Asking autistic employees' which accommodations work best for them in the workplace

A research study from Poland

Recommended Research Summary | October 2023

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Document ThumbnailWhat was this study about?

This study aimed to learn about what autistic employees in Poland prefer for workplace accommodations. The accommodations that autistic people were asked to review helped with four areas:

  1. communicating effectively
  2. effective time management
  3. stress management and emotion control, and
  4. sensory overload.

Most of the accommodations were technology tools.

What did the study find?

Autistic employees preferred accommodations that limited overstimulation most of all. They also preferred accommodations that provided a flexible work schedule, gave them access to a job coach, and made it possible to talk with non-autistic coworkers electronically (rather than face-to-face).

What did the researchers do for this study?

Researchers in Poland read other research studies and decided to survey autistics to get their opinions on how, in the workplace, technology can help with communicating effectively, time management, stress management and emotional control, and sensory overload. The researchers advertised on autism-focused websites and discussion forums for autistic people to participate in their study. The autistic people who responded then took a survey that asked them to rate accommodations that made it easier for them to do their jobs.

The survey asked autistic people to rate specific types of accommodations on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 was very bad, and 5 was very good. Most of the accommodations they rated were provided by technology.

113 women and 27 men took the survey. All of them were autistic adults. 85% of them were employed when they took the survey. 65% of them had some college education, and most of them had been working more than five years.

What did the researchers discover?

Here are the accommodations that received the highest ratings in the survey:

Accommodations Ranked by Preference
Workplace ChallengeAccommodation
Effective communicationEmail, chat software, online communications
Time managementFlexible schedules, remote work, task management tools, access to a job coach
Stress-level managementStress-level measurement, customized office environment based on individual preference
Sensory overloadCustomizing office space based on individual preference

  • The survey also found that autistic people who were in their first five years of work preferred task management apps more than autistics who had been at work longer.
  • Autistic employees with less education preferred task management apps more than autistic people with more education.
  • Overall, autistic employees gave the highest scores to accommodations that help limit sensory overload.

What does this mean for real life?

This research study indicates that autistic employees prefer a number of workplace accommodations, many of which are technology tools. These findings could help convince employers all over to offer workplace accommodations to autistic employees. If employers need ideas on what accommodations to offer, this data shows some popular accommodations.

But regardless of what this study found out about autistic employees as a group, this data can never replace the value of asking individual autistics about their own preferences for workplace accommodations.

What are some limitations of this study?

  • The study only took place in one country: Poland.
  • Autistics chose to participate in the study after seeing it advertised online; this means the sample wasn’t random.
  • Many more women than men or non-binary autistics took part in this study. This means that the study wasn’t balanced in terms of gender.
  • Offering technology solutions for accommodations can bring with it the danger of “techno-stress”.
  • Research that shows a group of autistics prefer one kind of thing over another cannot be applied to every autistic.
Icon of a clipboard and pencil. Text: CDCI Research

Text: Recommended Research

Original article:

Michał T. Tomczak, Paweł Ziemiański (2023). Autistic Employees’ Technology-Based Workplace Accommodation Preferences Survey – Preliminary Findings. International Journal of Environmental Research in Public Health, 20:5773. DOI: .

Glossary

  • Autism: Also known as "autism spectrum disorder", autism impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others. Autistic people sometimes have difficulty socializing with and communicating with other people.
  • Accommodation: Adjustments, tools, or changes that can be made to help other people with access, inclusion or comfort.