Adarma have announced its neurodiversity strategy in partnership with Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency.
The strategy supports Adarma’s continued commitment to attract, support, and empower people from diverse backgrounds into the cybersecurity sector, which will help combat the well-documented skills shortage in the cybersecurity sector.
Adarma employs over 300 people and believes that diversity and a sense of inclusion within its workforce helps to better serve their customers through improved problem-solving, innovation and diversity of thought.
In 2021, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published a report stating that 19% of the 945 respondents surveyed in the UK cybersecurity industry were neurodivergent, significantly higher than the 10% estimated for the UK population at that time.
This indicates that individuals who are neurodivergent may find a career in cybersecurity especially appealing, even without considering the lower employment rates among this demographic. For instance, just 16% of autistic adults in the UK, who are part of the neurodiverse community, are employed full-time.
Since the 2021 NCSC report, the percentage of neurodiverse people in the UK population has risen to around 15%, so, it is likely, the number of neurodiverse workers in the industry is also growing.
Adarma’s mission is ‘to protect the promise of cyber resilience whilst building a safer, fairer and more sustainable shared future for their customers and communities across the world’.
Delivering this involves addressing the digital skills gap by encouraging diversity and inclusivity while making a career in cybersecurity accessible to all. Adarma achieves this by proactively supporting its employees, customers, and partners with tools and initiatives that improve their mental and physical wellbeing.
“At Adarma, we want to better support neurodiverse people, both so that they can flourish and achieve their potential and so that we can improve as a business,” said Sarah Coleman, chief people officer at Adarma. “With the support of Scottish Enterprise, Adarma will embark on a neuro-inclusion journey over the coming years that will embed lasting organisational change.
“We plan to start this journey at the beginning of the employee lifecycle, when attracting, hiring, and onboarding employees.”
Clare Alexander, Head of Workplace Innovation at Scottish Enterprise, added: “It’s been great to work with Adarma on developing its inclusive recruitment and retention practices. The company clearly recognises the value of embracing neurodiversity to boost the inclusivity and productivity of its workforce.
“Our research shows that diversity of thought is a key driver of business innovation and success – and companies that convert this knowledge into action are more likely to thrive and grow.”
Adarma has selected a prominent neurodiversity consultant, Rachel Morgan-Trimmer, to help deliver the first phase of this neurodiversity strategy. Rachel will be working collaboratively with relevant teams at Adarma to enhance their understanding of neurodiversity and the considerations for attracting, hiring and onboarding new talent.
Adarma expects to see the impact of phase one pervading into more of the day-to-day, for example through improvements in approach, support, and external interest in the project, down to smaller but very important changes in such things as language and visuals. Cultural change is a process and Adarma wants to ensure this work becomes embedded into the business.
Commenting on the strategy, Rachel said: “My team and I are excited to be working with Adarma on their neurodiversity strategy. We have a lot of scope to make a positive impact not just on their employees, but on the wider cybersecurity community”.
“Building a culture that champions diversity and inclusion is a top priority here at Adarma and we are delighted to partner with Scottish Enterprise to drive this ambition forward,” said John Maynard, CEO at Adarma. “This new strategy will see training across the business to improve our awareness of neurodiversity, it will ensure the talent acquisition team engage and onboard neurodivergent applicants, and as we progress on this journey it will ensure the organisation as a whole can support neurodivergent colleagues to fulfil their potential while at Adarma.”
