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Reasonable adjustments are the source of much debate within the disabled community as well as within organisations. Reasonable adjustments is levelling the playing field, it's not creating favouritism, and it's not about giving someone that competitive edge, it's about levelling the playing field for disabled people.
Have you thought about changing your approach to how we discuss reasonable adjustments in the workplace? A lot of the time, conversations can take place which have the dynamic of 'them' being the organisation and 'us' the employee. Discussions can be difficult enough, with emotions running high, but what if we flipped these conversations on its head so it's more productive rather than a fear of asking for help for disabled employees.
If we started looking at things differently, and see ourselves as all being on the same 'team'...'team NEXT', this could be one way in which those barriers start to come down and people engage better. Reasonable adjustments should be seen as a joint process, where both parties contribute and look for solutions. This is likely to result in creative thinking, dynamic solutions and ultimately an increase in productivity. Goal!!!!! Win Win for both sides!!!
Let's break down the whole process of requesting reasonable adjustments. At 'kick off' when a disabled person is at the point where they need support in their role to level the playing field, they have to have that conversation with the opposition also known as ....the employer. At this point there could be a lot of fear, anticipation from team employer to even kick the ball, whereas the employer will be having different thoughts of where the ball is going to go...and whether team employer can pick it up or not.
As the 'game' continues there may be a lot of passing of the ball, 'ideas', depending on a variety of factors, either team may resort to different strategies to get to the goal 'outcome'...which could result in one or more of the team being injured.
When each side has an opposing strategy, this can result in people leaving the game through sickness absence, loss of productivity and potential grievances. The knock on effect on employers could be a bad reputation through word of mouth and potential litigation.
So what if a new strategy was adopted which 'changed' the game around reasonable adjustments? What if it was possible for both teams to score the goal and come away a winner?? One way in which this can be achieved is flipping the conversation on its head and using I.D.L.E.
I - The Employee decides to share information around a disability or long term condition in which they need support in the workplace. They then take the step to INFORM the employer or line manager of the things that will help them level the playing field and continue to work.
D - Once notifying the employer or line manager that they have a long term condition or disability, provide DETAILS on what aspects of their role they are struggling with. This requires an open honest conversation where one side listens to understand rather than listen to reply at this point.
L - look at things which may help the Employee in their role. LIST potential reasonable adjustments to be looked at and whether it's reasonable to accommodate them. This is a joint process, everyone is on the same side where an honest, open conversation can take place.
E - once reasonable adjustments have been agreed and put in place EVALUATE their effectiveness, review and change as necessary, working together.
I.D.L.E - better conversations, increased engagement, better productivity, and both teams win - give it a go and make the discussions around reasonable adjustments a game changer.
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