Hire the Autistic for Their Retailing Strengths

Fans of the TV show “Parenthood” came to know, through the character Max, the personality liabilities and assets of Asperger’s Syndrome, which mental health professionals consider to be a mild variant of autism. Max had difficulty both looking people in the eye when talking to them and acknowledging what others in social interactions truly want. Not the sort of person you’d want as a front-line retail employee, you might be thinking.
     Actually, what I’m thinking now is about my Uncle Larry, who was the general manager of the Boston Store in downtown Milwaukee during the early 1960’s. He strongly advocated hiring the handicapped for their strengths. The reasons he gave to those who asked were that these people had trouble finding work, so they didn’t demand the highest of pay rates and they were dedicated to the boss. But because such bosses often coach disabled employees to improve their living situations and counsel them when they are emotionally upset, maybe my Uncle Larry's true reasons included doing well by doing good.
     The Max character in “Parenthood” had an incredible ability to absorb, recall, and use minute details. Go back to Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of autistic Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 classic, “Rain Man” or back to the title character in 2009’s “Adam.”
     A Bloomberg Businessweek article a while ago discussed the profitability opportunities in hiring people with autism. The attention to accurate detail and enjoyment of routinization are assets for many tasks. In the retailing environment, for instance, think about who you’d ask to make the ongoing changes in shelf tags to optimize merchandise pricing.
     The Bloomberg Businessweek article recognizes that training the autistic employee requires special skills. As you might expect, behavioral scientists find that computer-based training often works better than face-to-face training. Related to this, employees with autism can suffer paralyzing anxiety when confronted with the social interactions found in any store. They might do better handling the internet side of the business, working in a quiet room. Wearing headphones not only blocks out the distractions, but also signals to people wandering by that this employee prefers to forgo the collaborative suggestions.
     The Max’s, Raymond’s, and Adam’s in the retailing workplace avoid social interaction because they don’t know how. When they master the skills, they often treasure the opportunities to break out of loneliness. Retailers can help make that happen when hiring the autistic for their retailing strengths.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more:
Attract with Social Consciousness
Accommodate Disabled Shoppers’ Psychology