Engineering company AECOM’s employee survey data shows that wellbeing levels have soared from 53% to 80%.
Part of this is due to the fact that hundreds of managers have been trained in talking to employees about their mental health. Consequently, comfort levels with these conversations have risen from 57% to 82%, and there has been an overall reduction In UK&I sickness cases due to anxiety, stress or other mental health concerns.
The company has worked particularly hard at its neuroinclusivity strategy, with Claire Wilkinson, HR Lead – Wellbeing and ED&I for Europe & India at AECOM, being nominated for ‘Wellbeing Champion of the Year’ in the Neurodiverse Business Awards.
We spoke to her, and Dr Emma Langman-Maher, Associate Director at AECOM, ahead of Neurodiversity Celebration Week (16th – 20th March) who nominated her, about their advice to other employers looking to create a neuroinclusive approach to employee Health and Wellbeing and Workplace Culture.
8 Key Factors to AECOM’s Neuroinclusive Success
1. A close working relationship with Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
In AECOM’s case, the ERG that covers neurodiversity is called ‘Beyond Abilities’, which also covers mental health, disabilities and carers.
“One of the keys to our success is a really close working relationship with our ERGs rather than a particular initiative,” says Claire. “We always look to take a co-creation approach.”
Claire meets with the Europe & India ERGs and executive sponsors every two months. They review corporate strategy and focus areas, and how ERG activities can link with this. It’s also an opportunity for ERG cross collaboration, to provide support and address issues.
“It’s important to keep that communications channel open, so it’s not just once a year ‘Right, what are your thoughts on this?’.”
2. Consulting ERGs on policy
When working on policy, Claire seeks feedback from ERGs after the writing process but before starting implementation.
“There have been a number of policies in the last few years that we have worked with our ERGs on, including Wellbeing, Menopause and Workplace adjustments.”
More recently, amendments were made to the company’s AI policy using feedback from the Beyond Abilities ERG.
“While ensuring that the policy remained compliant, we made the policy inclusive to the ways that neurodivergent employees use AI for day-to-day tasks to better understand and accommodate needs,” says Claire.
“This was really important,” explains Emma, who has ADHD and is autistic, and is on the Beyond Abilities committee, “because I use AI every single day to support me in communication.”
Emma often uses AI to sense-check what others have said, and to help her write emails. As she says, “this helps with the most difficult part of my life because it’s a social communication disability, and it’s supporting me to do my job well and to feel mentally well”.
3. Creation of a clear umbrella brand for inclusion
AECOM uses the umbrella brand ‘Welcoming Workplace’ for all its inclusion, wellbeing and employee engagement work.
This ensures that the employer maintains a connection between inclusion and wellbeing.
“If you’re included, it positively impacts your wellbeing. It also recognises that these are all closely aligned to our workplace culture, supported from the very top of our organisation,” says Claire.
4. Use of employee insights
AECOM’s wellbeing survey provides valuable insights and actions taken are driven by what employees say impacts their wellbeing. The survey asks questions relating to employee wellbeing, manager support, visible leadership and whether people feel they can speak openly about their wellbeing.
“This then gives us the insight we need to know what’s working well with the culture, and what we need to focus on,” Claire says, adding that, while policy is a “part” of culture, her focus is primarily on creating an environment where employees “are supported, can thrive and feel they can talk about their wellbeing”.
5. A broad range of KPIs in place
These cover measures like sense of inclusion, overall wellbeing, sickness absence, wellbeing-related turnover and senior manager wellbeing activity.
6. A personalised approach
“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. We need to put different support in for different people,” says Claire.
7. Looking at the entire employee lifecycle
“Our KPIs look at the whole lifecycle. From an inclusion perspective, we also look holistically at all the different touchpoints across an employee’s career,” says Claire.
For example, AECOM has six workstreams related to policy that span the employee lifecycle including Recruitment, Careers, Leadership, Policy and Practice, Client and Data.
8. A curiosity about seeing life from another’s perspective
Claire stresses that she takes an active interest and listens carefully to how her neurodivergent colleagues, like Emma, experience work.
“I am neurotypical, so I can’t see the world from all the different neurodivergent lenses because that’s impossible. So, working with people with lived experience is so important to me,” says Claire.
And, culturally, this makes all the difference to how employees like Emma feel about their employer.
“What I love about AECOM is that there’s a curiosity and willingness to want to evolve and change,” she says. “And it’s not from the perspective of ‘Oh, poor you’, but from the perspective of ‘How do we get the best out of everybody?’.”
You might also like:
