Reduce drains on your time, energy, and bottom line. 
Free 2-Hour Workshop for Workplace Leaders: Offered by Dr. Valerie Stone & Tracy Weegmann
The Hidden Problems in Your Workplace - How 5-9% of Employees Can Cause 50% of Unnecessary Lost Revenue
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Asperger's Syndrome
Adults with ADD or Asperger's make up about 5% of any workforce, on average. Both disabilities have often been considered a problem only in childhood, but they continue into adulthood, and studies show that they affect the workforce. ADD is a disability that makes it difficult for the person to get organized and maintain focused attention, while Asperger's (considered mild autism by some) primarily creates difficulty in understanding the nuances of social interaction. Both disabilities make it difficult for the person to prioritize tasks, manage their time, filter out distractions, and work well with others on teams, unless they have outside training and support.
There are highly intelligent people with both types of disabilities. Engineering and technical jobs in particular have an over-representation of people with Asperger's compared to other kinds of jobs. A study in England found that people with Asperger's syndrome (or high-functioning autism) seemed to be particularly drawn to those fields. Their discomfort with the unpredictabilities of the social world may mean they prefer thinking about and interacting with technical systems to interacting with people, who are more unpredictable. They can do brilliant work in these technical fields, but when that work requires coordinating with co-workers or explaining their technical work to a non-technical colleague, difficulties can arise.
People with ADD are often characterized as having difficulties getting organized, completing tasks, and maintaining workplace priorities. Such descriptions are true of many people with ADD, but it is equally important to realize that they may have interpersonal challenges too. Navigating a social interaction requires the ability to shift attention flexibly, and to adapt to what other people are saying or feeling. Because of problems with attention, people with ADD often have problems in this area. Some workplace conflicts arise because the social difficulties of people with ADD and Asperger's have not been recognized, and no extra training or support has been given.
With extra support, people with ADD thrive, and companies can benefit from their strengths: intelligence, creativity, and thinking outside the box. Well-known entrepreneurs are in this group. Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko's, Charles Schwab, of brokerage fame, and David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, for example, all found that their ADD gave them a creative advantage. They all got support for detail-oriented work and time management, and the strengths of ADD became the strengths of their businesses.1
Mild brain injury and concussion
A brain injury occurs when the brain's function is disrupted by a blow to the head, usually a closed head injury, but not always. The person does not have to be knocked out to have a brain injury. "Concussion" is often used synonomously with "mild traumatic brain injury". Moderate to severe brain injuries can have very serious long-term consequences, so your workforce may not include many people with more severe injuries, though some people make remarkable recoveries and regain much of what they lost. Auto accidents, ski accidents, other sports injuries, or slips and falls can all produce brain injuries.
Mild brain injury or concussion affects about 4% of Coloradans, so it is likely that 4% of your employees have had a minor head injury at some point in the past. The lasting symptoms of mild brain injury or concussion overlap considerably with those of ADD: difficulties getting organized, trouble maintaining focused attention, difficulty prioritizing tasks, emotional volatility and lack of emotional control, and difficulty keeping up with interpersonal interactions. As with ADD and Asperger's, highly intelligent and creative people may still suffer from these problems, but they can perform much better with extra training or support.
Other problems are likely to co-occur with ADD
Many adults and children with ADD may also have other psychiatric diagnoses. Major depression is more common in adults with ADD than in non-ADD adults. Adult ADD seems to be related to substance abuse, with active abuse going on for longer, and a lower rate of recovery. In one study, 75% of adults in alcoholism recovery programs met criteria for ADD. Finally, there is overlap in symptoms between ADD, Asperger's, and concussion. All of these disorders can affect your workplace, but if they are dealt with appropriately, your team will produce more and work together better.
The Money It's Costing You if You Do NOT Deal with these Disabilities
Absenteeism and employee turnover cost your company money, and reduce productivity. People with these disabilities may lose 22 days per year, compared with 6 for people without any disability. In addition, they are 18 times as likely to be disciplined for behavior or other work problems. Treatment rates among employees with ADD are especially low. In the United States, for example, only 13% of workers with ADD reported being treated for this condition in the previous 12 months. If you support employees with these conditions getting the support and training they need, you can change these numbers.
Don't let your business become a victim of a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Why not offer your employees information about resources for their disabilities, and reduce your liability and vulnerability to these huge costs? These disabilities do result in lawsuits over employer accommodations. Most managers in such lawsuits didn’t deal with the issue because they didn’t understand that disability was the underlying issue, and they didn't know about cost-effective accommodations and resources.
Be a Cost-Cutting Hero: The Money You can Save If you Do Deal with these Disabilities
"In today's marketplace,...to remain competitive, companies must find ways to produce more with less human capital. ... Non-occupational illness...must be managed as a competitive advantage, not accepted as a cost of doing business; [management] must focus on employee abilities."2
Absenteeism: One study in a large petrochemical company found that work units using a disability management program had 18% less absenteeism than units that did not use disability management, saving the company $2,300,000, and yet cost the company only $500K, a return on investment of four to one. For Comcast, reducing absenteeism for 5-9% of employees from 22 days a year to 6 days a year could save just over $1 million.
Employee turnover: Employees with these disabilities who are not supported are 2 to 4 times more likely to lose their jobs than a typical employee. Each time an employee needs to be replaced, the company can figure on spending 150% of that person's salary to replace them. Reducing turnover by supporting employees with these disabilities could save Comcast $500,000.
What to Do About It
Our workshop will cover:- Management education on effective disability management
- Reduce claim costs for short-term disability by addressing legal liability and compliance with ADA rules.
- Organization and task management skills to improve employee productivity
- Importance of continual employee social skills training and support, to deal with situations as they arise
- Importance of hands-on, on-the-job employee training and support for cognitive/attention issues
How We Are Different
No one else is doing what we're doing in the workplace. This isn't just another organizational psychology workshop on employee leadership, or using the Myers-Briggs to see how personality types affect work teams. We'll tell you effective ways to increase productivity and job satisfaction for employees who have brain-based disabilities.
Many management consultants provide recommendations for structural policy changes and protocols, but we also provide the in-house support and behavioral/organizational approach to work directly with employees. Our approach can provide quicker results.
Credentials and Training
Tracy Weegmann is a certified ADD coach who is committed to educating and helping others with brain-based disabilities increase performance and productivity. She has had great success working with clients both domestically and internationally over 10 years. Over 20 doctors refer their patients to her and see specific improvements in those patients. Dr. Valerie Stone is a neuroscientist who is passionate about getting cutting-edge scientific research out into the everyday world to help people with brain-based disabilities. She has trained at Harvard (BA 1985), Stanford PhD 1990), and Cambridge, and is recognized internationally for her work on social skills in brain-based disorders. She has done trainings for over 200 lawyers, judges, and psychologists about these issues.
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2 ADD in the Corner Office: Five Top Executives Discovered that an LD can be a Capitalist Tool, by Paul Orfolea. ADDitude.