ACAS Releases New Guidelines On Reasonable Adjustments For Mental Health

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has recently issued new guidance on how to make reasonable adjustments for staff mental health. Mental health affects how we think, feel and behave, and problems with mental health can be as much, or more, of a disability than physical ailments.  

As an employer, you have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff members, to help them work safely and effectively. This includes making adjustments for staff members who are suffering from mental health problems. You’ll benefit from protecting your staff members’ mental health too – your workforce will be more motivated and productive, staff turnover will reduce, and less working days will be lost to absence.

Mental health problems can develop gradually, or occur suddenly, and they can also fluctuate over time which may make it more difficult to monitor than a visible physical illness. Many people also don’t like talking about their mental health, so it can be hard to spot the signs. As a starting point, aim for your workplace to be a supportive, reassuring environment where staff feel comfortable talking about their stress and anxiety with you. 

Our blog discusses what reasonable adjustments for mental health are, some examples of how to make reasonable adjustments for mental health, and the process for meeting with your staff member to make these arrangements. When making reasonable adjustments for mental health, it’s important that you stay flexible and monitor your staff members’ mental health, as their needs can change over time.

What are reasonable adjustments for mental health?

Reasonable adjustments for mental health (or any other disability) are changes you make as an employer to remove or minimise disadvantages due to someone’s disability. A disability is any mental or physical problem that has a long-term and substantial negative effect on a person’s life, which may include their ability to do their job.

Who do I need to make reasonable adjustments for?

You’re legally required to make reasonable adjustments for all workers, including contractors and self-employed people that you hire personally, as well as job applicants. If a staff member or job applicant asks you to make adjustments for their disability, you must do so where reasonable.

Even if they don’t ask you, you must make reasonable adjustments when you know, or you’d reasonably be expected to know, that a staff member or job applicant:

1. has a disability;
2. is having difficulty with any part of their job due to their disability; and/or
3. has high sickness or absence levels linked to their disability.

Even if the staff member’s mental health issue is not technically a disability, you should try to make reasonable adjustments anyway, to help your staff stay happy and healthy.

By making reasonable adjustments for mental health, you can help employees to stay in work and stay productive, minimising staff absences and turnover. Creating and promoting a healthy work culture can attract good candidates to your workplace, and help you retain experienced staff.

What are some examples of reasonable adjustments for mental health?

You should work together with your staff to come up with appropriate ways of making reasonable adjustments for mental health. The adjustments you make will depend on the individual staff member’s role and personality, and can include things like changing their physical environment, changing their working hours or work locations, being flexible when applying business policies, providing the right training, equipment and support and/or being open-minded to different ways of working.

Some examples provided by ACAS include:

• reviewing tasks and deadlines to ensure workloads are reasonable and manageable;
• changing someone’s role and responsibilities to ensure they can deal with the tasks they are being required to do;
• agreeing a preferred communication method (eg planning meetings in advance and providing guidance on what will be discussed, rather than spontaneous phone calls);
• allowing someone to work from home if they think this will assist their mental health;
• providing activities that help with mental health such as meditation or yoga;
• moving someone’s workstation to a quieter area if they are feeling overstimulated and/or providing rest areas;
• offering paid time off to attend medical appointments;
• offering a phased return if someone has been off work with mental health issues, to support their recovery;
• providing a buddy or mentor to support them with work tasks;
• providing extra training or coaching so they can build confidence that they know how to do the role; and/or 
• having regular catch ups so the staff member feels supported and has an opportunity to raise concerns.

The process of making reasonable adjustments

ACAS points out that identifying, agreeing and reviewing what reasonable adjustments are appropriate can take time. Staff should work together with their manager to agree reasonable adjustments, in an open and collaborative way.

Some things you could ask your employee to help you decide what reasonable adjustments to make include:

• whether there are times in the day or week that are easier or harder for them to work; 
• which tasks they find easy or manageable and which tasks they are struggling with;
• whether there are any deadlines or tasks that feel unmanageable or make them feel anxious or worried; and
• whether they would benefit from more regular catch ups and/or working more closely with a certain team member as a mentor.

It may be worth talking to an occupational health professional if you and your staff member aren’t sure what reasonable adjustments you can make to assist with their mental health issues. 

Having a meeting to discuss the issues

If your staff member wants to meet with you to discuss reasonable adjustments for mental health, you should meet with them and come up with a plan. Agree a time and place in advance, and allow them to prepare properly. You might want to ask them to think about the questions above, and whether they can think of any adjustments that could assist their mental health. 

Take notes during the meeting, and put your plan for reasonable adjustments in writing so that you’re both on the same page about what’s happening and what ongoing support is available. 

Trialling and monitoring the reasonable adjustments

It’s a good idea to review and monitor your reasonable adjustments over time, to make sure they are still working and check whether your staff member has any other requests, questions or issues. Sometimes your adjustments might take a while to work well, or might not resolve the issue and need to be amended. Keep records of any reviews and changes you make over time.

Your staff member might find it useful to have follow-up meetings to discuss how the adjustments are working, and to agree what to do next if your staff member is still struggling with their mental health. 

For more guidance on reducing the risk of work-related stress, depression or anxiety to your staff, see our Q&A. 

The content in this article is up to date as 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.