Reasonable Adjustments for Mental Health

Under the Equality Act 2010, when you become aware of an employee’s disability, you have a duty to provide reasonable adjustments where possible. This can include when an employee is suffering from a mental health condition, where it amounts to a disability. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures show that roughly 18.5 million sick days in 2022 were taken due to mental health conditions. Making these reasonable adjustments also helps to reduce the number of sick days taken due to poor mental health. What kind of adjustments would you be expected to make?

Adjustments can include:

- Making changes to the building or premises,

- Changing the way in which work is done,

- Providing specific equipment.

An example of a way that you could make a change to your premises for those that struggle with their mental health is to provide quiet spaces where employees can work with fewer sensory demands. This would allow employees that struggle with sensory difficulties to work more calmly and efficiently.

You could change the way in which work is done by breaking down work into short-term tasks to reduce pressure on the employee.

An example of specific equipment that you could provide to an employee would be a stress toy to help calm their anxiety. Acas provides full guidance and examples on more potential adjustments and how they can be beneficial for someone who is struggling with their mental health.

These adjustments also should be considered to be “reasonable”. In order to make sure that they are reasonable you should consider:

- How effective the adjustment would be,

- How practical it is to do it,

- How much disruption it would cause,

- The potential cost of the adjustment.