A practical guide to respectful, evidence informed and legally aware conversations about workplace adjustments. Whether you are a manager, HR professional, Occupational Health practitioner or employee, it helps you move beyond assumptions towards practical solutions that support people to do their best work.
Most workplace adjustment conversations do not fail because people do not care. They fail for a handful of familiar reasons.
This guide gives a simple framework for conversations that are respectful, practical, legally informed, person centred, and focused on helping people succeed at work. It is not a workplace policy, a legal opinion or a medical assessment. It is a practical starting point for better conversations.
Start with strengths, not deficits. The goal is not to ask "what is wrong?" Ask "what helps you do your best work?" Understanding strengths often makes suitable adjustments much easier to identify.
Focus on functional impact. People do not experience work in exactly the same way. Explore tasks, environments, communication, workload, organisation and energy. These are usually more helpful than discussing diagnoses.
Do not assume. Two people with the same diagnosis may need completely different adjustments. Always ask. Never assume.
Respect confidentiality. Agree together what will be recorded, who needs to know, what should stay confidential, and why information is being shared. Confidentiality should be the default.
Think collaboratively. The objective is not to remove every challenge. It is to find practical changes that help someone work safely, effectively and sustainably, while balancing organisational needs.
Start positively, so the person knows this is about support, not scrutiny.
Ask open questions and listen first. Avoid jumping straight to solutions.
For every challenge, explore practical options together. Record the barrier, the agreed adjustment, who will implement it, the expected timescale, and how success will be measured.
Reasonable adjustments are rarely set and forget. Agree a review date, then ask what is helping, what to keep, and what to change. Small improvements over time usually beat trying to solve everything at once.
Good adjustments tend to share the same qualities.
The best adjustments are developed with the employee, not for the employee.
These are examples, not prescriptions. Every adjustment should reflect the individual's circumstances and the requirements of their role.
After every discussion, record the essentials, so the decision stays consistent, transparent and shared.
Occupational Health can add advice where:
Occupational Health should support the workplace conversation, not replace it.
Access to Work is a UK Government scheme that may contribute towards workplace support, including specialist equipment, workplace assessments, coaching, communication support, and travel assistance in some circumstances.
Adjustments go wrong most often when they are treated as rewards, favours or exceptions. Beyond that, watch for these.
Get the full guide as a clean, branded PDF to keep, circulate to your managers, and bring to the next adjustment conversation. Add your details and it downloads straight away.
Save it as a PDF or print it, then share it with the managers and teams who will use it.
Want to see how organisations manage adjustments consistently and at scale? A short conversation with our team is a good place to start.
A conversation is often only the beginning. These free tools help you carry it through.
SDHA can also support your organisation with:
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The best adjustments are developed with the employee, not for the employee.