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What are the symptoms of ASD ?

For several years now, the terms of 'ASD' and 'ADHD' have attracted  attention in the society and have become well known as 'adult growth disorders'

These days, more detailed information about these disorders is available online  than ever before.

In this article, I'll explain what methods are more effective for people at startups, based on my experience.

People with ASD have the following problems:
 - They are not good at reading other people's feelings so much if other people don't express with words.
 - They tend to take serious jokes literally.
 - They have  particular about what they like.
Therefore, it's difficult for them to understand other people's feelings and express their own thoughts. Those make it difficult for them to communicate smoothly with others.
They also tend to have their own rules and avoid to fit the company's rules.

Differences between People with ADHD:
People with ADHD are not good at noticing small details and
lack attention at work.
Some research shows about 60% of people with ASD also have ADHD symptoms.

Why is difficult for people with ASD to work at startups.

I think working at a startup is tough for people with ASD.

At first, at startups in Japan, many companies do not have clear business description and manuals. People need to work flexibly in that office.

Second, there are few HR staff in each company, and they handle some kind of work such as general affairs or accounting.
As a result, they do not have enough time to care each person with ASD or ADHD.

However, I think it is important to support them even in such situations since it's essential for them to improve abilities of individuals for the company's growth of startups.
So, I'll explain how to support them with my experience. 

how to support them effectively.

Give clear instructions: 
One of characteristics of people with ASD is that they have difficulty understanding the unspoken parts of what others say.
For example, when a manager says,  "If there's something unclear after you do some research, please feel free to ask"

As a result, they will become confused as to whether they should ask after doing more research or soon,  and they cannot move forward because they cannot decide when to ask.

I guess most people stop thinking at some point and ask the manager but people with ASD are not good at asking.
so, clear instruction such as ' if you don't understand after thinking for 5 minutes, please ask me", is effective for them.

Do not use text to convey unclear requests:
if you can't clearly express your instructions, it will not be appropriate to convey them via text.
if they are given one-sided instructions, they can't response to the instruction and will become confused.

when you need a complicated explanation, you can both work more efficiently by asking, "Can I talk to you for about 5 minutes ?"

Continue to pay close attention to their quitting statements:
you may think it's waste of time to ask every time.
However, if you avoid this contact, you may suddenly receive a request to quit from them.
In my experience, one manager received it after just a month one staff joined our company, and he was still getting an onboarding job.
The manager thought both of them could have good communication via text but the staff found his job tough and gradually lost confidence.

I think that not only people with ASD, but most of us, when they feel depressed, think about "1 or 0", or what you know as "zero-sum thinking".
Some people tend to quit their jobs without considering other options, such as taking days off and reducing the amount of their tasks.
To avoid such risks, we need to communicate with them every time.

Summary:

For people with ASD, unclear communication with superiors can mainly cause their quitting.
Of course, it's not just caused by the superiors, so we need to have comprehensive actions involving superiors and  human resources.
It'd be a good idea to make plans such as 'Showing boss how to report  HR members" and "Showing HR members how to report external counseling services(for people with ASD)"
it also help people with ASD to stay office at ease.

Thank you for reading, please share your comments :)