Sinister side-effect of bosses’ strict office rule

Bosses across the country are forcing their staff back into the office – but the strict move could backfire for millions of Aussies.

Return-to-office mandates are having serious consequences for workers. Picture: iStock

The trend of forcing staff back into offices has slashed the number of hybrid and remote working options – which could see millions of Australians locked out of employment altogether.

Many bosses have blamed “lazy” Gen Z and Millennial workers for the pushback to onsite jobs.

But for people with disabilities, physically getting into workplaces can leave them stressed, anxious and exhausted – before even arriving at their desk.

Disability advocate Zoe Simmons, who has autism, chronic pain and uses a wheelchair, said the daily commute was the “biggest thing for me” and she now works as a freelance journalist and public speaker.

“Finding a workplace that will give reasonable adjustments around disability is really difficult,” she told news.com.au.

Return-to-office mandates are having serious consequences for workers. Picture: iStock

“I think there are a lot of people who don’t consider disability, they don’t think disabled people exist.”

While a spokesperson for the Fair Work Ombudsman said it was “unlawful for an employer to take adverse action against an employee or potential employee because of their disability,” Ms Simmons said this often didn’t match reality.

In fact, a recent survey revealed that 61 per cent of neurodivergent individuals fear disclosing their condition to potential bosses due to concerns about stigma or negative impacts on their career.

Figures show 5.5 million Aussies have a disability, one in seven are neurodivergent and 300,000 are autistic, however, Ms Simmons said there’s still a huge lack of understanding about what it’s like to be on the spectrum, including aversions to sound, light, smells and even fabric which can cause extreme distress and sensory overload.

Disability advocate Zoe Simmons, who has autism, chronic pain and uses a wheelchair, said the daily commute was the ‘biggest thing for me’ Picture: Emma Veness Photography

She now works as a freelance journalist and public speaker. Picture: Emma Veness Photography

“It could be the loud noise of the lift, bright office lights or a co-worker’s strong perfume,” Ms Simmons explained.

“But there are so many small things that can make a huge difference and might make an autistic person feel comfortable.

“We’re not all Sheldon Cooper. We all have different access needs and we still deserve to be able to get a job and build a career.

“Neurodivergent people are some of the most dedicated people you can have on your staff, we are so passionate about what we do and love – it’s a gift.”

Cyber security analyst Luke Van Bockel, 29, was diagnosed with autism in his early 20s and spent a large part of his working life in the food service industry where he didn’t have to share his condition with his employer.

“As long as I fried the chicken, that was all fine with them,” he told news.com.au.

“The topic of the way that I thought, the way that I think, didn’t really pop up.”

Mr Van Bockel said when people hear about autism “they think of a caricature of what it’s like”, which was rarely accurate because of how broad the spectrum was.

Now in his “first office job”, which he landed through DXC Technology’s Dandelion Program, a scheme to help neurodivergent individuals pursue careers in IT, Mr Van Bockel said more bosses – including his own – were seeing the huge benefits to hiring out-of-the-box thinkers.

“Working in security, if anything gets past you, then the results can be disastrous so I feel that my attention to detail is incredibly beneficial for my role,” he told news.com.au.

“There’s also the sort of hyper-fixation on the things that interest me. Like if there’s a system we have that piques my interest, I could spend hours digging around in it, then become a subject matter expert.

“And then everyone that wants something done within that environment, it’s usually those people that are coming to me to ask about it.”

Cyber security analyst Luke Van Bockel says autistic employees are a huge asset to workplaces due to their ability to ‘hyperfocus’ on tasks.

He said he felt confident in his abilities and work which really helped him “to stay in the zone, to stay focused”, while his employer had been “doing a fantastic job providing support”.

“So much so that my team leader really wants another one of me to join,” Mr Van Bockel said.

“So, they’re looking to engage another Dandelion program participant on our team which is exciting.”

Lachlan Cameron, 23, was diagnosed with autism as a teenager and through Dandelion is now working for the Australian Federal Police.

Originally hired in a surveillance analyst role, his employer quickly identified his strong abilities in technical design and now he creates and builds solutions through technology to help fix “problematic issues” frontline police can experience.

“Anyone can be a really good detective, but without the proper equipment or tools of the trade, there’s only so much you can really do, just from sleuthing around,” he told news.com.au.

“So, that kind of work is kind of giving them the edge … We give them the opportunity through technology.”

While Mr Cameron is highly skilled in his current role, he said he wouldn’t have been able to get the job through the traditional university route, which was not often set up to allow neurodivergent people to thrive.

Lachlan Cameron followed his passion for technology which led him to a job with the Australian Federal Police helping frontline detectives to solve crimes.

He said there was still a stigma around autism, but it wasn’t “necessarily a negative one”.

“It’s not like people are sharpening pitchforks and stuff,” Mr Cameron said.

“But yeah, it’s just this weird kind of limbo that you go into when you say you have autism where some people go out of their way to say that they don’t care.

“Like it’s not a big deal but they go so far into it, that it becomes a big deal.”

He said being neurodivergent was an asset as autistic people think differently, which can help them to problem solve in alternative ways.

“So being able to approach things in a different way to others, just lets me see potential solutions that could work that others couldn’t,” Mr Cameron said.

“So, it kind of gives us a broader picture or a larger way of approaching issues than just direct straightforward.”

While neurodivergent people can have sensory processing challenges and may require “sensory breaks”, there are simple adjustments that can be made such as being allowed to work in a quieter area, away from smelly and busy office kitchenettes or under lower lighting.

Many workplaces already embrace some of these ideas by building chill out spaces, allowing workers to take breaks and zone out when they feel overstimulated.

Seelan Nayagam, DXC Technology’s president Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, said he took “immense pride” in seeing how the Dandelion program had empowered so many people to change their lives.

“Neurodivergent individuals bring a lot of value to the workplace, with strengths such as great attention to detail, focused concentration, pattern recognition, spotting anomalies in data and out-of-the box thinking,” he said.

“These are valuable skills, especially in areas of technology such as data analytics, software automation and cybersecurity.”

Rebecca Franks is a freelance writer