The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recently published new resources to assist small and medium-sized employers in supporting disabled employees with hybrid work environments. The resources provide practical guidance on identifying barriers, implementing reasonable adjustments and ensuring compliance with legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
We’ve explained below what a disability is, how hybrid working can help your disabled staff, and what reasonable adjustments you should put in place.
Determining whether your staff member is disabled
The Equality Act 2010 defines a disability as a physical or mental impairment that has a long-term substantial adverse effect on day-to-day tasks.
Accordingly, a disabled staff member has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial or long-term effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Some conditions are automatically considered to be disabilities (namely cancer, HIV infection and multiple sclerosis, as well as blindness and other sight impairments). Mental health issues such as depression can also count as disabilities in some circumstances, as can symptoms of menopause and long COVID, although addictions such as alcoholism are not disabilities.
You can seek medical advice or the advice of an occupational health adviser to help you determine whether a staff member is disabled. However, you cannot simply rubber stamp the adviser’s opinion; you are the one who must make the judgment as to whether the individual is disabled, based on all the facts and advice available.
How can hybrid working benefit disabled employees?
Hybrid working is a form of flexible working where staff spend part of their time working from business premises and part of their time working remotely (eg working from home or in a coworking space).
The EHRC identifies that hybrid working arrangements can bring several benefits to disabled workers, such as better management of health and wellbeing, increased flexibility in the work environment and reduced commuting stress and physical strain.
It is important to note that hybrid working can also create challenges such as the worker feeling isolated from the rest of the workforce and/or that they have a lack of sufficient support or appropriate equipment to succeed in their role. You, as an employer, should have conversations to identify barriers that disabled workers face in hybrid work environments; this includes discussing challenges in the office, at home and during online meetings.
How can you identify barriers to effective hybrid working?
The most effective way to identify what barriers are preventing a disabled worker from thriving in their role is by engaging in constructive and open dialogue with the worker directly.
The EHRC provides some tips on how to conduct conversations with your staff member; you should ask simple, open questions that allow the worker to explain the situation in their own words and in as much detail as they are comfortable with disclosing to you. Listen diligently and patiently, encouraging and leading the conversation where needed.
Some questions that you should ask are:
- Which elements of your role and/or workplace are creating barriers in the performance your role?
- How and where does this impact you – in the business premises, at home, during online and hybrid interactions?
- Do you have all of the equipment, IT and physical, that you require on the business premises and remotely?
- Is this impact likely to be ongoing, or vary in the future?
What reasonable adjustments should be considered for hybrid working?
If a worker’s request to work flexibly is related directly to their disability, then it is better to deal with it as a reasonable adjustment. Employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled staff members are not put at a substantial disadvantage.
You may decide to make adjustments in relation to:
- Giving your disabled employee better digital support and assistive technologies so they can carry out their work from home;
- Providing them with specialised equipment and furniture;
- Modifying online meeting standards (such as live captions);
- Reducing their required travel to work; and
- Having revised policies and practices in place for remote and hybrid working.
How can you implement reasonable adjustments?
The EHRC’s new guidance on hybrid working recommends that the best way to identify the workplace arrangements to implement is through open and supportive dialogue with disabled workers about the challenges and barriers to access that they face in the workplace, and/or via the organisation’s hybrid working arrangements. This should be done without prejudice and in accordance with data protection law.
The guidance also stresses the importance of promptly implementing the adjustments, keeping workers updated on progress, providing necessary training for new equipment or software, regularly reviewing the adjustments and being open to modifying adjustments as roles or health conditions change, such as managerial handovers.
You may also direct disabled staff members to the Access to Work scheme, which is a publicly funded support programme that aims to help more disabled people start or stay in work. The scheme provides grants to disabled staff to help pay for practical support at work (the scheme doesn’t pay for things that would be considered reasonable adjustments for an employer to make).
Reviewing the adjustments regularly ensures the ongoing efficacy of the adjustments you implemented; if the adjustments are no longer effective, alternative or additional adjustments must be promptly considered. A regular period of review with the worker can be agreed upon, as well as a written record of conversations and actions taken following an initial consultation and review.
How can you make the working environment accessible for disabled workers?
Making your workplace generally accessible will promote inclusivity for all workers, including disabled workers, clients and visitors. You will be better prepared when adjustments are legally required.
Thinking about accessibility in every part of the working day, from physical parking spaces to building access and IT processes, ensures ease of access for all workers.
Involving the wider workforce can aid you in gaining insight and knowledge on how to make your environment more inclusive; you may wish to collect anonymised data in staff surveys or through the recruitment, onboarding and promotion processes. Provide senior staff with training and support and establish a hybrid policy that outlines inclusive principles such as regular contact with remote workers to avoid isolation and support development; senior staff should model these principles. You can use our Hybrid working policy template to assist you.
The content in this article is up to date at the date of publishing. The information provided is intended only for information purposes, and is not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Sparqa Legal’s Terms of Use apply.
Marion joined Sparqa Legal as a Senior Legal Editor in 2018. She previously worked as a corporate/commercial lawyer for five years at one of New Zealand’s leading law firms, Kensington Swan (now Dentons Kensington Swan), and as an in-house legal consultant for a UK tech company. Marion regularly writes for Sparqa’s blog, contributing across its commercial, IP and health and safety law content.