Neurodiversity in the Workplace: A Critical Focus Area for DEI
By Leslie Peabody, SVP and Chief People Officer, WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone
One area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that has historically been overlooked is neurodiversity, which encompasses a wide range of thinking styles and diversity of thought. Harvard Medical School defines neurodiversity as “the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits.” They also stress the importance of embracing neurodiversity in the workplace to improve inclusivity for all: “It is important for all of us to foster an environment that is conducive to neurodiversity, and to recognize and emphasize each person’s individual strengths and talents while also providing support for their differences and needs.”
Overlooking differences in thinking can lead to missed opportunities to enhance workplace culture and improve performance. Even small misses based on differing ways of thinking can create friction in a work environment, impact the quality of a deliverable, or impede efficiency. Luckily, by working as an organization to respect and embrace our differences rather than react or judge, we can create a rich and representative workplace that benefits all and leads to more productive teams and greater achievement of company goals.
At WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone, we recognize that our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We focus on hiring great people who reflect the communities we serve and who represent the core of who we are. Embracing DEI in all forms is critical to our mission to deliver best-in-class broadband services with exceptional customer service. Our richly diverse workforce creates a culture of innovation at WOW!, bringing new ideas to the forefront and contributing valuable and unique perspectives to problem solving and overcoming challenges.
Supporting an understanding and appreciation of different thinking styles is just one aspect of our DEI program focus, but it is critical to creating an inclusive workforce. We have launched multiple initiatives to support DEI and neurodiversity within our company culture, helping us to recruit and retain the best talent that closely reflects the people we serve:
Embracing Diversity of Thought
WOW! has designed and started to deliver training to expand our workforce’s openness to thought and communication style diversity, using an assessment tool called Emergenetics to equip teams to better understand how to effectively collaborate across different thinking and behavioral styles. Emergenetics measures each employee’s attributes across categories such as expressiveness, analytical, social, assertiveness, structural, conceptual, and flexibility. This assessment helps employees better understand themselves and their coworkers.
We have assessed and trained approximately 250 WOW! leaders in how to use Emergenetics to embrace cognitive diversity and learn to work better with others who bring unique perspectives and different working styles to our teams. Delivering training in understanding and appreciating different ways of thinking and behaving improves team and cross-functional communication and collaboration, trust and safety, and ultimately helps with the achievement of company goals based on a better functioning team who knows how to work with differences rather than against them.
Enhancing Cultural Intelligence
WOW! uses DEI learning modules as part of its training to enhance WOW!’s Cultural Intelligence (CQ). CQ is the ability to recognize and relate to others with cultural differences and to be able to adapt and work effectively across those differences. Increasing our CQ through dedicated training will drive empathy and an understanding of the power of teams that are truly diverse in every way, including background, culture, race and ethnicity, gender, neurodiversity and thought.
Growing WOW!’s CQ will encourage all employees to share their best ideas and to be better listeners to the ideas of others. Not only does this empower all of our employees to grow personally and professionally, it strengthens our business by increasing employee satisfaction. WOW!’s Employer Net Promoter Score (eNPS), which measures how employees feel about their workplace, has improved by more than 117% in recent years, signifying high levels of employee satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, WOW!’s overall employee engagement score has improved by more than 20%, as measured by Officevibe. By fostering an environment that equips our employees for success, they will in turn demonstrate the spirit of service we require to delight our customers.
Supporting Representation in Recruiting and Training
WOW! has best-practice standards for recruitment and selection, including a formal hiring guide that allows us to attract, evaluate and select diverse individuals in a fair manner. We established DEI training for our executive team and our DEI task force, and recently updated our recruitment policy and external careers page to further reflect our organizational values and support for the communities we serve.
Our HR team revamped the WOW! website, including the careers page, making it more accessible and user-friendly. We increased the diversity of verbiage and images on the website, so candidates are more likely to “see themselves” on the page (see image below). Front and center on our careers site, we also offer a way to reach out to us regarding accessibility of our site or request reasonable accommodations in the application process. This encourages all interested candidates to apply and increases representation in our talent base.
WOW! has also ensured that its talent acquisition personnel are trained in DEI to engage and recruit a diverse candidate pool, including people who think differently from others already on the team. WOW! offers an introduction to training for managers to create psychologically safe spaces, ensuring that all candidates feel welcome and supported throughout their journey at WOW!. We also conduct annual anti-harassment and discrimination training. Written guidance, such as our CEO Diversity Statement, is memorialized in our employee handbook. We prohibit harassment in all forms, have a formal complaint procedure, make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities, and have a pay transparency policy. These policies and processes ensure an equitable workplace for all and help us attract the best talent that drives WOW!’s success.
Developing Inclusive Online Communities
Through WOW!’s intranet, The Gig, employees across WOW!’s footprint can engage with its online communities, including its DEI community, Inclusivity Circle. Inclusivity Circle is a social media-like bulletin board that allows employees to post reactions, experiences and solutions for topics across DEI: including racism, diversity of thought, LGBTQ issues, accommodating coworkers with disabilities in the workplace, and events happening in the world today.
The Gig is crucial for building community and keeping people connected at WOW!, giving employees the opportunity to engage in ways that are comfortable for them. Regular webinars and articles on The Gig cover a variety of topics related to neurodiversity and DEI. These resources enhance our DEI efforts by providing a space for employees to learn and engage with DEI topics at their own pace, and further strengthens our teams by fostering respect and understanding of our similarities and differences.
Improving Employee Wellbeing
Supporting employee mental health and wellbeing helps encourage people to be their authentic selves at work and embrace their unique strengths. At WOW!, we’ve revamped our medical coverage to include health insurance plans that cover comprehensive mental health benefits including free mental health office visits. Employees also have access to weekly mindfulness meditation sessions and third-party providers with expertise in mental health, mental health apps, and online resources.
We regularly highlight and encourage the use of our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as a key resource for those needing assistance with issues that may impact their job performance, health and emotional wellbeing. Through regular articles on The Gig and statements by leaders in all-employee webinars, employees are also reminded to step away from their computers and practice regular self-care. These resources have had a substantial impact on employee wellbeing. From 2017 to 2022, our employee wellness scores increased by 48%. Happy employees are engaged employees who uplift our entire workforce.
Measuring Our Progress
We conducted a DEI environmental survey to better understand where we stand as an organization and what we need to do to continuously improve our DEI initiatives and support for differences in thought and interaction styles. We have established internal reporting to provide real time access and insight into our DEI analytics. Through these and other efforts, we continuously measure our progress. Recurring internal audits allow us to understand where we are at in meeting our DEI program goals and ensure we are on track. As we implement new DEI program tenets that align with WOW!’s values, we continue to remain compliant with all state and federal requirements specific to reporting, audits and governmental agencies. By measuring our progress, we can ensure our DEI efforts are having a positive and ongoing impact on our company culture and performance.
The Bottom Line: A Diverse Workforce Benefits Us All
Employees with a variety of backgrounds, views and life experiences enrich our company. At WOW!, we understand that the diversity of our employees is one of our greatest strengths. Neurodiversity is a critical area of our overall DEI focus; every human brain is unique, and we are a better and more powerful company if we all learn about (and learn to appreciate) both our own thinking styles and others' thinking styles to better communicate and collaborate. It is imperative that all companies work to enhance diversity of thought as part of their DEI efforts. Valuing each employee as an individual is more than just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do because it enables them to reach their maximum potential and allows us to build companies that are stronger, more resilient, and more empathetic.
