By Geoff Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Spatial Analytics
Before I started ASA in 2020, I worked for a disability employment provider, supporting job seekers with significant barriers to employment get back into work. One of the most challenging aspects of disability employment wasn’t securing jobs, but helping people retain their positions. So often, when people have been unemployed for long periods, they may not have the resilience to work regular hours every week. Or they may need to hone the workplace ‘soft skills’ needed to succeed. It takes time and intentional effort to help them build those skills. Unfortunately, in most cases, the disability employment system isn’t set up to allow that.
A data analyst’s lifecycle at ASA is different. There is a level of support that’s provided to employees that most workplaces aren’t able (or willing) to provide. Beyond technical skills training, ASA have a detailed onboarding program, ongoing wellbeing support and career coaching as part of our business-as-usual. At ASA, we help analysts prepare for their careers beyond our walls. Things like employability skills training and resources, covering key areas such as resume writing, interview preparation, job searching skills, and LinkedIn profile training.
But our team goes well beyond that of career coaching. We actively work with ASA clients and businesses all around the country to find the ‘next career steps’ for our analysts. We work with both the potential employer and the analyst through the interview and recruitment processes. We also link the employer to ASA’s Neurodiversity at Work Training Program, provide resources, and then provide post-transition support to both the employer and the analyst as they start their new job.
In essence, we take our staff and trade them away to other employers! However, we are one of the few organisations that want their people to leave, as this is how we make a significant social impact. For every analyst we can transition to a new job, it opens up an opportunity for someone else to be brought out of long-term unemployment (greater than two years) and into work at ASA. We have helped dozens of ASA analysts transition into their next role or secure a long-term placement within a client's workplace. Most of these analysts have continued to work in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or digital engineering roles, often for our partner clients. These include Acciona, Yarra Valley Water, Suburban Connect, Queensland Government, Ventia, NGIS and Wulguru Technical Services.
However, not all analysts want to continue in these professions. If GIS or digital engineering isn’t the career path an analyst wants to pursue after ASA, we have helped them transition into roles such as cybersecurity trainees, finance support in the health sector, and learning and development team members. Wherever an analyst leaves ASA, we want to help them succeed, wherever they go.
The process is different for every analyst and potential employer. However, most employment transitions share some common elements.
• ASA analysts have already had an opportunity to develop employability skills through the in-house training programs ASA makes available. This includes a recent WorkFoundations grant from the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workforce Relations.
• We invite the employer to hold a briefing session for analysts to give them information about the role before they apply.
• We guide analysts and employers through the recruitment process (particularly interview processes) to make it a less stressful experience and neuroinclusive.
• We often undertake a workplace audit, to ensure the physical environment is neuroinclusive and recommend improvements.
• Once an offer is made, we complete several checks to ensure the analyst and employer have all the information they require before their first day.
• We recommend that employers undertake ASA's Neurodiversity Training Program, which ideally commences before the analyst starts on-site.
• If the employer has a budget available, we can provide on-site support on an analyst's first day/s in the workplace.
• Again, if there is budget available, we can provide access to an ASA Lead Data Analyst who can provide any technical or skills support required as the analyst settles in.
A big part of our employment transitions' success stems from these thorough pre- and post-transition processes. We tailor them to each employer and each analyst to ensure the best possible candidate is made available, and it’s a win for everyone. We consistently receive positive feedback about our Employment Transition Program, which is part of our Talent Services offering. We regularly have employers coming back for more ASA analysts! Plus, we’ve won numerous awards for the program, including being named as one of the Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative Companies and Workforce Development/Innovation Awards from the Geospatial Council of Australia.
Some employers have even discovered another step to ensuring our analysts are ready for their workplace–they engage ASA to undertake their data work on an ongoing basis to help us with upskilling and on-the-job training. ASA is effectively training analysts on the work they’ll do when their new employer eventually employs them, so they hit the ground running.
We’ve had fantastic success stories where data analysts have been transformed because new employers provided a supportive, neurodivergent-friendly environment (see our analyst stories for some fantastic inspiration). It’s hard to narrow down a specific highlight, but some great outcomes include:
• An analyst who was looking forward to working in a neurotypical workplace, but once they got there, they realised ‘most of my coworkers are neurodivergent – they just don’t realise it yet!’ We have provided significant neurodiversity awareness training and support for that workplace as they manage their entire neurodivergent cohort.
• One analyst was supported by their new employer with flexible working hours and financial assistance to ensure their assistance animal could receive the medical care they required.
• We had an analyst who needed fully remote work due to health concerns and caring responsibilities. The employer was so keen to employ them that they changed their usual business practices to ensure the analyst could succeed and work remotely.
• There have been a few ASA analysts who have been mentored by industry professionals and subsequently been offered a new role by their mentor. The mentor’s investment in the analyst went above and beyond what we expected.
Regarding the neurodiversity training courses we offer as part of the Employment Transition Program, the most common feedback I hear is that so much of it is just good business sense – whether their employees are neurodivergent or not! Employers often note that our initial Neurodiversity Awareness course demystifies neurodiversity and removes any fear of the unknown. We had one instance where a long-term employee of a company disclosed to their colleagues during the training that they were neurodivergent. They hadn’t known how to raise it within the workplace. However, to see that their employer was so committed to becoming a neuroinclusive workplace, they finally felt comfortable sharing.
I’d love to reach a point where ASA can’t keep up with the requests from employers who want our analysts. We already see this at times – we have several employers who are already planning to take on their next cohort of ASA Alumni. They know they’re onto a good thing!
And it’s not that bloody hard to bring on neurodivergent people right now! There are minor tweaks employers can make to recruitment and business practices immediately, without costing them a cent, that will make their workplaces more neuroinclusive. There are some great resources available, including our ASA team. If you don’t know where to start (in the words of Molly Meldrum, the famous music aficionado), do yourself a favour, contact us and let us help you take the first steps.
Our ultimate goal is to become obsolete and put ourselves out of business, which means I am out of a job! I want to see neurodiversity embraced by employers across Australia and globally. I hope for a day when neurodiversity training is a non-negotiable aspect of workplace staff training, considering that neurodivergent people are the ‘world’s biggest minority group’ with 20% of the population–1.6 billion globally–being neurodivergent. I hope that employing neurodivergent staff is no longer considered a ‘diversity hire’ but just good business—hiring the best person with the best skills for the job.
If you’re not employing neurodivergent employees, you’re missing out on some extraordinary skillsets and benefits for your business. If you’re not creating a neuroinclusive workplace to enable your neurodivergent employees to succeed, then you’re not getting the best out of them, or your neurotypical staff.
ASA is here to help you realise this potential. We’d love to chat! Please get in touch to take the first step.
