Promoting allyship and neuro-inclusion during Neurodiversity Celebration Week
Interviews
To mark Neurodiversity Celebration Week, Marsh McLennan's Rachel Wheeler shares how the company is improving the working environment for neurodiverse professionals, as well as creating employment opportunities for autistic young people.
Hi Rachel, can you introduce yourself and describe your role at your
workplace?
I work for professional
services firm Marsh McLennan where I’m the Senior Social Impact Programme
Manager in the UK. In my role, I lead our Social Impact efforts for 12,000 colleagues
across the UK, including an award-winning partnership with Ambitious about
Autism.
Over the past three years, I have been trailblazing the area of neurodiversity within the insurance sector to help drive systemic change, create employment opportunities for autistic young people and improve the working environment for other neurodiverse colleagues. This work has resulted in Marsh McLennan becoming the first within the insurance and risk sector to achieve ‘autism confidence’ status.
How have you been involved in promoting allyship and
inclusivity for neurodiverse individuals in your workplace, particularly during
Neurodiversity Week?
I am a proud neurodiversity ally and change-maker in my
organisation. I believe in raising awareness, promoting inclusivity and
providing a safe and supportive environment for other neurodiverse colleagues
to feel comfortable and be able to thrive at work.
My role provides me with an opportunity to make a difference
within my organization every day. I feel passionately about elevating the
voices of neurodiverse colleagues and last year, launched our first-ever lived
experience advisory group for neurodiverse colleagues to provide a dedicated
forum and safe space to share experiences and connect with like-minded
colleagues. This group provides insights on our UK partnership with Ambitious
about Autism, consulting on key areas for change. I have learnt so much from
listening to the experiences of our colleagues, they help keep me accountable
and drive change!
Neurodiversity Week and World Autism Acceptance Month are
big awareness dates in our Social Impact calendar at Marsh McLennan, providing
fantastic opportunities to celebrate the unique talents neurodiverse colleagues
can bring, empower colleagues to share stories, educate colleagues and signpost
key resources and information.
This year, we’re celebrating our company-wide achievement of ‘autism confidence’ and the final year of partnership with Ambitious about Autism by launching a ‘Standing Together’ allyship artwork mosaic. We’ll be inviting our 12,000 UK colleagues and allies to show their support by submitting a selfie to our collage, which will create an infinity symbol, symbolising our support for neurodiverse colleagues that will be hung in offices across the UK.
Why is it important to highlight and celebrate the
accomplishments and contributions of neurodiverse people, both during
Neurodiversity Week and throughout the year?
Whilst we mark neurodiversity week, it’s also important to
celebrate neurodiversity throughout the year and think about opportunities to
highlight intersectionality. For example, through conversations with
colleagues, we identified a correlation between our neurodiverse and LGBTQ+
colleagues. This has opened up wider and ongoing conversations around the
multiple marginalization of LGBTQ+ neurodiverse individuals and their workplace
experiences, and we teamed up with the PRIDE network (LGBTQ+ colleague resource
group) to host a panel discussion and promote allyship during their PRIDE
celebrations in June.
Similarly, when looking to celebrate, we also identify
moments where neurodiverse people may be typically underrepresented in the
media. For example, we ran a campaign called ‘Love is Neurodiverse’ for
Valentine’s Day, inviting our neurodiverse colleagues to share stories on love,
self-acceptance, and love for special interests!
Here are just some examples of events and activities that have
successfully raised awareness of the challenges and strengths of the
neurodiverse community at Marsh McLennan:
1. Awareness
sessions – running monthly awareness sessions to reduce stigma, challenge
misconceptions and provide practical tips on how to support neurodiverse
colleagues in the workplace.
2. Senior leadership sponsorship – our Regional People Partner Steve Woodhouse has been
the Executive Sponsor for the partnership which has helped bring great focus
and role modelling to the HR community.
3. Identifying
neurodiversity communities within Marsh McLennan – connecting parents and
carers, training mental health first aiders, specialist training for Talent
Acquisition teams, People Managers and providing dedicated support.
4. Lived
experience advisory group – providing a safe space for neurodiverse colleagues
to connect.
5. Mentoring
Talent – we have been able to launch a Mentoring Talent program to train
colleagues as mentors and pair them with autistic young people at the beginning
of their employability journey to build 1:1 relationships.
What are some nuances and unique experiences that
neurodiverse people may face in comparison to others in the workplace, and how
can we ensure that all individuals are heard and supported during
Neurodiversity Week?
I’ve had the privilege of working with neurodiverse
colleagues throughout my career and time at Marsh McLennan. My biggest
learning is, ‘if you’ve met one neurodiverse person, you’ve met one
neurodiverse person’. Like everyone else, neurodiverse colleagues have unique
sets of preferences and ways of working. Some neurodiverse colleagues can face
differences in communication, sensory and executive functioning – the best way
is to ask colleagues rather than assume.
To help take an inclusive approach when planning events for
Neurodiversity, my advice is to account for people’s strengths, provide clear and direct
instructions and briefings and offer a range of ways that neurodiverse colleagues
can get involved (e.g. speaking opportunities, written stories, podcasts)
and, most importantly, engage neurodiverse colleagues for input into ideas for
celebrations surrounding their identities.