EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Specialisterne Austria is an innovative social business that identifies and qualifies talent on the autism spectrum for jobs in the first labor market. Leveraging overlooked potential through specialized programs and working closely together with small and big businesses to create jobs that enable the candidates to unfold their full potential, Specialisterne contributes strongly to reducing inequalities in job access. With a view to ensure that typical autistic characteristics can provide competitive advantage Specialisterne offers expert services, that cover selection and recruitment, onboarding and continuous training and development of talent on the spectrum.

Goal

We were tasked to identify and measure the potential economic, social and organizational impacts companies may have experienced after engaging the services of Specialisterne. Specifically, the motivation behind the decision to cooperate with Specialisterne should be identified. This knowledge is necessary in order to help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Specialisterne program.

Methodology

Based on extensive literature research, we drew a hypothesis that companies could gain a competitive advantage through employing people with autism. In order to verify this hypothesis, we developed a set of indicators to measure the impacts of hiring people with on the autism spectrum and integrated these into our survey that was distributed to a total of 73 employees from the team and management level of Specialisterne client companies. We also conducted four interviews with managers who were directly involved in the hiring and onboarding process through Specialisterne.

Results

The responses from our surveys and interviews were generally affirmative. The main driver behind the collaboration between companies and Specialisterne is the high skill-need-fit. The Onboarding process was also remarked by managers as well as team members as an essential and valuable part in facilitating a smooth integration of the people with autism into the companies. Specialisterne workshops as well as mentorship had a positive impact on the perception of the employees of their client companies about the topic of autism.

Furthermore, our surveys managed to quantify the changes experienced within the teams. 41.9% of the response shared that the communication within the team became clearer while 30.7% of the response agreed that the work process became more structured and straightforward, all of which contributed to a smoother cooperation. The productivity, defined as output over time, was also perceived to increase by 51.6% from our respondents. All in all, hiring people with autism shows a clear contribution to an increase in motivation and efficiency within the teams and revealed that the cooperation with Specialisterne was an overall positive experience.

Cooperation Partner

• Specialisterne Österreich
  Weyringergasse 28a-30, Top 3
  1040 Wien
  Österreich

Contact Person

• Dipl. LB. DI. Kuno Gruber
  kuno.gruber@specialisterne.at

• Christine Krautzer, BA MSc
  christine.krautzer@specialisterne.at

• at.specialisterne.com

Student team

• Mario Justen

• Lucas Dummer

• Martin Feldbacher

• Melissa Mei Wei Lee

Projektbetreuung

• Reinhard Millner, Peter Vandor