The challenges of finding & maintaining employment when you’re autistic

It’s no secret that many of us with autism struggle to hold down a job, if we can even get one to begin with. It would seem that, at almost every step of the way, we are set up to fail.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the unemployment rate for autistic people of working age in Australia is 18.2%, which is more than double the rate for people with other disabilities (7.5%) and almost six times the rate of people without a disability (3.1%). As of 2022, just 50.2% of autistic people of working age were participating in the labour force, compared to 60.5% of all people with a disability of working age and 84.9% of people without a disability of working age.

Despite these concerning figures, we can at least take heart from the fact that they are actually a huge improvement on the previous ABS Disability, Ageing and Carers study, which was done in 2018. According to the 2018 data, the unemployment rate for people with autism was 34.1%, meaning that it had almost halved by 2022. Meanwhile, participation in the labour force by people with autism improved by 12% from 2018 to 2022.

For me, I have been fortunate enough to have never had too much difficulty finding a job and I have been in the workforce for close to 30 years.  Staying in the job is a whole different story though!  With the exception of my most recent job, which lasted almost two years and that I only left because I needed to move to another city to look after my sick mother, every job I have ever had has only lasted about one year (or less).  I was never fired from any of these jobs and always left on my own accord, except for the one instance that I was made redundant during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

So why do we autistics struggle so much when it comes to finding and keeping a job? According to Dr Rahul Ganguly from Charles Sturt University, there are two narratives as to why autistic people struggle to get and keep jobs. One narrative comes from employers, who approach hiring and firing decisions with entrenched perceptions about autistic employees. This includes concerns about the time and effort required to supervise and train them, the high cost of providing workplace accommodations and support, the social difficulties of autistic employees and low productivity.

The other narrative comes from autistic individuals themselves, who consider employment discrimination to be at the heart of their disadvantage. More specifically, people with autism face barriers in acquiring and maintaining employment that include rigid application processes, lack of adaptation to job routines, and communication and social interaction factors.

In a study of hiring practices in the United Kingdom that was published in January 2023, it was found that autistic jobseekers are faced with a unique set of challenges not experienced by those who are non-autistic. No surprises there! The study included a mix of autistic, non-autistic neurodivergent and neurotypical participants.  While all three groups had a shared frustration of hiring processes that predominantly focus on social skills and expressed the need for more flexible hiring practices, the autistic participants also identified barriers unique to them.  This included pressure to mask their autistic traits in order to succeed and concerns about stigma and discrimination if they disclosed their autism.  The environment (e.g. the interview/assessment room) was also a major concern for both the autistic and other neurodivergent participants in the study, while it was found that the very nature of job interviews can put autistic jobseekers at a distinct disadvantage given the emphasis they place on interpersonal communication skills and the use of questions requiring episodic memories.

These findings were supported by the UK Government’s Buckland Review of Autism Employment, published in February 2024, which found that “Autistic people have far more negative experiences of interviews, group tasks and psychometric tests” and that “Autistic jobseekers must navigate vague, generic job descriptions, ambiguous interview questions and challenging sensory environments, often with an emphasis on social skills rather than job skills.”

Even after finding work, the Buckland Review found that maintaining long-term employment remained a challenge for people with autism, with many autistic employees not receiving “the necessary support or adjustments to enable them to fulfil their role in the face of inaccessible sensory and social environments.”  Of those autistic employees who requested adjustments, more than one quarter were refused, while others found that the adjustment was poorly implemented.  Around one third of autistic employees felt unable to discuss their adjustment needs at all.

As one of the many autistics who find it a challenge to stay in a job long term, I was keen to find out from those autistic individuals who have managed to buck the trend just what their secret is, so I recently did a series of posts on a few of the autism subs on Reddit to ask about other people’s experiences. Were they just lucky enough to find a job that they love doing or was connected to their special interest? Or do they have a special coping mechanism or some strategy to help them get through the day? Is it that they found an employer who is very receptive to the accommodations they need in order to keep turning up each day and doing their job well?

Admittedly, my posts weren’t inundated with responses, but there were enough to see a few trends beginning to emerge. Firstly, there was reiteration that I was far from alone in my struggle to stay in one job, with a 70 year old saying that they had 40 jobs in 40 years and various other respondents who said they also averaged one job every one to two years.

For those who have stayed in their jobs for an extended period of time, ranging from 5 years to 30 years, a key reason they noted was the immense satisfaction they got from knowing they are doing a job that is worthwhile and helping others. This included a doctor, newborn care specialist, a childcare worker and a teacher, who wrote:

“I especially love working with the little ones. I don’t feel a need to mask and I can be myself. And they love it too! They can see I am different from their other teachers and respond well to my approach. They feel more comfortable being themselves … I feel like my job is important and that motivates me … There can be sensory issues, but honestly I have become more tolerant after consistent exposure.”

The fact that doing a job that helps others is a primary source of job satisfaction amongst autistic workers is particularly interesting given that we often hear how autistic people supposedly lack empathy, which of course is a load of crud.  Yet, here we have people on the spectrum who are motivated to get up and go off to work every day by the thought of helping others, even though we’re known for shying away from human contact and with high levels of interaction with others known to be especially draining for many autistic individuals.  This desire to help others and the satisfaction it brings isn’t something you would expect to see in individuals who supposedly lack empathy for other people.

Another factor seen to contribute towards job satisfaction among autistic people is autonomy and flexibility in their roles, with jobs involving working from home or working largely independently featuring prominently in responses.  For example, one respondent, who has been an engineer for more than 25 years, summed it up with:

“Love my job. Little human interaction. Laid back and flexible team. Managers leave me alone as long as the work gets done. Can work when and where I want.”

For many autistic people though, they stay in their jobs - often feeling trapped - merely out of necessity and so as not to have to endure an application process that can feel as though it is pitted against autistic people from the start. This was probably the most common theme amongst the responses I received to my Reddit posts, with the following quotes providing a snapshot of how many autistic people feel:

“It’s difficult to leave because of the energy needed to find a new job … Creating a portfolio or updating a resume and sending out all the applications and doing the phone screenings. It’s physically and emotionally taxing, especially when you’re burnt out which is why you are likely wanting to leave the job in the first place.”

“Money, I need money to survive. And I work in a job where I don’t need to mask.”

“I don’t like my actual job, but will never quit until I can retire. I have to have a job to survive.”

“I’m not satisfied, I just feel trapped. Largely due to my autism, I have little to no formal education so getting a new job is a challenge. I’m stuck in the one I have.”

While I may not have discovered the elusive secret of how to survive in my job for longer than a year (without embarking on a whole new career path), writing this post has nevertheless been eye opening for me. For the first time, I have some understanding of why finding and maintaining employment is so difficult and exhausting for me personally. In a few days, I will start yet another new job and I already know that I will struggle to even reach the 12 month mark, but as so many others said in their replies to my Reddit posts, I need to do it to survive.