GAIN’s Honorary President Launches the National Neuroinclusive Employment Plan

(GAIN) The Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity is delighted to welcome the recommendations of the Buckland Review into Autism Employment.  

The review, championed by GAIN’s Honorary President, The Rt Hon. Sir Robert Buckland KC KBE MP sets out a vision for radically improving the employment prospect of neurodivergent individuals, across all industries, and within all workplaces. It includes 19 recommendations that will create a pathway for more neurodiverse people to start, stay and succeed in work. It is hoped that these recommendations will help fill vacancies, encourage more neuroinclusive workplace practices, and in turn boost business performance and grow the economy by unlocking the potential of thousands more people.

GAIN is leading the way in creating pathways to neuro-inclusion, and while we know there’s much more to do, we can see many of the actions and approaches recommended by the review starting to make an impact within our 36 corporate member organisations, names such as Zurich, Aviva, CII, ABI.  A recent industry overview of our benchmark shows,

• A very high level of psychological safety among ND employees – 85% of the 1,183 respondents to our surveys said they felt either “very” or “somewhat” safe disclosing their neurodiversity
• 87% felt “somewhat” or “very comfortable” accessing different spaces available at work, such as quiet spaces/focus rooms
• Overall positive-leaning views by 77% of Line Managers and an even higher among HR professionals in relation to specific workplace adjustments
• There is a high level of desire expressed by Line Managers to support neurodiverse teams, but the need to develop specific support and resources for them that is in alignment with expectations of HR and ERGs

Francis McGee, Executive Chair of GAIN shares, “Today's report by Sir Robert Buckland, is a milestone for neurodiverse people, who we know can struggle to access and keep fulfilling and rewarding work. GAIN's members, who employ nearly 100,000 people in insurance investment and related financial services, recognise the business benefits of diverse teams that harness the extraordinary abilities of ND people, and are pledged to make our industry more neuroinclusive. We look forward to working with them to achieve the aims of Sir Robert's review.”