Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How a Company Made Tourette Syndrome a Career Strength
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, I want to talk about a company that decided Tourette Syndrome wasn't something to accommodate — it was something to leverage. Luna: That's a bold framing. Which company? Lucas: SAP. Specifically, their neurodiversity hiring program, which they started back in 2013. But the story I want to focus on is from their quality assurance team in Germany. There's an engineer there, I'll call him Markus, who has Tourette Syndrome. He was hired as part of the program, and his tics — vocal and motor — became an unexpected edge in his work. Luna: How so? I mean, tics are involuntary. How do you turn that into a job skill? Lucas: Markus's tics include repetitive physical movements and vocalizations. In a QA role, where you're testing software for bugs, that kind of repetitive behavior actually helps. He'd unconsciously click buttons or cycle through menus in patterns that other testers wouldn't think to try. His manager noticed that Markus was catching edge cases — obscure bugs that only appeared after specific sequences of actions. The tics were essentially generating random test scripts. Luna: So instead of suppressing the tics, they channeled them. That's clever. Did they formalize this in any way? Lucas: They did. SAP created what they call 'Tic-Forward Thinking.' It's a framework that encourages employees with Tourette's to record their tic patterns and then analyze which ones could be useful in testing. They set up a buddy system where a colleague shadows the person during a tic episode and notes what software behaviors were triggered. Then the QA team writes test cases based on those observations. Luna: Wow. That's not just accommodation — that's rethinking the job design. What were the results? Lucas: Within the first year, the team that included Markus saw a 30% increase in bug detection rates compared to teams without a similar initiative. And Markus himself — he reported lower stress because he wasn't trying to hide his tics. The company also saw a drop in turnover among neurodivergent employees in that division. Luna: So the productivity gains and retention benefits are real. But what about scaling this? Not every company has a QA department that can absorb random tic patterns. Lucas: Fair point. But the principle isn't about QA specifically. It's about taking a symptom that's usually seen as a liability and asking: where could this be an asset? For example, some people with Tourette's have enhanced pattern recognition or hyperfocus during certain tasks. One woman at a financial services firm told me her tics include counting syllables in conversations — which made her freakishly good at detecting anomalies in trading data. Luna: That's fascinating. So the key is to map the specific cognitive or behavioral traits to job functions that benefit from them. Not just 'hire neurodiverse people and hope for the best.' Lucas: Exactly. And that's the shift from inclusion as charity to inclusion as competitive strategy. SAP didn't just say 'we accept Tourette's.' They said 'we want to understand how your brain works differently and then redesign work around that difference.' Luna: I love that. But I also wonder about the social aspect. If you're in a meeting and someone has vocal tics, that can be distracting. How did SAP handle that? Lucas: They introduced something called 'Tic Time.' At the start of meetings, the facilitator asks if anyone needs a 'tic break' — a moment to let out any suppressed tics without judgment. It lasts 30 seconds. People can step out or stay. It sounds small, but it normalized the behavior. Colleagues reported feeling more comfortable themselves, because it created a culture where any involuntary behavior — like sneezing or coughing — was treated the same way. Luna: That's smart. It reduces the stigma for everyone. And it probably made Markus feel less isolated. Lucas: He said in an internal interview that before Tic Time, he used to burn a lot of mental energy trying to suppress tics during meetings. After, he could focus completely on the content. That's a cognitive load reduction that benefits the whole team. Luna: And that's the kind of story that makes me think about the broader neurodiversity movement. We often talk about autism and ADHD, but Tourette's is less discussed. Why do you think that is? Lucas: Partly because it's less common — about 1 in 100 people have it. But also because the symptoms are more visibly disruptive. There's a fear that accommodations will be too costly or too awkward. SAP's example shows that with some creativity, costs are minimal and the return is measurable. Luna: Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, listener support is what keeps this show ad-free and independent. If Markus's story made you think differently about neurodiversity, that's exactly the kind of thing we want to keep doing. Luna: And we don't have sponsors, so every little bit helps. Back to the topic though — what about companies that don't have a formal neurodiversity program? Can they still apply this approach? Lucas: Absolutely. Start with one person. Have a conversation. Ask them: 'What parts of your condition do you think could be useful at work?' Most people have never been asked that question. They've only been told what they can't do. Luna: Right. It's a reframe from deficit to difference. And that takes leadership buy-in. The SAP program had executive sponsorship from the start. What about pushback? Did any managers resist? Lucas: There was skepticism, especially from middle managers worried about team dynamics. But SAP ran pilot teams first. They documented the results and then spread the practices. The data convinced the skeptics. One manager said he was worried about productivity, but after six months, his team's output was up and he was getting fewer complaints about bugs in production. Luna: So the proof was in the metrics. I think that's key for scaling any inclusion initiative. It has to be tied to business outcomes, not just good intentions. Lucas: Exactly. And I'd add that this goes beyond Tourette's. The same principle applies to stuttering, dyslexia, dyspraxia — any condition that changes how you process information. The question is: what unique cognitive pattern does this person bring, and how can we match it to work that benefits from it? Luna: It reminds me of the concept of 'job crafting.' Employees reshaping their roles to fit their strengths. This takes it a step further — the company actively participates in that reshaping. Lucas: Yes. And it requires trust. The employee has to feel safe enough to disclose their condition and talk about how it affects their work. Without psychological safety, none of this works. Luna: So what's the takeaway for a listener who manages a team and wants to start this kind of conversation? Lucas: Start with a one-on-one. Say: 'I want to understand how you work best. Are there any patterns in your thinking or behavior that you think could be leveraged more effectively?' You don't have to name a condition. Just open the door. Then, if someone shares something, listen without judgment and experiment with small changes. Luna: And document the results. That way you can build a case for broader adoption. Lucas: Right. The SAP case gives us a roadmap. It's not about having a perfect program from day one. It's about one person, one insight, one experiment at a time. Luna: Markus went from feeling like his tics were a liability to being a star bug hunter. That's a career transformation powered by inclusion. Lucas: And it didn't require a massive budget. Just a willingness to see difference as data, not as disruption. Luna: Great episode. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. Talk to everyone next time.