Griseld Gay Santos l October 28, 2022 l The Manila Times
OCT. 20, 2022 marked the 10th Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Summit. It is described as the Oscar Awards for the cities and provinces in the Philippines. This is an annual event hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). This year, it was delivered in partnership with the International Council for Small Businesses. Cities and municipalities are ranked based on four pillars: economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resiliency. Employment generation is among the key component of the economic dynamism pillar.
It is good to see a number of cities and municipalities excelling in these various pillars. The Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index has really inspired the cities and municipalities of the Philippines to perform well for their respective communities. The challenge for the winners is how to sustain its competitiveness next year and beyond.
Question is, will a focus on competitiveness alone make the difference in paving that path to true sustainable recovery? Has every stone been turned to achieve competitiveness and give one’s community or business the edge in these extremely challenging environment? Just maybe, there is a way to do things differently to achieve sustainability.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein
In the midst of the pandemic, a new approach to human resources has emerged. According to Forbes, neurodiversity at work has come to age. Neurodivergent is a term that comprehensively describes a person in the spectrum of autism. They refer to individuals who have a different way of learning, behaving and interacting due to a developmental disorder. They are individuals with challenges in social interaction, eye contact, difficulty in interpreting social queues, language and communication. A good number in this spectrum have extraordinary and unique skills for instance in mathematics or pattern recognition/attention to details. According to World Health Organization, average to above-average IQ scores occur in 44 percent of people who are neurodivergent.
These unique skills are most likely why a growing number of US companies have reformed their Human Resources approach in order to access neurodiverse talent. Among them are SAP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Microsoft, Ford and EY. According to a Harvard Business Review article on Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage (2017), employment of neurodivergents by these companies have resulted to increase in productivity and employee engagement. Given the different thinking that neurodivergents bring, it paves the way for greater innovative solutions to these companies. Experience also shows that neurodivergent employees are loyal employees.
Beyond the US, Specialisterne, a social organization established in 2004 in Denmark, has successfully help employ neurodivergents across 23 countries in the world. It is the core business of Specialisterne to train and employ neurodivergent people. Specialisterne has worked with several major companies like Johnson & Johnson, IBM and Nestlé in this mission. Specialisterne trains neurodivergents to be job ready and employers to be neurodivergent ready.
Sadly in the Philippines, there is still much that can be done to promote and adapt neurodivergent employment. Yes, there are efforts but not yet in a big way. This may be the stone that has not been turned to achieve sustainable competitiveness for a city, municipality or a business. Harvard Business Review notes that employing neurodivergents is proven to give companies a competitive edge. Major companies attest to this. It then begs the question why cities, municipalities and businesses in the Philippines are not moving toward it in a big way. Maybe the process, commitment and investment for neurodivergent employment program is not just a priority for many. It may even be perceived as a crazy idea, hopefully not.
“Good ideas are always crazy until they’re not.” – Elon Musk
This is a call out to the cities, municipalities and the business community to take that leap forward. To DTI, a request to include neurodivergent employment as part of its metric for the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index. There is a need to shift the mindset from competitiveness per se to sustainable competitiveness through inclusion and accountability. With all the complexities and challenges the world is going through, it is not about being better than others. It is about sustaining one’s self to be an inspiration, mentor and be of help to others so no Juan/Juana is left behind. I challenge all to take that different route to competitive advantage. By doing so, you just may be opening that door for another Einstein or Elon.
*** Gay Santos is the regional director for Southeast Asia at Water.org, a global NGO co-founded by Matt Damon and Gary White. She retired from the World Bank Group in 2019 and holds an MBA degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and The Manila Times.