Faculty of Management and Economics, Digital Technologies Center, Gdańsk University of Technology, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland.
Department of Rehabilitation and Health Services, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 2;19(17):10982. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710982.
With remote work becoming more common across industries, employees with autism may experience different work support needs from neurotypical peers. However, the specific remote work needs of this group of employees are underexplored in the literature. We aim to propose ways to assess workplace digital adaptation needs for individuals with autism and a framework for communicating these needs to employers.
This qualitative study included interviews with 13 Polish business professionals, including coworkers and/or supervisors of employees with autism ( = 9) and female employees with autism ( = 4), about their remote work support needs. Participants responded to semi-structured interview questions identifying advantages and risk factors associated with remote work for this specific group of employees.
Participants reported advantages of remote work, such as limiting sensory overload and intensive interpersonal contacts, indirect interpersonal communications, flexible work hours, and eliminating the need to travel to work. Participants also reported challenges of remote work, such as reducing wanted or helpful social contacts, engaging in direct electronic communications, limiting opportunities to learn from other employees, and managing work-life balance.
These findings suggest a need for an autism-inclusive digitalized remote work design customized to the unique needs of employees on the autism spectrum. Business managers would be key partners in the design of autism-inclusive digitalized remote work systems. Additional research is needed with larger and more diverse samples of employees with autism.
随着远程工作在各行业中变得越来越普遍，自闭症患者的员工可能会有不同于神经典型同事的工作支持需求。然而，这一群体员工的具体远程工作需求在文献中尚未得到充分探讨。我们旨在提出评估自闭症患者职场数字化适应需求的方法，并为向雇主传达这些需求构建框架。
这项定性研究包括对 13 名波兰商业专业人士的访谈，其中包括自闭症员工（=9）的同事和/或主管以及自闭症女性员工（=4），了解他们的远程工作支持需求。参与者回答了半结构化访谈问题，确定了该特定群体员工远程工作的优势和风险因素。
参与者报告了远程工作的优势，例如限制感官超负荷和密集的人际接触、间接人际交流、灵活的工作时间以及消除通勤的需要。参与者还报告了远程工作的挑战，例如减少期望或有益的社交接触、进行直接电子交流、限制向其他员工学习的机会以及管理工作与生活的平衡。
这些发现表明，需要为自闭症谱系员工量身定制包容自闭症的数字化远程工作设计，以满足他们的独特需求。业务经理将是设计包容自闭症的数字化远程工作系统的关键合作伙伴。需要对更多和更多样化的自闭症员工样本进行进一步研究。
