Reasonable Adjustment Advice for Line Managers

Talking About Disability, Well-Being & Reasonable Adjustments

The role of the line manager is very important in providing an accessible working environment and your staff will often turn to you for help and direction. You may be unaware of an employee’s disabilities as many are hidden or they may not play a major role at work. You may know that one of your staff is disabled but it may never arise as a topic of conversation during a line management meeting, this may be because the staff member does not want to raise the issue because it may [or so far has] not impacted them at work or they may feel awkward bringing it up. There are some staff who may be affected sometimes, or they are just starting to be affected by their impairments. In a similar vein, some staff will know what they need and some will have no idea and will therefore rely on Occupational Health or Access to Work to carry out an assessment of their needs.

Try to create an environment where the staff member feels comfortable to share. A good way of encouraging this, is not to focus attention on the person and instead focus on the environment where the individual works; ask if the staff member has any access issues that need to be dealt with to make their working life easier. Unless the staff member wants to tell you, don’t ask for  specifics about a disability or condition or ask for information on a ‘diagnosis’.

It is not good practice to address the issue of disability through a discussion about conditions, e.g. MS, autism, visually impaired, as two people with the same impairment might have widely different needs. Instead it is good practice to address the issue of increasing access through understanding and then trying to remove the types of barriers experienced by disabled staff, such as: physical access issues and improving access to professional spaces; enabling the management of fluctuating energy levels which require flexibility, understanding and perhaps additional time or space; or addressing inaccessible technologies by implementing assistive technology solutions, such as administration tools or software.

If you feel you would like more grounding in disability equality, awareness and etiquette, please get in touch as we will be able to help [hello@differentnortheast.org.uk].

Whatever the stage in their personal journey of staff members, you must try and provide an opportunity during line management meetings where staff can raise issues of well-being, disability and reasonable adjustments in a confidential and safe space.

This may be as a standing agenda item in the annual or six month staff appraisal, or at some other juncture. As a way of broaching/ introducing the conversation about staff well-being at work and reasonable adjustments you could suggest completing a Disabled Staff Passport. A disability passport is intended to overcome the problem a disabled employee having to explain, often intimate details about how their condition effects them to a stranger. The disability passport allows the staff member to explain in one place without the need for repetition of their important well-being at work related reports. Again, please get in touch if we can help you increase your skills and strengthen your resources [hello@differentnortheast.org.uk].

In addition to a passport, there also exists a Wellness Recovery Action Plans (WRAP) designed to help employees to actively take charge of their own mental health by reflecting on the causes of stress and poor mental health, and by taking ownership of practical steps to help address these triggers. This process can also help managers to open up dialogue with employees, understand their needs and experiences and ultimately better support their mental health.

Things to Consider When Talking About Disability With Staff

1. Everyone has a different relationship to disability, some people embrace it some people hide away from it, some people have great understanding about their own experience of disability and others not so much. Do not assume that what is good for one disabled person will be good for another: even with the same impairment, two people can have an entirely different experience; and there is no hierarchy within the world of disability with hidden, visual, physical, mental health, learning, neurodivergence, all with one thing in common: the experience of barriers to services and environments.
2. Staff may feel very nervous or be apprehensive to talk about how their disability affects them at work, perhaps because of previous negative experiences or perhaps because they do not wish to appear needy or be seen to create problems at work.
3. When you raise the issue of reasonable adjustments try and focus the subject of the conversation on issues external to the staff member, for example, ask how can we make arrangements for you to be more comfortable at work, are there any resources or other arrangements that you know about and would make you work more effectively.
4. Specifically provide the space and opportunity to have a conversation with your staff member about reasonable adjustments and access arrangements at work. The conversation about reasonable adjustments must not be reduced to the three questions from manager to staff member of: what’s the disability? How does it affect you at work? And what do you need? The meeting which focuses upon access and reasonable adjustments should take the form of an open ended, explorative and safe conversation where the pace is set by the staff member.
5. Try and take a trauma informed approach in your discussions, which means being aware that there may be other factors that may influence behaviour and relationships. You may wish to invite staff to talk about any trigger factors which can create stress/anxiety or periods of ill health and how these can be avoided.
6. If they have not already, encourage staff to complete a Disabled Staff Passport , it will save time, energy and stress as it will avoid staff needing to repeatedly go over sensitive issues and ensure continuity of support because it can be given to new managers.
7. Some dos and don’ts are presented here

Download this factsheet