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were far more likely to speak up about workplace problems or unethical practices, helping the

organisation identify and address issues quickly (Hartman L. & Hartman B., 2024). From an
organisational perspective, the employment of neurodivergent individuals constitutes a
strategic advantage rather than a mere corporate social responsibility initiative. Empirical

research demonstrates that collaborative pairs comprising both autistic and neurotypical

individuals generated solutions of greater originality in structured creativity tasks with no
decline in overall performance (Axbey et al., 2023). Other studies show that organisations
employing neurodivergent personnel often outperform their competitors, generating 28%

higher revenue on average and delivering superior returns on investment for shareholders
(Rollnik-Sadowska & Grabińska, 2024). At the same time, significant challenges and barriers

have historically kept autism employment rates low. Surveys of employers reveal that a major
obstacle is simply a lack of knowledge about autism: hiring managers often do not understand

what supports or adjustments autistic workers might require or hold misinformed stereotypes
about their abilities (Day et al., 2024). Conventional HR practices—especially unstructured,

face-to-face interviews—frequently penalise autistic applicants. Experimental evidence shows
that when recruiters view recorded interviews, autistic candidates who are just as qualified as

neurotypical peers are rated markedly less hireable because of atypical eye contact, body
language, vocal inflexion and overall "social composure"; the bias disappears when the same

answers are assessed from transcripts alone (Whelpley & May 2022)

7.b. Description of the employment cycle

The main difficulties related to the recruiting phase have already been analysed; we will now
examine the other stages of work. During onboarding, a written day-by-day schedule, a

trained supervisor and sensory-friendly workspaces cut first-week attrition and speed skill
acquisition (Scott et al., 2018). A 12-month follow-up of autistic adults in a supported-

employment programme found that all participants retained their jobs for the full year,
indicating that the model—structured routines, on-site coaching and low-cost environmental

tweaks—can secure long-term job stability. Crucially, higher baseline positive well-being
predicted lower depression at 12 months, suggesting that boosting well-being acts as a

protective buffer against mental health decline and indirectly sustains employment. (Wehman
et al., 2014). Autistic workers typically remain under-advanced despite their skills. For

example, many autistic employees are in jobs lower than their abilities, with 37–46% of study
participants reporting they were overqualified for their roles. In contrast, deliberate support

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Project Number 2023-1-IT01-KA220-VET-000152721