Canaries were once used in coal mines to detect and alert workers to the presence of carbon monoxide in the air. While they’ve since retired from the mines, canaries may still have relevance in the workplace.
Ludmila Praslova, a professor of industrial organizational psychology at Vanguard University, draws a parallel between these vibrant yellow birds and neurodivergent workers in her book, The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work. Published in May, the book serves as a guide to creating better workplaces for all employees.
Praslova shared insights from her book with HR Brew.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Where does the name of your book come from?
In the UK, [before] the 1980s, every coal mine was required to employ two canaries, who were taken down and used as carbon monoxide detectors, because birds naturally have more intense air metabolism…When we’re talking about neurodivergent people, and multiple marginalized people, they tend to be more sensitive to whatever in the organization that is not really good for any human. For example, if it’s very rigid…there’s no flexibility in the place of work, people who are neurodivergent, disabled, caretakers, are more likely to be first impacted by those things.
Neurodivergent people, specifically autistic people, are more likely to be bullied…There actually is a very direct parallel with canaries, because autistic brains at rest process [over] 40% more information. So, literally our information metabolism is more intensive…Negative signals within our environment, such as stressful work environment [and] abusive management, autistic people literally are going to feel it first, like canaries in the coal mine.
How can HR pros support neurodivergent and marginalized groups?
My entire book is organized around the human resources cycle. So, from designing job descriptions to hiring, to training, to organizing work, to professional development, leadership development, performance evaluations…But, the whole idea of The Canary Code is that it’s not just for neurodivergent people, because when you create systems that are more welcoming to neurodivergent people, you create systems for everyone…For example, if you create systems that prevent bullying…by eliminating unhealthy competition and making sure that rewards are distributed fairly rather than by some backdoor mechanisms…that helps neurodivergent people, but it really creates a better environment for everyone.
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There is still this myth that persists that open office [setups improve]collaboration. To specifically autistic people, it could be completely exclusionary to the extent that [an] autistic person literally physically cannot work in the open office and would get sick. And there are stories that illustrate that people discovered they were autistic when they were moved from even [just] a cubicle to an open office, and suddenly they couldn’t do their jobs anymore that they’ve been doing for decades highly successfully.
How can recruitment be improved to help neurodivergent folks?
Make, in general, more human-friendly application forms…For people who already have, let’s say, limited attention or limited physical energy…if you create those super cumbersome application forms that you have to fill out again, and fill out again, and fill out again…that is going to eliminate a lot of neurodivergent people and a lot of disabled people.
When you move further into hiring, and you get to interviewing, our hiring process…doesn’t model the actual job. We hire people who are accountants or food service workers or precision manufacturers, but for some reason…we insist that they look us in the eye and not fidget. That makes absolutely no sense, because few of those people are public speakers…We can’t “test” everyone on those things, so we eliminate people who would have been outstanding at doing the actual [job].
We can do much better if we relied less on interviews, and rely more on [testing] the actual job…You will get more neurodivergent and disabled people hired, and you’re also going to get people who are [a] better fit for those particular positions, if you rely specifically on skills that are relevant to that position.