We Should Be Mindful That Everyone Is An Individual: IAB Australia’s Liz Eades On Neurodiversity Within Adland

Advertising can be a relentless industry at times with demanding work, long nights — both in and out of the office — and rapacious clients. However, this environment can lead to different groups within society becoming marginalised within the industry, creating a vicious cycle of underrepresentation and unawareness.

While there is a large focus within adland at the moment on hiring marginalised groups to ensure different races, genders and cultural backgrounds are represented in the industry — all important and necessary causes, to be sure — there is another group that Liz Eades, the director of learning and development at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia feels is being left behind, those with neurodivergent conditions.

Eades told B&T that this is not because of malice on anyone’s part but, because of the ingrained traditions and ways that the adland simply does business, those with neurodivergent conditions are left out and we’re making worse ads as a result.

“It isn’t about them being necessarily misrepresented at work, it’s specifically about how they even get into the job in the first place. That’s a real challenge,” explained Eades.

“The first problem is that because we have a tendency to want to go down to the coffee shop, for example, and have a chat for a job interview, there are some people that may be missing the opportunity to get into the workplace because we’re not considering their specific needs. So, for example, and this does not extend to every neurodiverse person out there, but they may not want to interview at a coffee shop because there might be too much happening around them.

“We also want to be very specific with our questions and very targeted and not generalised. Sometimes we ask very general questions and sometimes that can knock a neurodivergent person out of the equation.”

To be clear, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for businesses in advertising and marketing to hire more neurodivergent people. As Eades told B&T, the term is a catch-all and covers a range of different conditions ranging from the likes of dyslexia and dyscalculia to Tourette syndrome, autism and beyond. But rather than forcing staff to minimise and hide any condition that they might have, agencies, companies, managers and hiring bosses have a “responsibility to foster respect and inclusion.”

“Inclusion means everything. It’s not just inclusion about gender or race, it goes beyond that,” continued Eades.

Even if an employee suffers from a condition that may, in the past have been considered disruptive in an office environment — Tourette syndrome as a classic example — it is both a responsibility and a requirement of companies and agencies to ensure that people with neurodivergent conditions are included and made to feel both psychologically safe and valued at work.

“When you’re thinking about people who have a condition that may be a little disruptive, if they’re looking to come into the workplace, they will work with their manager to find ways that will be conducive to work. That’s the manager’s responsibility. We all need to make sure that every person in our team — neurodivergent or not — is treated with respect and that there is inclusive behaviour within the team,” said Eades.

But with deadlines, pitches, war rooms and the occasional client emergency all part and parcel of the advertising industry, creating an environment for the neurodiverse might, for some, simply feel too difficult. This is a problem exacerbated when agencies talk about building high-performance teams and hiring to fit a pre-determined dominant office culture. All too often, this means a reversion to the work hard, play hard mantra that has landed adland in some very hot water before.

“We try to get people to fit within our own team culture. I think that sometimes you can lose that diversity and you can get into a groupthink with too many similar people,” said Eades.

“As you start to bring in new team members, you can start to work out how different people within the team operate. As long as you avoid ambiguity, look at the amount of time given for people to process information, look at the use of visual aids in the workplace or at the interview stage and look at how you develop a respectful culture within the team. If you have those things in place then you’ll find a neurodivergent person is more than likely to settle quite comfortably within a team.”

However, Eades maintained that disclosing these conditions was a personal choice of the employee and should not be mandated when applying for roles.

“The question still remains whether or not it’s something that needs to be disclosed. It’s got no bearing on your relationships because there are people who are neurodivergent, incredibly talented individuals who can very comfortably work in a team environment. So, if it’s not going to impact anyone around them and it’s just a matter of the way they work with their immediate team or immediate manager, that’s a discussion for them,” she explained.

“There’s a degree of sensitivity and it comes back down to the respect level. We could all become better at being a little more mindful of the fact that everyone is an individual.”

However, given that advertising often feels so fast-paced and relentless, can agencies afford to take extra time with staff who may have neurodiverse conditions?

“Just like any job, you do need to be suitable for the role. So that’s a manager’s responsibility when determining whether or not an individual is suitable,” said Eades.

But in Eades’ mind, the benefits of hiring people with neurodivergent conditions massively outweigh any negatives that might occur.

“They may be able to bring a very different perspective, a different creativity level, a different view or a slant on a particular problem. Graphically or design-wise, they may even bring something unique that we haven’t seen for a while in a particular area,” she said.

IAB Australia has its own list of resources and advice for businesses when it comes to ensuring people with neurodiverse conditions are welcomed into adland — such as flexible work arrangements, training and mentoring programs, ensuring clear communication and creating a psychologically safe environment. To many, these will seem like fairly obvious good advice.

“All of the management suggestions are good business practice, right?” said Eades.

“With any new person coming in — neurodivergent or not — you still need to think about how you make them feel respected, comfortable and part of the team… Just make some slight alterations.

“If you’re going to interview a neurodivergent person, make sure you understand their needs. It’s not about saying there are special things you need to do for neurodivergent people. It’s about awareness. Lift up all your good business practices and consider that you might be dealing with a neurodivergent person and therefore be respectful and open up the opportunity for that person to show you and talk you through how they can do that job.”