Originally published on WESA.fm, Pittsburgh’s NPS news station. Reprinted with permission.

TRAiNED, a startup in Green Tree, uses artificial intelligence to automate the processing of mortgage paperwork. It hopes one day to reduce the cost of home loans. But first, its software must learn how to read an endless array of documents such as pay stubs, tax forms, and insurance policies — and humans have to teach it.

The work can be tedious, requiring people to mark hundreds of documents a week so that the company’s AI system knows how to read different forms.

TRAiNED, though, has filled its staff with neurodivergent workers who thrive on the work. Neurodivergence is often associated with autism spectrum disorder, but it includes conditions such as dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. More generally, it describes variations in sociability, learning and other mental functions that sometimes clash with workplace norms, contributing to especially high unemployment rates among neurodivergent people.

At TRAiNED, about half of the 15-member staff has been diagnosed with some form of neurodivergence. They fill positions as AI training technicians.

One of the technicians, Nickolas Barker, uses two computer monitors to review documents in his cubicle. When he is assigned a batch of bank statements, he labels account numbers, account types, and other fields for the software to recognize.

“Honestly, it seems like it’s a lot more difficult than it really is,” he said. Though the work is highly repetitive and detail-oriented, he said to him the job feels like meditation.

“It puts my head in a different place, the sorting,” he said. “I honestly think I have autism, so I think that getting things in line and making sure everything’s correct and in the right categories is satisfying in a way.”

Different Operating System

Barker has been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. After graduating from high school about 15 years ago and spending a year in the U.S Marine Corps, he bounced between jobs in auto mechanics, information technology, security, and construction. He was unemployed for about six months before TRAiNED hired him.

The company says it pays a starting salary that amounts to about $18 per hour. Employees also receive paid time off, insurance coverage, and retirement benefits.

Barker said he has never been paid better. He learned about TRAiNED from staff at the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation in Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry. The agency helps people with disabilities to search for work.

TRAiNED technicians have scattered roughly 50 squishmallows around the office, designated two of the stuffed cartoonish figures as top company executives.

Neurodivergent people in particular tend to experience high rates of joblessness. Between 15% and 20% of the world’s population is believed to be neurodivergent, and researchers estimate that their overall unemployment rate runs as high as 40%.

“A lot of that has to do just with the core differences between neurodiverse and neurotypical brains,” said Joey Murphy, the director of development at Evolve Coaching in Lawrenceville, which provides employment coaching to neurodiverse adults.

“It’s been documented, and we’re seeing more and more research, that these two brains or these two operating systems, as I like to say, have entirely different social systems and ways of seeing the world,” Murphy said.

She noted that neurodivergent people tend to be more task-oriented than their neurotypical peers, who usually focus more on navigating social structures. So, Murphy said, while neurodiverse people are less likely to “chatter at the water cooler,” they often are highly productive workers and creative problem solvers.

Greater awareness of these differences has helped to fuel a movement within corporate America to embrace neurodiversity among prospective hires. But other employers, Murphy said, “are missing out on a lot of talent by not reaching out to this community and making it easier for this community.”

Creating a Welcoming Environment

The technicians at TRAiNED have shattered their productivity goals. The startup says they’ve reviewed 70,000 documents since the summer.

“I had absolutely no idea how successful it was going to be. I was blown away by it actually,” said TRAiNED’s chief operating officer, David Paulina.

David Paulina (left) is chief operating officer at the Green Tree startup TRAiNED. Jonathan Freed is CEO. Before moving the business into a former call center in November, they had the walls repainted in cool tones and added nature-inspired artwork to create a calm atmosphere.

He said he first had the idea to recruit neurodivergent job candidates because he knew they can be intensely task-oriented. But Paulina said he was also motivated by his own experience with ADHD.

“It is something that I have been challenged with for a long time,” he said. “It’s not something that you talk about with a lot of people, especially when you’re at work.”

He credits much of his professional success to a former boss who showed patience with him. So today, TRAiNED takes extra steps to create a welcoming environment for its employees.

For example, because some neurodivergent people can be especially sensitive to sensory overload, the company has painted its office walls soothing blues and greens, and the carpet is a neutral gray. A dimly-lit sensory room in the back has a couch, a bubbling light fixture and a crate of stress balls.

“They need a place to go to decompress,” CEO Jonathan Freed said of his staff. “They need to have the ability to disappear for a bit. Those kinds of things … can be challenging for an employer to understand.”

TRAiNED has taken additional steps to reduce anxiety. It sends questions ahead of time for job interviews, and employees can arrive at the office anytime between 7 and 11 in the morning, as long as they get their work done.

Joe Gielas joined TRAiNED in July as an AI training technician. He had previously worked in the food service, building security, and home construction sectors.
Studies show that people on the autism spectrum can have an impaired sense of time. Technician Joe Gielas said he struggled with tardiness in the hourly, shift jobs he previously held. He said the issue has vanished at TRAiNED, and he now has a new outlook on work.

“Before I got this job, I was at the point where I was just ready to resign myself and just [accept that] you’re supposed to hate work. It’s supposed to make you miserable — that’s why they pay you,” he said.

“It’s just really nice to know that it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Editor’s note: In some places, this story refers to “neurodivergence” as “neurodiversity” because specialists in the field of neurodivergence employment counseling sometimes use the terms interchangeably. However, it is most precise to describe individuals who are not neurotypical as “neurodivergent.”

By An-Li Herring
An-Li Herring is a reporter for 90.5 WESA, with a focus on economic policy, local government, and the courts. She previously interned for NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg in Washington, DC, and the investigations team at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A Pittsburgh native, An-Li completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and earned her law degree from Stanford University. She can be reached at aherring@wesa.fm.