The ROI of Kindness in the Workplace

·34 min·3 clips

Tara May's journey into neurodiversity began when her son was diagnosed as autistic at age five.

The episode begins with hosts Steve Boese and Trish Steed introducing the topic of neurodiversity and kindness in the workplace. They welcome guest Tara May, CEO of AspiroTech, a nonprofit tech services company where 95% of employees are autistic. Tara explains her introduction to neurodiversity came through her son's autism diagnosis, which led her to see neurodiversity in herself, family, and the workplace. She joined AspiroTech to combine her tech career with her passion for neurodiversity. AspiroTech started in quality assurance but has expanded into web development, data services, and creative services, emphasizing that autistic people can excel in any field with a supportive environment. Tara highlights that workplace adjustments like sensory-friendly spaces and varied communication styles benefit all employees, not just neurodivergent ones. She critiques traditional interview processes, noting skills like eye contact are irrelevant for technical roles. At AspiroTech, employees report feeling accepted and able to unmask, which Tara links to rebuilding confidence stripped by societal stigma. Tara offers actionable tips for organizations, including managing noise and light levels, providing headphones, and ensuring psychological safety for innovation. She discusses how younger generations are pushing for greater inclusion and mental health support in workplaces. The hosts connect this to broader HR trends, like focusing on skills over job descriptions. Tara argues that kindness and ROI are linked, as empathetic leadership drives cultural transformation and innovation. The episode concludes with promotions for AspiroTech's services and podcast, targeting HR and software industry listeners.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how ordinary interview rituals can hide the skills a workplace actually needs.

The ROI of Kindness in the Workplace reframes a familiar workplace virtue as a hiring and inclusion issue. It looks at how interview habits such as eye contact, a handshake, small talk, and weather chat can get mistaken for job readiness, then brings the point back to a useful…

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Want more inclusive hiring to survive contact with the interview room? Start with eye contact, handshakes, small talk, and what the job actually needs.

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