Reasonable Adjustments Training
Practical reasonable adjustments training covering disability, the Equality Act 2010, workplace barriers, adjustment conversations, decision-making and inclusive management.
Practical reasonable adjustments training covering disability, the Equality Act 2010, workplace barriers, adjustment conversations, decision-making and inclusive management.
Reasonable adjustments can remove workplace barriers that place disabled employees at a substantial disadvantage. This practical course helps managers and HR professionals understand the Equality Act duty, recognise barriers, hold constructive conversations and make informed decisions about effective workplace adjustments.
Reasonable adjustments are changes that can remove or reduce disadvantages experienced by disabled people.
In employment, adjustments might involve changes to working arrangements, equipment, communication, the physical environment, duties, processes or the way a workplace requirement is applied.
The appropriate response depends on the individual, the barrier, the job and the organisation. There is rarely a single standard adjustment for a particular impairment or condition.
The Equality Act places employers under a duty to make reasonable adjustments in circumstances specified by the legislation.
The duty can arise where a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage by a provision, criterion or practice, a physical feature, or in relevant circumstances where an auxiliary aid is required.
The course translates these legal concepts into practical workplace situations so that managers can recognise when they may need to seek advice and consider adjustments.
Two people with the same condition may experience completely different workplace barriers. Effective adjustment conversations focus on the individual, the requirements of their role and what is creating difficulty rather than assuming that a diagnosis automatically determines the solution.
Not all disabilities are apparent.
People with mental health conditions, neurodivergent people, people with chronic illnesses and people with sensory, cognitive or fluctuating conditions may experience substantial workplace barriers without those needs being immediately visible to colleagues or managers.
Delegates explore why assumptions based on appearance can prevent employees receiving appropriate support.
In employment, questions about what an employer knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, can be important when considering the reasonable-adjustment duty.
Managers therefore need to respond appropriately to information available to them and avoid simply waiting for an employee to use particular legal terminology or make a perfectly formulated request.
The course is suitable for managers, supervisors, HR and People professionals, business owners, occupational health and wellbeing teams, employee representatives and anyone responsible for supporting disabled employees or making workplace decisions.
Managers do not need to become medical experts.
Their role is to understand the workplace difficulty, listen to the employee, explore possible solutions and involve appropriate expertise where necessary.
Understand the workplace barrier and the disadvantage it creates.
Discuss possible adjustments collaboratively rather than assuming the answer.
Check whether the adjustment is effective and respond when circumstances change.
Adjustments can take many forms and should respond to the particular barrier.
Neurodivergent employees may experience barriers relating to communication, sensory environments, concentration, organisation, executive functioning or workplace expectations.
Useful adjustments vary between individuals. They might include clearer written instructions, quieter working environments, predictable communication, assistive technology, additional processing time or changes to particular working arrangements.
The course avoids assuming that every autistic, ADHD, dyslexic or otherwise neurodivergent employee requires the same support.
Some disabilities and health conditions fluctuate. An adjustment that works at one point may need to be reviewed as circumstances change.
Delegates consider how managers can maintain appropriate communication without requiring employees repeatedly to justify established needs unnecessarily.
Different employees may legitimately have different working arrangements because their circumstances are different.
Managers sometimes worry that colleagues will perceive an adjustment as preferential treatment. The course explores how to maintain confidentiality while reinforcing the principle that fairness does not always require identical treatment.
Whether an adjustment is reasonable depends on the circumstances.
Relevant considerations can include how effective the proposed adjustment would be in overcoming the disadvantage, practicality, cost and resources, disruption and the circumstances of the employer.
Rather than jumping immediately to either "yes" or "no", managers should understand the proposed adjustment, explore alternatives where appropriate and document significant decisions.
An employee's preferred solution is not automatically the only possible reasonable adjustment.
Where a particular request cannot reasonably be implemented, the discussion should not necessarily end there. The organisation may need to explore whether another effective adjustment could address the disadvantage.
A request that initially appears difficult may have alternatives. Good practice is to understand the underlying barrier first and then explore what could reasonably remove or reduce it.
Depending on eligibility and circumstances, Access to Work may provide practical support for some disabled people in employment.
External funding or specialist advice can be useful, but employers should not assume that referring somebody elsewhere automatically removes their own responsibilities.
Occupational health advice can help organisations understand functional effects and possible workplace support.
The manager or employer still needs to consider the workplace circumstances and make the organisational decision rather than treating an occupational health recommendation as a substitute for discussion and judgement.
Information about an employee's health or disability should be handled sensitively and appropriately.
Managers should consider who genuinely needs particular information and discuss with the employee how agreed adjustments can be communicated where colleagues need to understand changes to working arrangements.
Candidates may also require changes to recruitment and selection processes.
Depending on circumstances, this could include accessible materials, physical access, changes to assessment arrangements, additional time, communication support or an alternative way of accessing part of the process.
The reasonable-adjustment framework does not operate identically in every part of the Equality Act.
For employers, knowledge of disability and disadvantage can be relevant to the duty. By contrast, service providers and some education settings have anticipatory reasonable-adjustment duties, meaning they need to think in advance about barriers disabled people generally may encounter rather than waiting for a particular disabled person to experience the problem.
Where the course is commissioned by an education provider or service organisation, this aspect can be tailored to the relevant context.
An employee develops a mobility impairment and parts of their normal working environment become difficult to access.
What is the barrier, and what possible adjustments should be explored?
A neurodivergent employee experiences significant sensory overload in a busy open-plan environment.
How could the organisation explore solutions without assuming what the employee needs?
An employee with a long-term condition asks for changes to working hours and breaks.
How should the manager approach the conversation and decision?
By the end of the course, delegates should be better able to:
All our courses are tailored to ensure the training reflects your organisation's goals, workplace practices and priorities.
The course can be delivered face-to-face or online via Zoom or Teams.
To support participation, discussion and interaction, we recommend the following group sizes per session:
Need to train a larger workforce? No problem. We regularly work with organisations that need to train larger numbers of employees. Where appropriate, training can be delivered across multiple sessions to ensure everyone receives the same high-quality, interactive learning experience. We can develop a delivery programme to suit your workforce size, locations and timescales.
Please note: the half-day rate is not always available for face-to-face sessions.
Over 25 years' experience delivering equality, diversity and inclusion training, consultancy and professional development.
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