auticon arrives in Australia

Richard Branson and Lisa Thomas attended the Australian launch and spoke about the importance of neurodiversity in boosting business performance, as well as the need for companies to adopt a more inclusive approach to their operations.

“We’re in the business of changing business for good. Autistic adults often have wonderful cognitive abilities – such as logic, pattern recognition, precision, and concentration – yet many find it difficult to secure mainstream employment. auticon taps into this potential, producing a great solution for clients and people on the spectrum, as well as for society,” said Richard.

auticon is a unique social enterprise that offers exceptional quality work within the information technology industry for its customers, such as business analytics, artificial intelligence, software development, and migration, as well as quality assurance and testing.

Autistic adults often have extraordinary cognitive abilities, such as logic, pattern recognition, precision, sustained concentration, and an ability to intuitively spot errors, yet many find it difficult to secure or maintain mainstream employment. Market studies show that only 15 to 20% of autistic people work within the mainstream labor market, often despite being highly qualified. auticon taps into this potential by supporting autistic adults with job coaches and project managers and produces a win-win-win situation for clients, autistic consultants, as well as society.

auticon CEO, Kurt Schöffer, said: “I applaud our partners and congratulate them on their commitment to reducing the extraordinary unemployment rate among autistic adults in Ohio. They are courageous for doing something about it. auticon brings this challenge to other employers as we look to expand throughout Ohio.”

Sir Richard Branson, auticon investor and founder of Virgin Group, said, “We’ve already seen auticon achieve great success in Europe and the U.S. I’m excited to see further expansion in North America. auticon is a business with purpose at its core, and everyone at Virgin is proud to be part of their journey as they continue to make a positive difference to lives around the world.”

Earlier this year, auticon received the Milestones Visionary Employer Award from Ohio-based Milestones Autism Resources.

Richard became an investor in auticon in October 2016 and since then both Virgin Money and Virgin Management have become extremely satisfied clients. auticon’s proven business model now employs 200 autistic consultants across the globe, delivering some of the most challenging IT projects.

In Sydney, Richard spoke about the importance of auticon’s business model and its power to positively impact people with autism and dyslexia: “Businesses like auticon are true trailblazers because they challenge and encourage us to view conditions like autism and dyslexia differently, not as disabilities, but as talents and assets.

“My dyslexia has given me a massive advantage in life. It has helped me to think creatively and laterally, and to simplify things, which has been a huge asset when building our Virgin businesses. I think it goes without saying that every company, from start-ups to large multinationals, should view neurodiversity, as in fact any other form of diversity, as a great driver of innovation and, ultimately, success.”

auticon’s understanding that autistic employees make a significant contribution to outstanding business performance, especially in the areas of IT and compliance, is very much in alignment with that of the Virgin Group.

Lisa Thomas shared how the Virgin Group is working to improve the employment prospects of autistic people: “It’s quite simple – inclusive, diverse policies are better for business and better for society. In terms of the Virgin brand, building a more inclusive and diverse business gives us a greater ability to retain talent, to innovate, and to build customer loyalty and brand strength.

“At present, there is a global skills shortage in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] fields impacting business innovation, this coupled with high unemployment of autistic people creates a missed opportunity. This is demonstrated by the over representation of people on the spectrum in STEM fields of study, pointing to the need for organisations to be more inclusive in their employment practices and explore the possibilities that organisations like auticon present in bridging the skills gap,” said Lisa.

Richard and Lisa were interviewed by auticon Australia’s managing director, Amanda Turnill, who spoke about her two autistic children along with the urgent need to recruit consultants in order to successfully launch operations in Australia: “I have found that the future for autistic children is anything but bright, 80 per cent, or four out of five autistic kids, will face long periods of unemployment throughout their career and will struggle to support themselves. This was the future for my kids and I couldn’t let it happen.

“In Australia, despite being highly qualified, currently only 15 to 20 per cent of people on the autism spectrum are employed in the mainstream workforce, we aim to change this and we need to recruit a number of consultants to fill our upcoming contracts.”

auticon’s introduction to Australia will initially see them launch operations in Sydney with a large expansion across the country soon to follow.

 

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