Not a Team Player in the Office?—-Not Necessarily
July 13, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
I’m team teaching for my summer school on Psychology and Literature. My co-teacher and I have known each other for a few years but haven’t worked on any projects together; she’s a social psychologist and teaches in my college’s Education Department, and we’ve been figuring out how to take turns presenting material to the class, trade off speaking and answering students’ questions, grading assignments. I’ve team-taught before (last time with an Irish historian—no, not Jim), and I enjoy the back and forth, and not being “all alone” in front of a room of students. Team-teaching does require compromising, and stepping back, and adjustment to another person’s perspective—all of which I see as ways to learn, and to learn new ways of doing my job, teaching students.
I was struck by a statement by 22-year-old Danny Hancock in the July 14th Telegraph, in an article about the difficulties that individuals with Asperger syndrome can face in the workplace:
“Employers don’t seem to want people with disabilities like mine. They say I’m not a team player and haven’t got the right skills for the workplace.”
At the age of 13, Hancock tested in the 93rd percentile for intelligence, and in the 8th in terms of his social skills. He’s more than enthused to talk about Fermat’s Last Theorem but since he left school, he has only had part-time administrative jobs, and is now on leave from his current job after he became frustrated and kicked boxes around the office. Notes the Telegraph:
Prospects, [an employment coordinator] which has offices in London, Glasgow, Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester, helps AS sufferers to write a CV, prepare for interviews, and gives advice on basic office skills. It works directly with employers to find job opportunities which match the skills of the candidate with AS and can assign a support worker to help the new employee break down tasks into easily manageable chunks.
Around 300 people are currently being supported. Darwin adds that people with autism and AS can excel at their jobs and with the right guidance and support can be invaluable members of the workforce. “They tend to be extremely focused and dedicated, and are also very reliable, trustworthy and honest – all of which are attributes that employers look for.”
This topic of difficulties in the work place was brought up recently in a reader’s comment. It makes me wonder how many people there are out there who have had these sorts of struggles and, whether diagnosed with autism or not, have not been able to hang onto a job as a result. Yes, employees do have to work together as part of a company and for common goals, but—kind of as this t-shirt illustrates—it is sometimes (if not all too often) the one who wanders astray who has a novel idea, and even a great solution. How much is an idea worth, indeed?
This is something I worry about a lot with my sons. Every year they are doing better, but I can’t help but worry about what the future will bring, especially when they become adults. We still have a way to go (they are 7, 7, and 3), but I’m afraid that employers still have a long way to go to becoming more adaptable also.
Any suggestions on what we as parents can be doing now to help pave the way for a smooth transition to adulthood / college / employment? I mean in terms of society’s attitudes since we’re already working with our kids.
How I love the term ‘CV’! An American pal of mine took pity on me and my own CV which was unsuitable for an American audience.
She said that I came across as a ’sniveling serf’ whereas I thought I was being ‘polite.’
Once she had revamped it to suit the American [positive] palette, I hardly recognized myself.
It’s all about packaging! [It's the American way!]
Cheers
To employers, I’m sort of an unusually large “condiment packet” of ideas. Ideas on quality control, safety, efficiency, customer service, that sort of thing. Typical “Aspie.” Most employers (but rarely coworkers) agree, those ideas can often be oh-so-tasty. Yum!
So they squeeze the “packet” until it’s empty, and then throw it away.
Oh, well. You know what they say: “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Borg.’”
:-p
@Maddy, There was the student applying for medical grad school whose “resumé” listed “Victoria’s Secret” as the top item under “Employment Experience.” I advised, uh maybe you might put that not so prominently?
@lonestar818, hi—-it was suggested to me to start finding out how many disabled employees there are where I work, and also where relatives work. And to visit Human Resources and find out about policies and so forth—time to start getting the ball rolling.
I know that our school system does vocational training up to the age of 21, and I suppose I should look more closely into that. Perhaps they offer some sort of placement aid as well. I think with the growing popularity of online education, college may be manageable.
I live alone, have been able to support myself, but I’ve been hit pretty hard in this area: employment. Was fired from my first job for “insubordination”, when the intention was to be honest, not “insubordinate”. In retrospect, I probably would have fired me too, I was definitely too blunt, insensitive, but still…it was due to a social misunderstanding. It was embarassing.
Ultimately I’m not able to work in group settings, so the solution has been to work graveyard shifts for my entire adult life. It minimizes exposure to light, sounds…but also people. On the one hand, it has definitely reduced the stress of having to constantly process social cues. On the other hand, it has essentially killed the possibility of advancement.
Anyway. This post really struck a chord, particularly when you described the tension between this persons intelligence and job. On intelligence tests, my wattage has been deemed abnormally happy…yet I will mostly likely work low-paying graveyard shifts for my entire life. Coming to terms with this has been painful.
My friend’s son had this problem. Absolutely brilliant and no job after Univ. The Univ helped him with his CV, his interview skills and finally got him a 6mth internship. Within a month he was hired fulltime. Granted it’s in the computer world where he’s very comfortable. But isn’t that the point, to find a job that fits you.
I have no intentions of telling anyone that my eldest has a dx of any kind. It’s no one’s business and if he can’t handle the interview process, what makes me certain he can handle a fulltime job??? I’m not certain that after 9yrs out of the workforce I’d want to go back to working for someone else.
There is a “special needs” employment agency and Community living here to help if my eldest needs it and definately will need to be used to support the younger. Then again, that’s 15yrs away for him… you never know.
S.
This illustrates a problem with the placement services, not Hancock. Some one like Hancock would be better suited to IT or engineering or a similar profession.
The logic appears to be: a professional occupation is more challenging than an administrative vocation. Hancock is failing at administration. Therefore, Hancock would fail at a professional occupation.
This is a fallacy. While engineering and IT may be more challenging intellectually, they are less challenging socially.
Harvard Business School understands this. See link: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5869.html
When will the rest of the world catch on?
I’m from a different country, and there they’re not as strict about odd or rude behaviors in the workplace. Here in the US even a neurotypical person can get in trouble if he/she is not very outgoing or doesn’t have perfect tact and manners.
This topic gets me into Major Worry Mode. Amigo (16, blind, Aspergers) is entering his junior year in high school with no real vision for the future. What next?
Through my college’s disability programs, I believe they have something like vocational training in addition to workshops and career/academic advising.
Yeah, my dad has working in low-paying jobs and in graveyard shifts for a long time (he is also autistic), and part of that is from not going to college, but one thing about my dad is he doesn’t put up with other people (like employers or co-workers) saying **** about him, and gets worn out from too much talking/socialization, and especially since he has to work so much and sleep so little to pay for my college, he can’t have very socially demanding jobs, like cashier work. He could learn how to work it, and in fact I think once they were training him, but it’s so much noise, and having to greet all the customers who go through, that stuff… not a job I could handle, either. That’s another thing; employee training people can’t get super frustrated when the person they’re training doesn’t “get it” immediately. Some people (like my dad and me) really need to do things a few times to get them down, or write down the instructions, and just saying them won’t cut it.
The longest I have worked for an employer is about 2.5 years, unless I count (very) part-time posts and freelance work.
Teaching at colleges has been ideal because, unlike high schools, there are no staff rooms, few common areas, et cetera. My office is currently in St. Paul, while my department is in Minneapolis. I don’t visit them, they don’t bother me.
I’ve done a bit of everything, from retail at K-Mart to overnight data center work. I have never “bonded” with coworkers and don’t really care to do so. Even now, in an academic setting, my interests aren’t similar to those in my primary department.
Honestly, I’m most content working at home. Teaching a “hybrid” online course next year will allow me to commute less, which I appreciate.
I’m not sure it’s a good idea to take “not a team player” too literally; as normally used in an employment context, it’s simply code for “won’t kiss the boss’s butt” or “won’t make unreasonable sacrifices for the sake of the company.”
This really hits home for me, since I’ve gotten yet another rejection letter today. It was for a sales job, which I didn’t really like the idea of, but the job overall sounded interesting. I thought the interviews went well, but I guess not. I’m pretty frustrated right now, because I know I’m smart, and I think I’m reasonably articulate, and I’m well educated. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a job that will hire me and that I’m even mildly interested in. I would love to put my curiosity and research skills to good use, but my ability to be a “team player” and get on well with others seems to be much more highly valued.
Employment, and particularly employer culture, is an area where it will do us well to take a cue from the gay community. Gay community organizations focusing on employment issues have taken it upon themselves to connect with and work with HR and management, particularly in large and prominent employers, to understand the corporate culture and address areas where it is hostile to their community.
There is much that we can do in the same vein: from the modes in which information is communicated between employees, informally and formally, across and within various work roles, to what the organization does to build and maintain teams, to basic issues of diversity sensitivity, to practical matters such as lighting, noise, and other sensory distraction.
Understanding where there is latitude for change and accommodation, and what the tradeoffs involved are, is critical.
This is work that organizations addressing employment issues for folks on the spectrum need to be doing.
And not just for the “high functioning”: many of these changes in attitude and conventions are about removing obstacles that hold back autistic people with more severe handicaps from a sustainable place in the workforce.
– Phil Schwarz
VP, Asperger’s Association of New England
Member, Board of Directors, Autism National Committee
Working from home is often the only option. Despite the benefits of a big corporation, I found that a small company where you can fit in is usually best.
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