Inclusive Communication Model Supporting the Employment Cycle of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Open accessAbstract
Difficulties with interpersonal communication experienced by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) significantly contribute to their underrepresentation in the workforce as well as problems experienced while in employment. Consistently, it is vital to understand how communication within the employment cycle of this group can be improved. This study aims to identify and analyze the possibilities of modifying the communication processes around recruitment, selection, onboarding, and job retention to address the specific characteristics and needs of the representatives of this group. This qualitative study is based on 15 in-depth interviews conducted with 21 field experts, i.e.,: therapists, job trainers, and entrepreneurs employing people with ASD. The findings of this research informed the creation of an inclusive communication model supporting the employment cycle of individuals with ASD. The most important recommendations within the model that was created include the modification of job advertisements, use of less structured job interviews, providing opportunities for mentorship, and supportive and non-direct, electronically mediated communication. To apply the above-mentioned solutions and take full advantage of the talents of people with ASD, it is also necessary to provide tailored sensitivity and awareness training programs for their direct addressees as well as their neurotypical colleagues, including managerial staff.
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Workers with autism tend to benefit less from tacit social knowledge transfer than neurotypical colleagues.
“On the one hand, workers with autism tend to benefit less from tacit social knowledge transfer than neurotypical colleagues [14].”
From Remote work support needs of employees with autism spectrum disorder in Poland: perspectives of individuals with autism and their coworkers (2022) · cites this paper as [14]
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BackgroundSelf-citationAssessment of Workplace Discrimination against Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Cooper, A.-A., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2022) · SocioEconomic Challenges · doi:10.21272/sec.6(2).19-28.2022 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Autistic Employees’ Technology-Based Workplace Accommodation Preferences Survey—Preliminary Findings
Tomczak, M. T., & Ziemiański, P. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20105773 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“These accommodation proposals took various forms: some of them were based on developing tailored recruitment practices, improvements in communication, and social skills development [6,7,24,25]; remote/hybrid work [21,22,26,27]; stress level and notification of the increase in stress level [28,29]; limitation of sensor…”
BackgroundSelf-citationConroy, S. A., & Vogus, T. J. (2025) · Human Resource Management · doi:10.1002/hrm.22284 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Mapping the lacunae between neurodivergent individuals and work organizations
Nair, V. S., Kumar, S., & Bhargava, S. (2025) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105133 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Comer, D. R., Lenaghan, J. A., & Motro, D. (2023) · Equality Diversity and Inclusion An International Journal · doi:10.1108/edi-12-2022-0334 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Neurodiversity at Work: Challenges and Opportunities for Human Resource Management
Volpone, S. D., & Hennekam, S. (2025) · Human Resource Management · doi:10.1002/hrm.70032 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
More Career Development Learning for Neurodivergent Tertiary Education Students: A Case Study
Coffey, J., & Lovegrove, E. (2023) · Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability · doi:10.21153/jtlge2023vol14no2art1790 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Understanding the barriers to hiring autistic people as perceived by employers in the United Kingdom
Day, M. R., Wood, C., Corker, E., & Freeth, M. (2024) · Autism · doi:10.1177/13623613241301493 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“…in terms of general awareness of autism (Annabi & Locke, 2019; Rashid et al., 2018), highlighting the challenges that autistic people face during hiring processes (Davies et al., 2023) and demonstrating how workplaces can be adapted to be more accessible to autistic people (Tomczak et al., 2021).”
Bualar, T. (2025) · Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources · doi:10.1111/1744-7941.70054 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
From inclusion to (neuro)divergent safe space in organizations
Scholz, F., Kersten, A., & Szulc, J. M. (2026) · International Journal of Management Reviews · doi:10.1111/ijmr.70019 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citationGarrod, B., & Hansen, M. (2024) · Equality Diversity and Inclusion An International Journal · doi:10.1108/edi-10-2023-0339 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Context of Digitalized Employment for Older Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the New Normal
Mpofu, E., Tomczak, M. T., Hutson, N. M., Gafford, L., & Zhan, R. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-09803-1_15 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationNeurodivergent Talent in the Workforce
Mathew, T., Varghese, R., & Latha, K. (2025) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-3373-0350-5.ch007 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Quintero, J., Rodríguez-Quiroga, A., Medina, J., Gálvez-Fernández, M., Nuevo, J., Ruiz, C., Sánchez, E., Alonso, V., & Domínguez, A. P. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-17470-8 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Breaking barriers, building futures: Inclusive workplaces for autistic people
Failla, C., Chilà, P., Baluci, D., Caporlingua, C., Meduri, A., Pioggia, G., & Marino, F. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1606075 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…of asynchronous communication tools, such as emails, in reducing social stress in the most critical moments of working life – from recruitment to onboarding – offering autistic workers the opportunity to re fl ect before responding, reducing the anxiety related to immediate interaction (25).”
Flood, M. (2026) · Applied Psychology · doi:10.1111/apps.70116 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Bielefeldt, A. R. (2024) · ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition · doi:10.18260/1-2--47803 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Career development of autistic employees – a scoping review
Abeysekara, S. P., Hayward, S. M., & Spoor, J. R. (2025) · Career Development International · doi:10.1108/cdi-03-2025-0145 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Being Inclusive with Neurodiverse Workforce—Applications of ICT in Training
Pandey, S., Chandwadkar, R., & Gaikwad, H. V. (2025) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-981-96-5754-4_27 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Álvarez, M. T., & Peralta, E. (2025) · Safety · doi:10.3390/safety11040097 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“This growth is largely attributed to the development of more advanced screening methods, which have enabled more accurate identification of these neurobiological conditions [2].”
InfluentialExploring Neurodiversity’s Influence on Chronic Misfit
Follmer, E. H. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-96-8208-9_8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Santana, R., Carranza, E. K. G., & Bustos, N. N. A. (2026) · INNOVA Research Journal · doi:10.33890/innova.v11.n1.2026.2885 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Laister, D., Köck, K., Fischer, L., Schenkenfelder, B., Wiesinger, S., Massoumzadeh, M., & Holzinger, D. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-6646902/v1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Driven by purpose, weary in pursuit: Exploring competitive employment for autistic adults
Erdal, K., Gelléri, P., & Billstedt, E. (2024) · Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation · doi:10.1177/10522263241285205
“Distinct from non-autistic burnout, symptoms among autistic adults vary concerning stressors and potential treatments (Hayward et al., 2020, 2022; Mantzalas et al., 2022; Tomczak et al., 2021).”
InfluentialSharing an Example of Neurodiversity Affirmative Hiring
Petty, S., Hanser, C. H., Williams, J. A., & Hamilton, L. (2025) · Autism in Adulthood · doi:10.1089/aut.2024.0134
“We followed the best practices outlined by the model of inclusive communication 13 by allowing for a more varied structure to the interview.”
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Neurodiversity in organizations: Experiences, challenges and opportunities
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Employing A Neurodiverse Workforce
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- Authors
- Tomczak, M. T., Szulc, J. M., & Szczerska, M.
- Affiliations
- Gdańsk University of Technology (PL)
- University of Huddersfield (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Tomczak, Michał T.
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-04-28
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 4696
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8125785
- OpenAlex
- W3158642628
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 6.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Huddersfield Research Portal (University of Huddersfield) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Centre, Poland (NCN) (2019/03/X/HS4/00304)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Employer Branding and e-HRM
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, inclusive communication, employment cycles, workplace inclusion, recruitment and selection, onboarding, job retention, job advertisements, job interviews, mentoring, digital communication
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Communication, Employment, Humans, Qualitative Research
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