自闭症患者成为新好员工

    今年5月，特拉华谷地区最大的IT咨询公司、Computer Aid, Inc.（CAI）董事总经理厄尼斯特•狄安纳斯塔瑟斯宣布了一项令人吃惊的计划：到2015年年底，公司将把罹患自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的员工占比提升到至少3%。狄安纳斯塔瑟斯解释说：“这个举动并不是为了维护残疾人的权益，而是向企业界引荐经常被人们忽视的高素质人才。”

    在协力开发这一未被利用的人才资源方面，CAI并不是第一个吃螃蟹的企业。2012年5月，房地美（Freddie Mac）为自闭症本科生设立了一个发放全额薪资的实习项目。房地美的多元化学习和招聘经理史蒂芬妮•罗伊默说：“我们的实习生是出色的员工，他们在工作时不会轻易分心。”虽然自闭症会妨碍社交能力，但是这种病症谱系最严重的患者【往往被称为亚斯伯格症候群患者（Aspies），尽管亚斯伯格症候群（Asperger's Syndrome）已从最新版的精神病学圣经——《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》（DSM）中被删除】通常拥有出色的问题解决能力，尤其在所谓的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域。这些雇员一次可以长达数小时地专心从事某项重复性工作；他们对细节也有着惊人的注意力。

    美国企业与世界其他国家相比在主动聘用自闭症员工方面仍处于追赶阶段。过去的10年中，丹麦公司Specialisterne（公司名在英语中是“专家”的意思）一直在培训自闭症员工，把他们安置到多个欧洲国家的科技企业，包括丹麦、英国、爱尔兰和德国。而CAI正在与这家公司开展合作。Specialistinterne负责人索科尔•索内已于近期从丹麦搬至特拉华州。索内说：“我决定拿出全部精力，与美国各个地区的公司进行合作。”他进入这一行业的动力主要源自他患有自闭症的儿子。今夏，索内和CAI开始培训第一批自闭症患者，其中有4位已在特拉华州卫生和社会服务部（Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services）开始从事IT方面的工作。到今年年底，CAI-Specialisterne团队将培训约50名员工，双方计划将这些员工安置到另外两个州的政府部门、一家大型的保险公司和一家财富50强银行，以及其他一些机构。

    Specialisterne最近还争取到了一位知名的欧洲客户，德国软件业巨头思爱普（SAP）。SAP首席多元化官安卡•威登伯格与索内于今年1月在达沃斯【索内当时正以施瓦布基金会（Schwab Foundation）2012年社会创业奖（2012 Social Entrepreneurship Award）获奖人的身份参加世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）的重大年度盛会】首次碰面。此前，威登伯格就已经有意要扩大自闭症员工的招聘。威登伯格说：“我从事人力资源工作已经20多年，我们的工作重点一直是寻找拥有团队合作精神和良好沟通技巧的员工。但是对于公司所从事的软件测试这项业务来说，自闭症员工拥有与生俱来的优势。”威登伯格的办公地点位于SAP设立于德国沃尔多夫的国际总部。两年前，威登伯格在印度启动了公司的第一个试点项目；在索内的帮助下，她打算在今年年底之前将自闭症员工安置到德国总部以及三家分别位于帕罗奥托、蒙特利尔和温哥华的北美分公司。此外，威登伯格曾在5月份宣布，她预计到2020年，自闭症员工将占公司全球员工总数的1%。

    雇用高功能自闭症员工的做法也让政界人士感到兴奋不已。他们把这种做法看作是刺激经济增长的手段。特拉华州州长、全国州长协会（National Governors Association）会长杰克•马克尔（民主党人）是索内和CAI的媒人。马克尔两年前第一次见到索内，当时马克尔正在宣布他的会长倡议——“好财务妙方：雇用残疾人。”自此之后，马克尔开始向全国各大科技企业宣传索内培训项目的理念。他说：“美国即将经历巨变。放着这些高素质人才不用是不明智的。这么做最符合股东利益。”

    In May, Ernest Dianastasis, the managing director of Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI), the Delaware Valley's largest IT consulting company, unveiled a surprising initiative: by the end of 2015, individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) would comprise at least 3% of CAI's workforce. "This move is not about advocating for the rights of the disabled," Dianastasis explains. "It's about bringing highly skilled people, who have often been overlooked, into the corporate world."

    CAI isn't the first company to make a concerted effort to access this untapped source of brainpower. In May, 2012, Freddie Mac set up a fully paid internship program for undergraduates with autism. "Our interns are terrific workers who are not easily distracted," says Stephanie Roemer, Freddie Mac's Diversity Learning and Recruiting Manager. Though autism impairs social functioning, those on the high-end of the spectrum --still often referred to as "Aspies," even though "Asperger's Syndrome" was removed from the latest edition of psychiatry's bible, the DSM -- typically possess exceptional problem-solving abilities, particularly in the so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. These employees can stay focused on repetitive tasks for hours at a time; their attention to detail is also remarkable.

    America is playing catch-up to the rest of the world in terms of seeking out employees with ASDs. For the past decade, the Danish firm Specialisterne ("Specialists," in English) has been training workers with ASDs and placing them in tech companies in several European countries, including Denmark, England, Ireland, and Germany. CAI is partnering with Specialistinterne, whose head, Thorkil Sonne, has recently moved from Denmark to Delaware. "I've decided to focus full-time on signing up companies in every region of America," says Sonne, who was motivated to get into this line of work because his son is autistic. This summer, Sonne and CAI began training their first cohort of autistics, four of whom are already employed in IT jobs at Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services. By the end of the year, the CAI-Specialisterne collaboration will train about 50 workers, which it plans to place in the departments of two other state governments, a major insurance company, and a Fortune 50 bank, among other organizations.

    Specialisterne has also recently landed a prominent European client, the German software giant SAP (SAP). Anka Wittenberg, SAP's chief diversity officer, had been interested in hiring more autistics even before she first crossed paths with Sonne this past January in Davos (Sonne was attending the World Economic Forum's high-powered annual pow-wow as the recipient of a 2012 Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Schwab Foundation). "I have been in HR for over 20 years," says Wittenberg, who works out of SAP's international headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, "and the emphasis has long been on finding team players with good communication skills. But when it comes to what our company does—software testing—autistics are a natural fit." Two years ago, Wittenberg launched the company's first pilot project in India; with Sonne's help, by the end of this year, she plans to place autistic workers in its German headquarters as well as in three North American sites—Palo Alto, Montreal and Vancouver. Moreover, by 2020, as Wittenberg announced in May, she expects that those with ASDs will comprise 1% of its global workforce.

    Politicians are also excited by the idea of employing high-functioning autistics, whom they see as a means to spur economic growth. The Democratic Governor of Delaware, Jack Markell, the head the National Governors Association, served as the matchmaker between Sonne and CAI. Markell first met Sonne two years ago just as he was announcing his Chair's initiative, "A Better Bottom Line: Employing People with Disabilities." Markell has since gone on to tout the wisdom of Sonne's training program to tech firms all over the country. "America is on the cusp of a sea change," he says. "It's crazy not to hire people with these skills; this is something that it is in the best interest of shareholders."