‘The nature of work is
changing, and UK business needs to come out of the dark ages and
realise that it cannot continue to use working practices that
originate from the 19th century. It needs to modernise, change its
approach, retrain its management, and understand the benefits of
new smarter working practices’
(Lord Digby
Jones of Birmingham)
The Equality Act 2010 replaces the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005, and starts to be implemented from
October 2010. It means that employers and service providers
have to make reasonable changes to ensure that people with a
disability are not disadvantaged substantially compared with
non-disabled people. This may mean making adjustments to
policies and practices in your workplace, some of which are put in
place specifically for an individual employee. These changes
are known in law as ‘reasonable adjustments’.
In most cases making a reasonable adjustment
is not difficult and often costs very little. These
adjustments are more likely to be effective for you and your
employee if you work together and in partnership with your
occupational health advisor and your employee’s GP or other health
and care professionals. It is also worth remembering that
many people without a disability or without a mental health problem
need to make changes to their work patterns and conditions.
Some people need more flexible working conditions because they have
caring responsibilities, others with long term or fluctuating
health conditions also need to make changes to the way they
work.
Some mental health conditions can be episodic
and so it may be better to agree adjustments when they are needed
rather than agreeing one or more specific adjustments that will
apply all the time. It is now increasingly common for people
who have contact with mental health services to have completed a
Wellness and Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)
or an ‘Advance Statement’. If your employee has one of these
it may help you decide and agree the changes that will be needed to
assist them in their work.
Examples of reasonable adjustments
include:
* Flexible
conditions – flexible start times to avoid travelling during
difficult times or in difficult conditions such as rush hour,
part-time working, rest breaks, working from home
* Higher levels of
supervision and support – here your employee works with a mentor or
buddy to help them to set priorities or identify and complete ‘bite
size’ tasks
* Changes to your
employee’s role or reallocating some work tasks – to reduce stress
and accommodate any limitations such as stepping back from a high
pressured management or project management role
* Physical changes
to the work environment – changing the office lighting or
partitioning the work space to help make it easier to stay focused
on tasks. Some people like a busy, noisy work environment,
others find lack of contact with others is detrimental
* Adaptive devices –
such as electronic and graphic organisers which can be set to
remind your employee of tasks or to take a break
* Enabling time off
- either set times or more flexibility to attend therapeutic
sessions, treatment, assessment and/or rehabilitation
* Identify training
needs and provide support to develop skills – this can be of the
individual and their colleagues; e.g. specific job requirements
and/or around skills enhancement such as communication skills or
time management
Whatever the reasonable adjustments you and
your employee identify and agree on, it’s important to realise that
finding the right adjustments could take time to get right and to
make a difference. You may want to review the reasonable
adjustment agreement after a set time to see if further changes
need to be made. You might also have to be persistent and
tenacious in finding and making the changes that make the
difference to your employee.
You will need to reassure your employee that
their personal information will be kept confidential. You
should also agree with your employee on what work colleagues and
clients (where relevant) will be told as part of developing and
agreeing the reasonable adjustments or in creating your Wellness
and Recovery Action Plan (WRAP).
Links
to resources
Rethink
This section of the website
explains the term ‘reasonable adjustment’ and includes links to
specific guides for line managers. This page on the website
includes the link to the publication ‘We
can work it out’. This is a line manager’s guide to
reasonable adjustments for mental illness.
Small change, big difference a Cabinet Office publication
produced with Rethink.
SHiFT
This is an initiative to
tackle stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health issues
in England. The campaign aims to create a society where people who
experience mental health problems enjoy the same rights and
opportunities as other people. The website has links
specifically for employers. The line managers resource is a
practical guide to managing and supporting people with mental
health problems in the workplace.
‘Examples of
reasonable adjustments’. This part of the website
includes useful examples of changes to work and work
patterns.
Employers’ Forum on Disability
Employers' Forum on
Disability is an employers' organisation focused on disability as
it affects business. The forum includes employers from
multinational corporations, Small and Medium sized Enterprises and
the public sector.
‘Non-visible
disabilities line manager guide’ includes extensive examples of
‘reasonable adjustments’.
This
'Tailored adjustment agreement' template is intended to be a
living record of reasonable adjustments agreed between a disabled
employee and their line manager.
The purpose of this agreement
is to:
- Ensure that both parties, the individual and the employer, have
an accurate record of what has been agreed.
- Minimise the need to re-negotiate reasonable adjustments every
time the employee changes jobs, is re-located or assigned a new
manager within the organisation.
- Provide employees and their line managers with the basis for
discussions about reasonable adjustments at future meetings.
This is a live document and
should be reviewed regularly by both the employee and manager and
amended as appropriate.
Realising
ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental
health condition
Rachel Perkins, Paul Farmer
and Paul Litchfield
Department for Work and
Pensions, December 2009
This review was commissioned
by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to look at mental
health and employment and to identify how Government could help
people with mental health conditions fulfil their employment
ambitions. Chapter 4
includes examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ that have enabled
people with a mental health condition to prosper at
work.
ACAS
This booklet ‘Flexible
working and work-life balance’ includes examples of
flexible working such as term time working, job shares and changes
to shift and rota patterns. It includes advice for employees
on how to apply for flexible working. The booklet includes
examples of flexible working from situations such as returning to
work after maternity leave which might be useful in discussions
with your employees, especially where you or they have limited
experience or knowledge of mental ill-health.
MIND
The ‘Staying
in employment’
booklet by Alison Cobb and Kaaren Cruse, is written primarily
for people who experience mental distress, or are living with a
mental health diagnosis. It includes sections on making
changes to the workplace such as the work environment or working
practice. It also includes information and advice on getting
support for putting the adjustments needed in place which may be
useful for employers when discussing and agreeing reasonable
adjustments with your employees.
Chartered institute
of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
Stress
and mental health at work factsheet, September
2010
This comprehensive factsheet
also includes a short section on adjustments at work.
Work Life
The health conditions part of
the website includes a link to an American publication called
‘Working
with MS’. This includes tips and techniques for
developing adjustments or accommodations or different job
duties. There is a five point plan to help identify the tasks
and activities that your employee can do and those which s/he may
experience difficulties with and how best to negotiate for the
adjustments needed.
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