Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
20 August 2020
To the Committee,
Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Autism
auticon is a social enterprise and global employer of people on the autism spectrum. We are an award winning and fast-growing IT consulting & services business with 15 offices in 7 countries across Europe, North America and most recently in Australia. Most importantly, auticon employs over 215 autistic people in challenging and meaningful, information technology and communication roles across the globe.
Our unique business model is designed to support autistic people in IT roles in some of the world’s most well-known businesses.
auticon provides high value consulting services in the areas of Cyber Security, Quality Assurance & Testing, Analytics, Software Development and Migration as well as Compliance and Reporting.
The areas of the Terms of Reference for the Senate Select Committee on autism that auticon can be of most assistance to the committee are the following;
(d) international best practice with regards to diagnosis, support services and education, effectiveness, cost and required intensity;
(f) the interaction between services provided by the Commonwealth, state and local governments, including: (i) health and mental health, (iii) employment
(g) the social and economic cost of failing to provide adequate and appropriate services, including to support key life stage transitions of autistic people;
auticon is excited to be invited to make a submission to the Committee. There are four main areas of focus that address the outlined Terms of Reference and form areas of key future development;
- Managing the Transition of Highly Skilled Autistic People into Complex ICT Roles
- Reduce the Unemployment and Underemployment Rate of People on the Spectrum
- Helping to Addressing the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Skills
Shortage
- Protecting Our Nation, Utilising the Skills of People on the Spectrum in Cyber Security Level 12, 141 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 | I | ABN 24 633 979 254
- Managing the Transition of Highly Skilled Autistic People into Complex ICT Roles •
It is important to understand that auticon is not a recruitment company. auticon employs talented team members on a full-time basis and provides a unique support and coaching model focusing on technical, professional and mental dimensions. We pride ourselves having a dual purpose, built around delivering tangible value to business w hile at the same time having a significant social impact.
aut icon has a unique operating model w here w e employ a ‘Job Coach’ to manage the integration of autist ic professionals into the workplace. This revolutionary process involves embedding the ‘Job Coach’ within the organisation to navigate the transition of aut istic people into complex projects and programs of work. The ‘Job Coach’ helps to reduce the stress and anxiety experienced by many people w ith autism entering the workplace, enabling them to perform at the highest level. The organisation is focused on successfully integrating autistic people into meaningful roles that often requiring high skill levels and the ability to understand complex tasks in order to deliver the right solution. Integrating skilled people on the spectrum into the workplace is a core capability for auticon. aut icon’s transitioning model has been in practice since 2011 in both the public and private sectors, across 7 international jurisdictions, making auticon truly international best practice.
- Reduce the Unemployment and Underemployment Rate of People on the Spectrum In Australia, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate for people with autism spectrum disorders was 34.1%, more than three times the rate for people with disability (10.3%) and almost eight t imes the rate of people without disability (4.6%)1• If one includes underemployment for people on the spectrum, that combined rate is above 90%. auticon would like to work with Commonwealth, state and local governments to help to reduce the unemployment / underemployment rate of people on the spectrum, w hile delivering significant value to organisations across the country.
Traditionally, the difficulty of integrating people with autism into the w orkforce has been their ability to cope with social aspects of living in a neurotypical world and the ability to understand social norms and assumed workplace protocols. However, auticon has found that their autistic consultants bring three unique attributes to the w ork that they complete (plus many more) these are:
- Exceptional ability to recognise patterns
- Outstanding quality, attention to detail and outstanding productivity
- High degree of integrity and honesty In recent times, significant efforts have been made to raise the profile of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It’s been well documented that diversity of thinking generates superior outputs from teams. Significant efforts have been made to communicate the need to improve diversity from a gender, race or general disability perspective. However, it’s important that we work together to raise the profile of the unique attributes of people on the spectrum, in order to reduce the unemployment rate of people with autism.
1 https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@. nsf/Lookup/4430.0Ma in+Features102018
- Helping to Addressing the STEM Skills Shortage •
In January 2020 the Department of Education, Skills and Employment released a report on the STEM skills gap in Australia. This report highlighted that STEM jobs grew by 19.7% between 2014 and 2019. It also reported that most employers (56%) have difficulty in recruiting for STEM roles2
The University of Queensland recently highlighted US research that showed there is an overrepresentation of Autistic people in STEM related fields of study3.
Australia failing to bridge the STEM skills gap will significantly inhibit the country’s economic growth prospects and will force entrepreneurs to look for skilled labour in other jurisdictions. Maximising opportunities for all Australians, exploring ways to integrate people that are currently overlooked in the employment market, is a low cost and reasonable approach to bridging the skills gap. Increasing the opportunities in STEM for people on the spectrum will help take Australia forward.
ICT requires a high level of STEM skill, auticon has experience in supporting people with autism in a wide variety of IT and STEM related roles. We believe there is an opportunity for Commonwealth, state and local governments to enhance their approach to diversity and inclusion and fill a w ider variety of STEM roles with talented people on the spectrum.
- Protecting Our Nation, Utilising the Skills of People on the Spectrum in Cyber Security auticon have worked with the private sector on developing strategies to improve their cyber security. The organisation has specific expertise in penetration testing and probing the effectiveness of cyber security measures. This is largely due to auticon’s consultants unique capability around pattern recognition and the organisations ability to utilise some of the typical traits of people on the autism spectrum.
In June of this year the Commonwealth government announced $1.35 billion to put in place a cyber security strategy for Australia. The government also announced that this would be used to create 500 new jobs in cybersecurit y4.
In addition to this, as previously discussed there is a STEM skills shortage and the shortage is exacerbated in cyber security w here it has been estimated that 18,000 addition people w ill be required by 20265•
Given the high skill level of people on the spectrum in cyber security, we believe at a minimum 10% of the announced 500 jobs, should go to skilled autistic workers and w e would like to w ork together with the Committee and the government to ensure this becomes a reality.
2 https://www.employment.gov.au/newsroom/stem-jobs-growing-almost-twice-fast-other-jobs 3 https://www.elipse.ug.edu.au/asd-autism-spectrum-disorders 4 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-29/cyber-security-investment-link-attacks-scott-morrison/12404468 5 https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/cyber-security-leaders-seek-solutions-for-dire-skills shortage/11531322
auticon in the Media • See below a list of recent media for auticon, these articles show a variety of commentary from investors to customers including Sir Richard Branson, w ho is both an investor and a customer of auticon. There is also comments from Woolworths CIO, John Hunt a key client of auticon Australia;
- Interview with Sir Richard Branson in Sydney Nov 2019 (Click Here)
- Woolworths Partner with auticon Australia (Click Here)
- Bodo Mann talks about Autistic Pride Day with Ahron Young (Click Here)
- Richard Branson reveals the three companies he most admires (Click Here) We look forward to working w ith the Committee and offer our assistance in all and any matters that may help the Committee provide a full report by the first sitting day of October 2021.
Yours Faithfully,
Bodo Mann
CEO & Managing Director - auticon Australia
Please find attached our:
- Global Impact Report 2020 Global Impact Report
- A brief ‘Auticon Company Introduction’ (pdf, attached to email)
- Brief Bio: Bodo Mann - Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, auticon Australia Over the last 20 years Bodo has held senior leadership roles, has built businesses and w orked extensively with Boards, CEOs and Senior Executives from ASX 100 and global blue-chip organisations across Australasia and Europe on a variety of client engagements ranging from
of Strategy Development, Technology, Digital Transformation, Board Advisory, Leadership
Consulting and Search. He is passionate about building innovative social impact businesses, which are purpose driven and shine through neurodiversity. Bodo is excited and proud to be part of the global auticon family, w hose primary purpose is to employ talented consultants on the autism spectrum, while providing value adding technology consult ing services and cognitive strengths to blue chip clients. By combining a highly relevant skill set across strategy, technology consulting and board advisory with deep P&L, business insights and leadership experience, Bodo is uniquely posit ioned to provide a pragmatic approach to developing a sustainable business as well as posit ioning technology solutions to our valued clients. Bodo is a Non-Executive Director of the German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GACIC). He is also on the Advisory Boards of the FinTech start-ups ’ Nudge Saver’ and ‘Bondie’, a global collaboration and governance application business. Access Bodo’s Linkedln profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bodo-mann-gaicd a4b6021/