10Clouds — Officially a Neurodiversity Friendly Workplace

Meet Jacob. Currently an IT tester with strong analytical skills and dedication to detail. He’s working really hard to become more self-confident and open to people in social situations. Landing his first job wasn’t easy. As a person with an autism spectrum diagnosis, he had experienced mostly obstacles and failures, even rejection. In his school years, he had to deal with labels, such as “withdrawn’, “daydreamer”, and “limited”. He was too ashamed to open up and speak, afraid of creating a bond with others.

How did he manage to overcome these challenges and find work as an IT tester? What was the turning point that changed the impossible into something achievable?

There are hundreds of people like Jacob who try to cope with reality as best they can, but they have an uphill struggle because of the way they function. They are often forced to give up the fight for their dreams, as they struggle to grasp the opportunities that are attainable to neurotypical people. They lose the chance to make use of their potential and to grow. At the same time, companies lose the opportunity to employ a person whose perspective has potential to positively influence the process of creation, design or deployment.

10Clouds: for all kinds of minds

10Clouds is an organisation which has already understood that people sense the same reality in different ways and has defined the ultimate goal: to create a work environment that  embraces the mutual understanding of behavioural traits, and various ways of thinking and being.

We want to make people feel valued for their individual, unique traits - and make the most of the fact that both normative and non-normative people have their strengths and weaknesses.

As research from Gartner reveals, teams operating in a high-diversity environment perform up to 30% better. We’re already building a culture in which 10Clouders share a high level of the awareness that neurological differences are a fact, and are trained on how to solve the resultant challenges, being able to cooperate effectively despite these differences.

Audit results - a neurodiversity-friendly workplace

We’re very pleased to announce that we’ve been officially recognized as a neurodiverse-friendly workplace by asperIT following a thorough audit process.

asperIT is an organisation which helps companies and people on the autism spectrum to establish a fruitful, mutual cooperation. We’ve been working with them since the start of the year to deliver an internal education campaign for all 10Clouders to help us learn more about neurodiversity.

The audit revealed that:

Neuroatypical people (with a special consideration of people on the autism spectrum) stand a huge chance to feel good at 10Clouds and effectively realise their professional responsibilities in the work environment that our company creates.

According to the auditors, our key strengths are:

• a culture of honest feedback and clear expectations
• a strong position of “Humanism” as a company value (human-centric culture)
• transparent, concise and well-structured company communication
• a high awareness and experience of the company management related to the subject of neurodiversity in the workplace
• the focus placed on wellbeing and the infrastructure guiding it
• good work planning and organisation, incl. high professionalisation of company processes
• well implemented remote work environment

We’re building a culture of high performance based on neuroscience

In the spirit of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘humanism’ which are 10Clouds two top values, we’ve introduced a tailored development program for leaders, mentoring programs, coaching opportunities and a unique process of self-understanding grounded in neuroscience: PRISM® Brain Mapping. PRISM® Brain Mapping is conducted in the form of an online questionnaire, based around three core behavioural maps. These maps form part of a personalised report which includes (among others) a detailed overview of your strengths and potential weaknesses, a profile of your work preferences, and a detailed career development analysis.

Everyone at 10Clouds is welcome to discuss their findings from a personalised report with a PRISM® practitioner and coach who can support them in defining an individual development plan. We aim to hold our employees accountable for their development and assist them in it.

We’re creating a future built around thought-diversity

Placing a focus on the inclusion of neurodivergent professionals can also boost team morale. At 10Clouds, we tend to arrange workshops involving small groups of participants, so that all staff members can meet, share their knowledge, and increase their impact on the company’s outcomes. They exchange thoughts, discuss different approaches to work, with a focus on  innovation and creativity. Different perspectives boost engagement and organic drive to create the best possible solutions together.

Working with asperIT during the audit process taught us that neurodivergent people often struggle to impart their valuable knowledge to others. It inspired 10Clouders to create an internal communication channel where neurodivergent employees can simply support each other by showing their understanding or exchanging ideas on how to deal with a specific situation. They can count on the support of an internal coach and can take part in internal communication workshops if they wish to.

(Im)possible

So what could happen for any of hundreds of Jacobs to turn their “impossible” into something achievable?

Firstly: they would discover both their strengths and their specific needs. Companies such as 10Clouds go the extra mile, paying attention to every employee and offering them an individual approach, diagnostic tools and professional support in finding the right growth direction for them. It works!

Secondly: identifying the factors that influence effectiveness. For example, this might be to do with the work environment. Neurodivergent people may need some adjustments to their work, such as a strictly defined structure of tasks, a timeline, and written communication rules. These small adjustments can make a huge difference to their enjoyment of work and their ability to fulfil their job well.

Thirdly: being able to work with people aware of what neurodiversity exactly means.  If a person understands the mechanism of the spectrum, they are more likely to adapt their working style accordingly and put human factors into daily work.

Want to work somewhere where you can truly be yourself?

Join our team by applying to one of our job ads or just send us your CV. Who knows, we might be looking for someone with your skillset right now.

Or perhaps you know someone who would be perfect for one of our roles? 

We rely on personal recommendations as they are the most effective way of finding the right people. You can help us out if you know of someone who could be a good fit for our job openings - and you'll get rewarded for your efforts.