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Neurodiversity; an employee's advice for potential employers

neurodivergence neurodiversity NoOneLeftBehind Pluss Video 12 September 2024
An animated representation of Phoebe standing on Plymouth Hoe

At Pluss, we pride ourselves in encouraging employers to recognise the benefits of an inclusive workforce.

In conjunction with the Neurodiverse Plymouth Employment Network (NPEN), and with the help of two employees of Babcock International, we’ve created this video to showcase some of the steps employers can take, to encourage and support neurodivergence and inclusion in the workplace.

The NPEN vision is to support and inspire future generations so that neurodivergence is seen as an asset and benefit to employers.

It exists to enhance the sharing of best practice across employers within the city and to create job opportunities for neurodivergent individuals.

Above all, NPEN seeks to promote and celebrate neurodiversity.

After much discussion and collation of responses, two general themes emerged; recruitment and access to job opportunities and support mechanisms within the workplace.

Getting these two processes right really seemed to shape the experience of the neurodivergent community and benefited the business too.

We discovered there was a lot of excellent practice happening across the city so we decided to showcase some of what we found in a video.

We hope other employers might want to learn and enact some of the ideas for themselves.

Anonymity

Phoebe volunteered to share her experiences, but didn’t want to appear on camera. She voiced her story and then we used a mix of animation and some Pluss colleagues to illustrate her words.

In the video, Phoebe is played by an animated character alongside another volunteer, Isabelle, who was happy to act out some of the office scenes.

Seetec employee owners were only too pleased to become actors for the day!

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The Neurodiverse Plymouth Employment Network (NPEN) was created in 2023 to empower people who are neurodivergent and to support inclusive practice in the workplace.

NPEN is a collaborative forum made up of Plymouth employer representatives, local government and educational leaders. NPEN meets monthly and has, in its first year focused on four workstreams. This video is the result of the ‘communication and networking’ workstream.

#NoOneLeftBehind