Well, up next, when we think of the word diversity and its meaning, chances are the first thing that comes to mind is someone's race or perhaps its ethnicity, gender, religion, or social class.

As it turns out, just like the word itself, diversity carries with it many meanings.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins us now with the story.

- Well, at its core, diversity is simply the range of human differences, traits, and beliefs.

When we think of diversity in terms of employment, it usually means having a workplace where different cultures are represented, but there's another type of diversity you may not be as familiar with.

It's called neurodiversity, the concept that there is no single correct way for the brain to function.

- I had a master's degree, I was a published author, and I had never held down employment for more than about a month.

I never had a workplace that was willing to work with me.

It was easier for them to just let me go than bother to ask why.

- [Jason] Alexander Lieberman works at Wells Fargo in a job he's held for over six years, but it's the first job he's been able to hold onto.

- I cannot sit at a computer for eight hours straight.

I do my work in bursts and people would look at me and they would either see me not working and conclude I wasn't working at all and be let go or I would force myself and then I would burn out and then I would be let go.

- [Jason] Alexander is neurodivergent, part of the roughly 15 to 20% of society that is.

- That's a lot of people who are having trouble in the workplace.

- [Jason] Neurodiversity is the concept that there's no right way for the human brain to operate.

Instead, viewing neurological differences such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia as natural variations of human diversity.

- And the way we design processes or environments, it kind of assumes neurotypical.

It assumes that people will behave, interpret information, communicate back in a certain way.

- [Jason] And because of those differences, neurodivergent people like Alexander tend to have difficulty finding and keeping jobs.

- I had almost given up.

- The neurodivergent community typically suffers from a 30 to 40% unemployment/underemployment rate.

- The traditional job interview is designed in a way that inherently disadvantages neurodivergent people.

- My session is going to be about building your professional LinkedIn profile.

- [Jason] Recognizing the issue, Wells Fargo launched its neurodiversity program in 2020, designed to give the neurodivergent community increased opportunities to land employment with the company.

- I came to this program, it was a Hail Mary almost.

- We know that talent exists everywhere, but unfortunately opportunity doesn't and we think we have a role in that.

So we feel like it's a responsibility to create more accessible pathways to employment opportunities that are inclusive, accessible, and predominantly skill-based.

- And so for Wells Fargo, it's about seeing people, seeing the capabilities that they have.

And so we think about individuals who are neurodivergent, who may not have all the same opportunities as everyone else.

We want to make sure that they see themselves at Wells Fargo.

- I'm certainly grateful they took that risk.

- [Jason] One of the main things Wells did was alter the way standard job interviews are conducted.

- So it starts with how are we writing our job descriptions and being inclusive, how we're evaluating candidates on their skills.

- And you create an environment where candidates can come in and really demonstrate and showcase their knowledge and their skills and their abilities that are relevant to performing successfully in the role, everybody really wins.

- [Jason] So instead of an interview lasting the typical hour or so and focusing on social skills and personality, Wells expanded the process to last several days, making it more skills-based.

- So what we did was we de-emphasized the behavioral considerations and we do a series of workshops.

It's across two days, small workshops.

Day one is completely unscored.

We do introductions and team building and problem solving alongside the managers to build that relationship, build some safety, build some trust so the candidates bring the best version of the authentic selves to the following day.

- We spend time getting people acquainted and comfortable and seeing how they interact with each other.

- The following day, they get to show us their skills rather than tell us their skills.

So they complete a practical exercise, something that they would be expected to do if they got the job.

So if it's an analytics job, they're analytics exercise.

And if it's a software engineering, they're gonna, you know, write some pseudo code, but they have an opportunity to show us those skills rather than in a typical interview, tell me about those skills.

- [Jason] Wells' success rate with the program has been off the charts with nearly 400 new hires since the program's inception.

- Since launching the program back in 2020, we've been able to support 388 employees, 32 interns, and as of the end of last year, we've seen a year-over-year retention rate of 82%.

So those outcomes really demonstrate that when you're able to remove barriers and create an environment where candidates can really showcase their skills, everybody really wins.

And the results also just demonstrate the value in creating more accessible pathways to employment.

- And my hope is that each of you leaves with at least one new insight, one new connection, and one new tool that helps you move forward in your journey.

- [Jason] Wells recently opened its doors to the broader community, inviting more than 100 people from the neurodivergent community in for a full day of immersive learning, professional development, and networking.

- So we'll have sessions throughout the day that are focused on job search strategies, focused on resume preparation, how to identify and maybe communicate any transferable skills.

We're also gonna introduce some financial literacy, some AI, and just overall career readiness.

- A father dropped it off, his daughter, for this event, and he wanted to come in because he wasn't sure who to thank, but he just wanted to say, "Thank you for this opportunity."

Right?

So that's the impact there.

- All right, Jason, tell me a little bit more.

I understand they're going to be expanding the program.

- Yeah, they're working to expand it.

Well, Wells Fargo is making its neurodiversity program training available to all of its employees, and their corporate workshop is now introducing the program to other Fortune 500 companies.

So they're trying to share what they've learned over these last six years about neurodiversity with other area companies and just trying to spread the word and just get that word out.

- All right, just getting the perspective out and introducing people to the way other minds work.

- Other way other brain works, because not all brains operate the same.

- That's it.

Well, thank you so much, Jason, for that.