P&G Recruits and Supports Neurodivergent People

After he was fired from a previous employer, Juan José Sibaja learned something surprising about himself.

Juan was diagnosed with autism, which shed new light for him on what it means to be supported in the workplace.

“I got my autism diagnosis that was revealing in so many ways and a month later saw an ad of P&G hiring autistic people,” Juan said. “Applying has been the best decision of my life. During the recruitment process I was able to have a flash course of getting-to-know-me as an autistic person.”

This World Autism Day, we recognize our neurodivergent employees like Juan who help to make our workplace uniquely inclusive and bring their unique problem-solving skills to solve specific business challenges.

People with Disabilities are more than able—more than capable of enriching our communities at home, school, and work. That’s why at P&G we’re committed to providing a global workplace that is aware, embracing and affirming of our ability differences, including neurodivergent individuals.

With help from the National Autistic Society, Emma O’Leary, Research & Development (R&D) Director at our site in Reading, UK, has helped the company unlock a world of previously untapped creativity. Listen to Emma O’Leary’s story from our Powered by Purpose Podcast.

“Through interacting with my autistic coworkers, I learned so many things about what being autistic means and through the coaches, managers, and other people I started to trust my abilities, trust myself,” said Juan, who today is a software development project manager at P&G Costa Rica.

From Costa Rica to Poland, from the United Kingdom to Singapore, we are creating a disability-confident culture where we tackle bias, build empathy, and create value for all through programs that enable People with Disabilities to be and bring their authentic selves to work each day.

“Now when I come to work, I don´t feel anxious, I feel happy…I see a future that I was not able to see before and all it took was a company adjusting the hiring process so it could include us,” Juan said. “Because I believe that once inside, P&G has one of the best workplace cultures I have seen in my life. So now I give my best so the company keeps hiring people like me or my coworkers and hopefully other companies do the same, so other autistic people can experience a complete life experience without having to go through a lot of traumatic experiences like I did.”