In addition to the duty not to discriminate against employees, employers are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to any provision, criterion, or practice that they apply to their staff (such as working hours or the requirement to attend the workplace everyday), and to any physical feature of their premises (such as an open plan office), to accommodate the needs of their disabled employees.
If you have been made aware that a new starter has a disability and may require adjustments at work, ensure that you explore this with them before their first day, and put the appropriate arrangements in place before they start.
There may also be specific adjustments that would help the employee during the onboarding programme, such as forms of communication used, and again you should reach out to the employee before they start to discuss this. You will need to consider each aspect of the onboarding programme to determine what adaptations, if any, are necessary, depending on the individual’s disability, and their specific needs. The best approach to start with will be to seek the employee’s views on what they think they need, but you may also need to seek additional help, such as from occupational health or HR. Often, only small, simple and low-cost changes are needed.
You may be in a position where an employee has started in their role and, although they have not discussed this with you, you become aware of factors that indicate they may have a disability. In this situation you should talk to the employee in a supportive and sensitive way, to explore together whether they may need adjustments to support them during the onboarding process and in their job. Not only do you have a duty to take the initiative to consider what adjustments may be needed, you also need to bear in mind that without support the employee may not be able to perform the job to their best ability.
These are some examples of reasonable adjustments during onboarding:
- Making arrangements, such as a virtual office tour, for a new starter who uses a wheelchair so they can learn about different parts of the organisation if they are unable to physically access all parts of the building.
- Ensuring that fire safety arrangements are fully in place for a new starter who has a mobility impairment, to ensure that they can safely evacuate the building.
- Modifying instructions and training materials, for example providing a screen reader for a new starter with a visual impairment, and relying on different formats for someone with dyslexia.
- Providing an induction loop so that a new starter who has a hearing impairment and uses a hearing aid can hear clearly when attending presentations, and ensuring everyone has their cameras on during a team call.
