Expansion of auticon ”“ social enterprise helping FinTechs add autistic talent to their teams
The social enterprise tech consultancy auticon which has a base in Edinburgh, has entered into an agreement to unite with Unicus, a similar organisation operating mainly in the Nordics which also seeks to improve the lives of autistic adults through employment. The historic deal establishes a global model for an autistic-majority social enterprise and ESG company, addressing the inequalities in employment for neurodivergent adults. The two combined companies will become the largest autistic-majority organisation in the world with 81% (465) of its 575 employees on the autism spectrum and will operate in 14 countries, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, and France.
Unicus Founder and CEO Lars Johansson-Kjellerød commented: “By our marriage, we create the world’s largest autistic-majority corporation. With the focus on neurodiversity, we will continue to create unique results for our customers and an increased quality of life for our employees. The joint companies have the same DNA and vision to create a more inclusive world, and when we combine Unicus and auticon’s long experience, that is, in my opinion, the best prerequisites to successfully foster change and innovation and to create the leading social company focusing on neurodiversity. I am looking forward to the journey ahead!” 
Unicus CEO Lars Johansson-Kjellerød, auticon Group CEO Kurt Schöffer and CFO Markus Weber are photographed in 2023 in Italy where the Management Board met to define details of the deal
Auticon is an award-winning social innovation company and offers organisations a unique way to bring tech and data expertise plus neurodivergent thinking into their teams. They integrate their autistic consultants into client organizations on a project-basis, performing as software developers, data analysts, QA engineers, and more. Clients experience the benefits of working with autistic professionals first-hand, opening minds and achieving excellent results through diversity of thought and creative thinking.
auticon’s clients in Scotland include a number of Financial Services organisations. David Hodgson, Engineering Lead for Engage Me Lab at Lloyds Banking Group said “Over the last year we’ve been working with auticon. Their support and training has helped us understand neurodiversity and opened positive conversations. auticon colleagues have brought strengths to our team both in delivery and contributing to our culture”.
auticon empowers the clients they work with through actionable neurodiversity training and advisory services. They are the first international neuroinclusion services provider offering lived experience, training, advice, technology solutions and experienced coaching to support organisations in their commitment to being neuroinclusive. They have over a decade of experience of attracting, recruiting, hiring, onboarding and retaining neurodivergent talent and want to help their clients deliver business and impact goals, just like they have, by having a diverse organisation that is successfully neuroinclusive.
“We don’t just jump straight in with off the shelf solutions. It is vital we understand your business and the people working with you. We know very well that one neurodivergent person is different from the next neurodivergent person, and it’s the same for businesses. We take a thorough 360 approach so that everything we do is tailored, collaborative and doesn’t create a silo of neuroinclusion. Instead, we help you to become a fully integrated neuroinclusive employer with practices that complement existing strategies, not create more work.” Emma Walker ”“ Regional Director Scotland
auticon was established in Germany in 2011 by a father looking to create more opportunities for his own autistic son as he realised that autistic people are too often unemployed or underemployed. It is estimated that only 29% of autistic adults are in employment (Office for National Statistics, UK, 2022) yet many possess cognitive strengths that make them particularly well-suited for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Despite this, they are faced with barriers such as an exclusionary recruitment process, poor autism awareness, and employers feeling unprepared to offer support. This is what auticon and Unicus continue to tackle. The auticon London office opened in 2016, followed by the establishment of the Edinburgh team in 2019. Both offices operate rolling recruitment and are always keen to hear from autistic people with strong tech and data skills. Both offices are also always delighted to explore options for collaboration with new clients.
Find out more at Home – auticon United Kingdom or contact Emma Walker ”“ Regional Director Scotland on Emma.Walker@auticon.co.uk
Auticon launches Autism Advisory Service
Many organisations are now familiar with the advantages they can gain from diversity in their workforce and most consider diversity in social backgrounds, gender, culture, and other individual qualities of their employees. Benefits from neurodiversity are similar but more direct. Because neurodivergent people are wired differently from “neurotypical” people, they may bring new perspectives to a company’s efforts to create or recognise value.
The case for neurodiverse hiring is especially compelling given the skills shortages that increasingly afflict technology and other industries. The biggest deficits are expected to be in strategically important and rapidly expanding areas such as IT security, data analytics and IT services implementation, whose tasks are a good match with the abilities of some neurodivergent people.
A growing number of companies, including SAP, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and Microsoft, have reformed their HR processes to access neurodiverse talent. They have reported seeing productivity gains, quality improvement, boosts in innovative capabilities, and increased employee engagement as a result.
To create a neurodiverse workforce, there are three key things that your organisation can do today to attract and retain highly skilled workers on the autism spectrum: Start by having an awareness of your current organisation and its needs; adapt your hiring practices that could be unintentionally eliminating people on the autism spectrum; and review how you communicate both within and out with your organisation.
auticon, an International IT Consultancy and Advisory business, exclusively employing autistic consultants, can help you plan and implement these changes, enabling you to tap into the traits and talents of neurodivergent people which are beneficial to business: the ability to look at a problem differently, see trends in large amounts of data, apply problem-solving methodologies, and persist and follow through on repetitive tasks. These abilities lend themselves to high performance in technology roles.
auticon Scotland have obtained funding from the Scottish Government as part of their Increasing the Understanding of Autism’ campaign and are using this funding to launch their Autism Advisory Service in Scotland. This service can work with you and your organisation and make recommendations as to how you can attract, recruit and retain your own neurodiverse talent. The bonus is that while auticon have this Scottish Government funding, they are able to offer this service for free.
To find out more, please contact auticon directly: emma.walker@auticon.co.uk
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Coronavirus, Autism and Fintech
The Coronavirus crisis has led to the largest move to remote working that anyone has ever seen, with many companies switching to homeworking almost overnight. I have witnessed some surprising lessons on the power of neurodiversity in a crisis like this.
Autism and the fintech opportunity
When we founded auticon in 2011 we believed that diversity is a strength that enhances problem-solving ability. Neurodiverse people often excel at business intelligence, quality-assurance, test automation and complex software development projects. They have unique cognitive strengths: attention to detail, a systematic way of working, logical analysis, pattern recognition, error detection and sustainable concentration for routine activities.
Autistic individuals are equally capable of excelling in STEM subjects and many achieve degrees or advanced qualifications. However, in a recent survey of more than 3,000 technology leaders, IT outsourcer Harvey Nash and auditing firm KPMG found that 67% reported that a skills shortage was preventing their organisation from keeping up with the pace of change. Autistic people are often overlooked or not considered as a source of talent, with some studies showing that up to 90% are either unemployed or underemployed.
The fintech sector is one that could benefit massively from onboarding neurodiverse people with STEM related skills and above average attention to details.
Autism and homeworking
Prior to the coronavirus crisis, most consultants at auticon worked from client sites or from our offices. That seemed to be the best way to make sure everyone performed at their best. Autistic workers like consistency in their office environment and routines. We employ Job Coaches to work closely with our consultants. They suggest adaptations to work environment, smooth out any bumps and ensure that our consultants are set up for success. They are also on hand to support our clients.
We had to change all of this when the coronavirus struck and on 23rd March, we matched our clients and transitioned all of our team to homeworking. Fortunately, everyone already had laptops and mobile devices, so we didn’t have to worry about the technology part of the equation. Our main concern was whether we could maintain productivity.
Overall, this has gone better than we hoped. Traditional managers at many organisations may worry that team members who work from home may not put in the same level of focus or be able to meet deadlines. We never have to worry about this. Autistic people tend to be very direct and honest. If you ask them if they are being productive working from home, they will tell you the truth. (If they were watching Netflix, they will tell you that, too.)
auticon consultant, Kyle Walker says he actually prefers working remotely as for him, the most stressful part of his day was the bus journey to his client’s office. With that out of the equation, Kyle is very happy and probably a little more productive on his client’s project.
The tech tools we used for remote communication, such as Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, also work very well for us. Autistic people often prefer to interface via a precise text or email. Verbal or face-to-face conversations, which involve body language and emotional expression, can be more subjective and challenging. Some of our consultants who aren’t comfortable making eye contact in person found that they were able to do so on Zoom calls, giving them a new way to connect.
The Coronavirus challenge and opportunities
We have seen additional business opportunity during the coronavirus crisis. Going virtual has meant our global operation is working together more closely, leveraging a much deeper resource pool with specific technical capabilities in near real time. We are working across multiple time zones to assist clients with rapid deployment in a very cost-effective way. This global virtualisation may have taken us months or years to realise prior to the crisis.
Having a team capable of working very effectively from home is powerful. Beyond the current coronavirus lockdown, many organisations will rely much more on remote working and need to have a workforce that’s capable of doing this effectively. In auticon’s experience, hiring more autistic people is an answer. Not only does it bring more diverse thinking to a team but it is also an ideal way to make sure that you are staffed up with people who naturally excel at remote work.
Written by Emma Walker, Regional Manager ”“ auticon Scotland
Auticon provides a neurodiverse and agile workforce to improve clients information technology projects predominantly in areas such as Data Science, Quality Assurance and Cyber Security.
Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels