Neurodiversity in the Workforce: Chris Sullens Of CentralReach On Why It’s Important To Include Neurodiverse Employees & How To Make Your Workplace More Neuro-Inclusive
An Interview With Eric Pines
Listening and learning: Being open to continuing conversations and receiving feedback.
Research suggests that up to 15–20% of the U.S. population is neurodivergent. There has been a slow but vitally important rise in companies embracing neurodiversity. How can companies support neurodiversity in the workplace? What are some benefits of including neurodiverse employees? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about “Neurodiversity in the Workforce: Companies Including Neurodiverse Employees”. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Sullens.
Chris Sullens is the Chief Executive Officer of CentralReach, leading the company in its mission to provide an end-to-end platform of software and services that enable autism and IDD care clinicians and educators to produce superior client outcomes for people with autism and related disorders. Sullens brings decades of experience and a proven track record of building strong company cultures and taking customer-centric technology companies, like CentralReach, to the next level. Since joining, CentralReach has won 30+ awards, demonstrating the positive effects of the investments the company is making in its people, process, systems, and client satisfaction initiatives.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?
I joined CentralReach as CEO in 2018, when the company had received a majority investment by Insight Partners and asked me to come onboard to lead the company. The company had seen tremendous growth and was at a transition point to move from startup to scaleup, which I had a great deal of background in. At the time, and still today, autism rates were climbing, so the demand for autism care was continuing to hit all time highs year after year. Therapy providers delivering that care needed software to help them scale their operations, and that’s where CentralReach came in. I was initially drawn to CentralReach’s mission and was thrilled to join a team that truly makes a difference in people’s lives — both those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD/autism) and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as well as their families and communities.
Having spent a decade prior as president and CEO of WorkWave, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for field service and last mile logistics industries and a company that was known for its award-winning company culture, it was important to me to help CentralReach maintain and evolve the incredible company culture that began with the founder. So, I spent those first few months listening to both employees and our customers to help build upon the success CentralReach had already seen to date. Fast forward to today, CentralReach currently serves over 150,000 users — a number that will be out of date likely by the time you print this — across all settings that autism and IDD care is provided — in home, in schools, and at work.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Hard to choose 3 so sharing all that are important to me!
Compassion and Humility
I often bucket compassion and humility together because they are really important traits that all leaders should have. A successful company needs a healthy work environment to thrive — and that starts with leadership. A respected leader appreciates and values his or her teammates and their perspectives. Truly caring about your co-workers and getting to know them beyond their work lives is vital to a successful work environment. When I first joined CentralReach, I was actually located in New Jersey but our headquarters are in Florida, so I spent the first year going, nearly weekly, to get to know our employees. I also think this applies to the customers you serve. I similarly hosted a multi-state customer roadshow where I could get to know our customers and hear directly from them. Familiarizing myself with everyone who played a role in the CentralReach business not only helped me better lead but develop our critical mission that led and still leads everything we do here at CentralReach.
Creativity
In order to make instrumental change, you must challenge the status quo. Often, it is easy to follow conventions and do as others before you have done, but without trying something different, you can’t learn or grow. Throughout my years as CEO, I have learned to address our customers’ needs by listening to their unique stories and hardships and trying to tackle those challenges with new ideas. We deliver upon our mission of providing the leading autism and IDD care software and services through constant change and innovation, learning from our mistakes and successes to improve our platform and business as a whole.
Collaboration
Success is a team effort. At CentralReach, we win and lose as a team. We celebrate our successes and work together to learn from our failures. As a leader, it is not a weakness to admit when you are wrong or when others know more than you do — it is actually a strength. I have surrounded myself with a talented team whom I know I can lean on for support and trust to achieve greatness.
Intellectual Honesty
While I am immensely proud of what both my CentralReach and WorkWave teams have achieved and the success that has resulted, I am the first to admit that I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve made mistakes and certainly have things we want to do organizationally and product-wise that we know customers want and need.
While every company makes mistakes, too often individuals view admission of mistakes as a sign of weakness instead of a strength. Employees and companies may try to hide the mistake or spend time placing blame rather than being intellectually honest about what happened and finding a permanent fix. I believe that a big part of my success and the success of the organizations I’ve led has been to surrounded myself with individuals who can admit when they have made mistakes, find the root cause of the issue, learn from the mistake, and then share those learnings with the rest of the organization to ensure mistakes aren’t repeated.
Can you share a story about one of your greatest work-related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?
While the COVID-19 pandemic shook the entire world, it especially disrupted the autism and IDD care industry with providers and schools closing down and clinicians laid off. Given the already massive shortage of clinicians to deliver the growing demand for autism and IDD care, the closures and layoffs stemming from the pandemic stood to further impact access to care for a very long time.
In the moment, we decided we had to help these providers and the laid off clinicians get on their feet so they could open back up and start delivering services again. So, we decided to offer our entire continuing education library for free to everyone to ensure that clinicians — especially those that were laid off and not making any money — could maintain certification and continue caring for individuals with autism and IDD. We saw an overwhelming response to the offer with over 200,000 courses completed in just three months. Within those months, providers were able to open their doors back up and rehire clinicians, and we were happy to help them during that hard time. We still hear positive feedback about it to this day.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
You probably hear about this a lot, but our most exciting work right now is around generative AI and autism care. We just announced our new GenAI solution designed for autism and IDD care called cari. The new AI assistant is currently being embedded throughout CentralReach’s suite of solutions and will intelligently pull information from the company’s vast proprietary data set to produce recommendations for review, such as automated session notes, 24/7 clinical test prep support, fast-tracked assessment recommendations, optimized staffing and schedule recommendations, and more.
In the autism and IDD care world, there is a huge capacity constraint where there are not enough clinicians to serve the demand for care, so the automations that cari stands to provide may have an enormous positive impact on access to care in ways providers have not been able to quite get to previously.
Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about neurodiversity in the workforce. Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to include neurodiverse employees? Can you share a story with us?
We proactively hire neurodiverse talent across the organization, especially through our ReachOut program. This intentful program is focused on hiring neurodiverse staff for key roles within CentralReach, but we also hire neurodiverse staff outside of this program. We hope that other employers can be inspired to use the ReachOut program as a blueprint for similar opportunities within their own organizations to provide equal and fair job opportunities to the community.
Our neurodiverse staff has been essential and integral in our growth here at CentralReach. As a company that serves the autism and IDD community and provides employment services to other organizations, it is vital that the neurodiverse community is represented within our organization as well.
This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?
Neurodivergent individuals, those who may behave and process information differently than the majority, make up 15–20% of the world’s population. Yet, many recruitment and hiring processes are not designed enough for this workforce, often causing individuals to get rejected from opportunities or even discouraged from applying to certain jobs in the first place. As a result, the neurodiverse community suffers from under- and unemployment, with the unemployment rate running as high as 80%.
However, as Harvard Business Review noted, “because neurodiverse people are wired differently from ‘neurotypical’ people, they may bring new perspectives to a company’s efforts to create or recognize value.” Research even suggests that neurodivergent individuals can be up to 30% more productive than neurotypical workers. Inclusive teams also enjoy better workplace culture and connectivity with 3 in 4 job seekers preferring diverse workplaces and coworkers.
Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help include neurodiverse employees? Can you share with us how the work culture was affected as a result?
In addition to our ReachOut program, we’re flexible in workplace needs to accommodate our neurodiverse talent and workforce as a whole. With the global change in work culture and structure, we decided to implement a hybrid work policy throughout our CentralReach offices. During the pandemic, we realized the many benefits of remote work on both productivity and the mental and physical health of our employees. Not only does this policy enable our neurodiverse workforce to work more comfortably from home on Mondays and Fridays, but it allows more flexibility for our neurotypical employees.
Additionally, we provide software needs that support all ways of learning including our own assistive technology specifically for neurodiverse talent in the workplace to help them accomplish their tasks.
What are some of the challenges or obstacles to including neurodivergent employees? What needs to be done to address those obstacles?
As with many initiatives targeted towards promoting a more inclusive workplace, efforts to include neurodivergent employees take time and often go through some trial and error. Historically, most organizations built their structure with neurotypical workers in mind. However, as we know, these traditional processes are not inclusive of everyone and often alienate neurodivergent individuals. Organizations and leadership must evolve their way of thinking and make an active effort to ensure inclusivity. This also means providing neurodiverse talent with a voice at the table to guide the conversation.
How do you and your organization educate yourselves and your teams on the concept of neurodiversity and the needs of neurodivergent employees? Are there any resources, training, or workshops that you have found particularly helpful?
Advocate and non-profit groups are the best place to start when educating yourself on neurodiversity. AskJan, which stands for “job accommodation network,” provides work resources for both employers and individuals. With a list of low-cost accommodations, countless publications and articles, and a live chat feature, AskJan is the go-to place for employment resources. Additionally, government resources such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) National Network, U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S Department of Justice (DOJ), and individual state government websites provide great free assistance.
This is the main question of our interview. Can you please share five best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people who are neurodivergent?
1 . Laying out the groundwork: Integrating DEIA initiatives into company culture.
DEIA initiatives should be clearly written out and emphasized to all employees, not just used to attract neurodivergent employees in the hiring process. Integrating these initiatives and using inclusive language throughout an organization’s messaging shows that diversity is not an afterthought but an important aspect of company culture.
Diversity training is vital in ensuring inclusivity initiatives are clearly conveyed and neurodivergent employees are respected. There can be many misconceptions about neurodivergent individuals, especially those with autism, so education and overall awareness are important in making everyone feel safe and welcome at work. Additionally, employee resource groups (ERGs) provide employees with a safe haven to connect, network, and share advice, hardships, and successes with cohorts.
2 . Offering flexibility: Making accommodations beyond what is required.
Neurodivergent employees may require certain accommodations to equip them with the necessary resources to succeed. This may come as early as in the hiring process. Job descriptions and interview processes must be accessible and inclusive, keeping in mind the common employment struggles of neurodivergent individuals. Neuro-inclusivity requires supportive work environments with flexible, hybrid work options. For some neurodivergent individuals, a loud, bustling office is distracting and overwhelming, leading to less productivity. Understanding that everyone works differently and enabling employees to work from home on days they feel overwhelmed is just one example of how small policy changes can be more inclusive.
Additionally, accessible software can help accommodate neurodivergent employees’ specific needs. Whether it is assistive technology to aid in daily tasks, speech-to-text technology, or time management tools, going beyond mandated accommodations can not only improve performance but emphasize to employees that their organization cares about their personal and professional wellbeing. Also, making policies and accessible software available to everyone, not just neurodivergent employees, avoids singling out certain individuals while providing everyone with technology’s benefits.
3. Meeting in the middle: Respecting communication preferences.
Miscommunication or misunderstandings due to lack of communication can cause frustration and challenges for neurodivergent and neurotypical employees alike. Disseminating information in different ways — providing written instructions along with verbal, for example — can help provide clarity to those who learn both ways. Additionally, some individuals may struggle with implicit communication or sarcasm, leading to frustration among all parties. Recognizing communication preferences and trends can foster a more accepting and healthy environment.
Social isolation may also occur when neurodivergent employees do not feel welcomed at work or want to engage in social activities, which can ultimately impact performance. Creating workplace events may help bridge the gap between employees.
4 . Singing praises: Recognizing stellar work and providing mentorship.
Neurodivergent employees can, at times, face bias and prejudice in the workplace. This unfair treatment can even lead to employees not receiving promotions or getting negative feedback because of leadership’s failure to make accommodations, causing some to feel dejected or even quit. Due to these common issues, neurodivergent employees can experience anxiety or feel discouraged in the workplace. Therefore, rewarding and recognizing individual successes and accomplishments is vital.
Mentorship programs can also give employees opportunities for one-on-one individualized support. Providing mentorship programs and regular performance evaluations can guide employees towards improvement and aid in career growth.
5 . Listening and learning: Being open to continuing conversations and receiving feedback.
Ultimately, great organizations listen to their employees but successful organizations act upon these conversations. Employers do not have all the answers and need to listen to employee feedback and be willing to make changes when needed. The neurodiverse community is the best voice to advocate for their own needs, so listen to them. Consult advocate and non-profit groups for guidance. Create safe spaces, start conversations, implement an open door policy, and act upon concerns. Show employees that their voices matter and thoughts are heard.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?
“Put yourself in others’ shoes.”
In my experience, it’s rare that something bad happens when you employ empathy in a situation, whether that’s with a family member, peer, subordinate, customer or partner. Working in the technology space, it can be easy to get bogged down with what everyone else is doing or find an echo chamber where you hear what you want to hear about your ideas. However, my view has always been to try to understand the pain points in a market by listening to subject matter experts in the company, customers, and others in the space. Then, I put myself in their shoes as I think about the strategy we want or need to employ. It takes humility to admit you don’t know the answer initially, but the resulting decisions are almost always much higher quality. In other words, in order to create sustainable, long-term success, don’t just follow the competition or listen to your echo chamber. Listen to your customers and lead based on their needs.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would bring it back to what we talked about earlier in this interview. I’d love for employers to start thinking about neurodiversity and how they can tap into this large and valuable resource pool to make a difference for this underserved community while also improving their business performance. There are over five million individuals above the age of 18 on the spectrum today, and that number is growing rapidly. We have demographic and structural issues that mean there are not enough talented workers available to fill the open roles companies need to grow. Making the investments to create a more inclusive environment that will allow neurodiverse individuals to be successful will go a long way to solving both sides of the equation and will deliver both short term benefits as well as compounding benefits over time.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Feel free to connect with me on Linkedin or visit https://centralreach.com/ to learn more about CentralReach and our platform of software solutions.
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.
While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.
Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.
Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.
Neurodiversity in the Workforce: Chris Sullens Of CentralReach On Why It’s Important To Include… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.