Reasonable Adjustments

The legislation on disability discrimination is clear and has been in place for nearly 30 years. It is still a scary area for employers and an area where employees also fear to tread. It need not be. The purpose of the 1995 disability discrimination act and later the Equality Act 2010 was to level up people with a disability to the same place as their non disabled colleagues so that they are not disadvantaged at work and so that they can contribute their skills knowledge and experience to the work place. The levelling up point is key, it is about giving people what they need, not about giving them something that everyone will want or something that makes working life unfair. Working life is often unfair for people with disabilities. The other scary part is what will it cost? The average cost of adjustments is between £30 and £180, this level of cost most employers can absorb. The key phrase here is reasonable and that means that adjustments are reasonable for the person and reasonable for the employer.

We are not talking about huge building projects, we are not talking about altering physical features, what we are talking about is a reasonable change that is well within the scope of most business and certainly larger undertakings. We are talking about listening to the employee, what do they need? When do they need it? This could be as simple as allowing them to work from home, it could be software, it could be a chair. A reasonable adjustment will not bankrupt a company, and an adjustment will allow employers to retain knowledgeable, skilled staff to do the job they have become so good at. Contact us to discuss your needs, training on reasonable adjustments or reasonable adjustment requests.