is for this toolkit to be a starting point that you can refer to as needed.
“I have a very strong work ethic and am resilient - I have had to be to compensate for my difficulties and challenges. As a result, I have developed a growth mindset, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are valuable to any workforce” - Neurodivergent employee
A neurodiverse team developed this toolkit including:
We wrote the toolkit with the most up-to-date knowledge at the time, using:
The quotes in this toolkit are from the neurodivergent people we consulted.
We consulted with Victorian public sector employees from these departments and internal groups: