Startup connects autistic workers with jobs suited to their skill set

A new company matches autistic workers with jobs that make the most of their unique skills.

At Springwise, we have seen companies use tech to help hire the homeless and reduce employment discrimination. Now a new company is helping people with autism find employers. There is a high unemployment rate among adults with autism. According to autism charity Autism Speaks, there are 2.5 million adults with autism in the US alone. Additionally, there is an 85 percent unemployment rate among college-educated adults with autism. As a result, a new company called Daivergent is hoping to help by matching autistic people with job opportunities.

Inspiration for Daivergent came from the founder, Byran Dai, whose brother is autistic. The company seeks to connect enterprise clients with people on the autism spectrum to work in specific areas of tech. Dai realised that people like his brother are uniquely suited to performing high-complexity tasks that require an unusually high amount of focus and attention to detail, such as complex tasks related to data management. These types of tasks are particularly important in AI and machine learning. Daivergent aims to put together the perfect pool of data specialists to work in this industry.

Daivergent partners with various agencies, including autism charities AHRC and Autism Speaks. The agencies help to screen potential employees, including assessing their ability to complete data management tasks. Once individuals become contractors with Daivergent, they are given further training before they start working on projects. The company splits projects into smaller tasks and then assigns those tasks to individual workers. The company takes a percentage of each fee and passes the rest on to its workers.