Sustainable employment depends on quality relationships between supervisors and their employees on the autism spectrum

Abstract

Purpose

Employment outcomes for individuals on the autism spectrum may be contingent upon employers’ knowledge of autism and provision of appropriate workplace supports. We aimed to understand the organizational factors that influenced the organizational socialization of autistic employees.

Materials and methods

We wrote nine case histories based on interviews from managers, autistic employees, and job coaches. Intra-case analysis, then cross-case analysis, provided an understanding of organizational factors that lead to sustained employment of autistic employees.

Results

The quality of the relationship between managers and autistic employees was consistently seen as the key facilitator of organizational socialization and positive employment outcomes of autistic employees. These relationships, however, relied on the skilled facilitation of the job coach during each stage of the employment cycle (hiring, on-boarding, training, performance management), as they had an important role in building a mutual understanding between supervisors and employees. As such, our study draws upon and contributes to leader-member exchange theory.

Conclusions

Consistent with prior research, our study shows the importance of high-quality relationships between supervisors and supervisees for positive employment outcomes of autistic employees in organization but adds skilled communication facilitation as a novel antecedent to leader-member exchange, as a potentially key factor for autistic employees.

Implications for rehabilitation

• The relationship between the a manager and their employee is an important factor in effective organizational socialization and workplace outcomes for autistic employees.

• Job coaches can play a crucial role in building mutual understanding and high-quality relationships between managers and employees.

• Job coaches can support the inclusion of autistic employees by illustrating the multi-faceted socioemotional performance benefits over the longer term.

Keywords:

• Autism
• disability
• leadership
• leader-member exchange theory
• supervisor employee interaction
• supported employment
• workplace

Acknowledgments

This paper was written in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Ph.D. degree in Psychoeducation at the Université de Montréal by the first author. The authors are grateful to Marc J. Lanovaz (University of Montreal) for the support and supervision offered as director to the first author during her doctoral research. The authors thank the anonymous referees for valuable comments that improved the quality of the paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors of this paper declare no conflicts of interest in the completion of the study or the preparation of this manuscript. Authors have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by a doctoral research scholarship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture to the first author.