Advancing neurodiversity in the workforce
Wells Fargo and UConn’s Center for Neurodiversity & Employment Innovation will provide workshops to corporate America on how to design and build a neurodiversity employment initiative.
In the four years since Wells Fargo launched its Neurodiversity Program — designed to facilitate a more considerate, accommodating, skills-based hiring model that is accessible by design — more than 320 people have accepted full-time offers of employment at Wells Fargo through the program. Twenty interns participated in it this past summer.
Now, the work to create opportunities for a deeply underserved community through accessible and modernized sourcing and selection processes is taking a leap forward.
Wells Fargo is part of a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the University of Connecticut Center for Neurodiversity & Employment Innovation to significantly improve career outcomes for neurodivergent individuals.
Part of a $3.75 million grant from Wells Fargo to UConn’s Center, the collaboration is funding full-day educational workshops for companies on how to design and build a neurodiversity employment initiative.
The workshops will be provided at no cost to companies, which “will remove cost as a potential barrier for companies that want to provide supportive career opportunities for neurodivergent people,” said Judy Reilly, director of UConn’s Center for Neurodiversity and Employment Innovation. “This partnership enables us to blend academic instructional design and research excellence with real-world industry application and expertise to create solutions for corporate America.”
With an initial focus on companies in corporate America and individuals who seek professional, full-time employment, the work will center around innovative employer education and better connection between neurodivergent job seekers and companies.
“We know that half as many autistic graduates were in full-time employment compared to their non-disabled peers; however, over the past four years we’ve experienced through our program the significant impact of these highly skilled individuals,” said Kristy Fercho, head of Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion at Wells Fargo. “To close this gap, we have a responsibility to work with our corporate America partners to collectively educate and bring awareness to this extraordinarily valuable and untapped talent pool.”
Eight of Wells Fargo’s business divisions have hired Neurodiversity Program participants in the United States, EMEA, and India. And of the more than 320 people from the program who became full-time Wells Fargo employees, 97% are still with the company.
“This program has developed into a firm-wide ecosystem that prioritizes inclusive hiring, onboarding, employee enablement, and improved manager efficacy that is driving a cultural transformation at the company,” said Stephen DeStefani, Enterprise Neurodiversity Program Executive at Wells Fargo. “The initiative continues to succeed beyond my expectations.”
