​Ambitious about Autism: Guidant Global’s journey towards building diverse workforces

By Lynsey Derosa, Client Services Director

With a skills gap widening across various industries as a result of the pandemic, the need to tap into valuable, diversified talent pools is as important as it has ever been. Guidant’s Client Services Director, Lynsey Derosa, shares why we’ve joined Ambitious about Autism’s Employ Autism programme and how it’s a win-win situation for both candidates and businesses alike.

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A decision inspired by Guidant’s own ED&I efforts
The need to open up our clients’ talent pools to engage with more diverse talent was inspired by Guidant’s own internal ED&I ambassador groups and internal recruitment processes. We wanted to encourage the same level of commitment that Guidant has for ED&I to our clients; and this was made possible through our great relationship with them.

As our Guidant culture has such strong ties to ED&I, we felt that it was our duty to get our clients thinking about how we can open their doors to underrepresented talent. Our ties to a variety of ED&I industry partners also meant that we have a great platform to make it happen.

Future-proofing our pipeline to build diverse workforces
I truly believe that as a Managed Services Provider (MSP), our supply chain ecosystem should be genuinely diversified, comprising of partners thoughtfully hand-picked to represent the community and location needs of our clients. We work hard to partner with an assortment of specialist recruitment agencies, charities, consultancies and so on, that share our vision of building a more diverse workforce.

Bridging the gap in skills
The idea to partner with Ambitious about Autism came about when we were in discussions with our clients around how we could bridge the skills gap in cyber security, a skill where demand will completely outweigh supply by 2025.

Cyber security is a challenging area largely attributed to the time it takes to train in the field. We needed to think of new ways to reach talent and were keen to showcase neurodiversity in doing so. Since then, we’ve started thinking about how we could represent this talent within other areas, from data analysts and radio frequency testers, to HR, payroll and everything else in between.

Working with clients who share the same vision as us
We’re fortunate to have had discussions with clients who are just as open as us to exploring new routes to market. They have all recognised the need to reach underrepresented talent within the contingent workforce and we have been able to leverage on their ED&I strategy in the process. It’s a win-win situation all round.

The reality of what autism in employment looks like
Currently, about 16% of autistic adults are in any form of employment, and with an estimated 700,000 people diagnosed with autism in the UK, there’s a significant workforce that businesses are missing out on.

As the gap in skills widen across various industries, a knock-on effect from the pandemic, businesses need to consider what transferable skills are out there and how we can open doors to neurodiverse talent, where huge benefits can be reaped, not to mention, providing this talent with opportunities that could be life-changing, especially during uncertain times.

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More on Ambitious about Autism
Ambitious about Autism is a national charity which provides education and employment services for children and young people with autism. Their Employ Autism programme, which Guidant Global are a part of, not only provides this talent with direct links to businesses, but also helps them with their confidence around autism and neurodiversity.​

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