Action 5.3A Conduct an employee-led workplace needs assessment to determine reasonable accommodations.

Guidance

Under the Employment Equality Acts, employers are required to provide ‘reasonable accommodations’ for disabled employees when needed. This means taking ‘appropriate measures’ to support the needs of disabled individuals in the workplace.

Although it is not specifically required in the Employment Equality Acts, an employee-led needs assessment is widely referenced in the academic literature as a good practice process to engage with a disabled employee about the impact of disability and determine appropriate and actionable supports. Needs assessments are a standard feature of practice in sectors such as education and health and are part of the policies and procedures of many employers of varying scope and size across Ireland.

Depending on the size and scope of the business, needs assessments may be conducted by HR staff, dedicated support teams, or in some cases by an external Needs Assessor such as an occupational therapist. Where appropriate external professionals are utilised, funding is available through the Work and Access scheme to support NGOs and private sector employers to cover the associated costs (see Resources). Regardless of who in the organisation is tasked with coordinating/conducting needs assessments, a clear procedure is required.

What is a needs assessment?

Basically, they centre upon the idea of having and equal and fair discussion between employer and employee to determine appropriate support needs in the context of your workplace and the demands of the job.

In a more formal sense, a needs assessment can be described as a systematic process for the collection of information and data to accurately reflect the strengths and needs of a particular individual in a particular context. The process of gathering information in an objective and comprehensive way is important as it forms the basis for planning the provision of reasonable accommodations and supports with disabled employees.

In simple terms, support needs identified should be based on the intersection between the demands of the role and workplace environment on one hand, and the functional impact of an individual’s disability on the other.

“Really just to be open to different supports needed. Be willing to sit down with disabled employees and have an open conversation about what they need to feel more comfortable at work. If the proposed accommodation isn’t possible, look at alternative options that may work.”

WIDE Consultation Participant – Disabled Person

What are the steps involved in conducting a needs assessment?

The steps taken by an assessor in a needs assessment process can be summarised as follows:

1. Information Gathering: Collect information from the individual about their disability, and from their line manager about the demands of their role and the working environment in advance of meeting them to help prepare for an informed discussion with the employee about effective supports. Your organisation can devise templates to support gathering and documentation of this information in a systematic way. Information gathered should include:
   • From employees: Collect disability information, a statement on how societal or environmental barriers impact them, information on prior effective supports received in other employment or educational settings, and any challenges they anticipate or have experienced in the role due to these barriers.
   • From line managers: Collect their job description, information on what their daily/weekly tasks are in a practical sense, description of the workplace environment (e.g., retail space, hot desking office etc), physical accessibility information (presence of stairs, lifts, accessible bathrooms, busyness of environment), flexibility of work patterns and technologies they have access to and will be required to use etc.

“I’ve had employers dictating my supports with no discussion – based on what they thought was needed. It needs to be based on meaningful dialog.”

WIDE Consultation Participant – Disabled Person

2. Employee Engagement: Meet the individual, ideally in private location within the environment they are/will be working in, to talk through the information collected and brainstorm potential supports. It’s useful to start this discussion by working through what relevant supports are already available to all employees in line with a universal design approach (e.g. flexible work patterns, accessibility features of mainstream technologies etc.). Remember that this is an employee-led discussion. They are the experts in their lived experience, and your job as an assessor is to ensure they have an accurate picture of the job demands and environment, to listen to the challenges they anticipate, and to work through potential solutions which can realistically be put in place. Your organisation can devise template question prompts/areas to work through in this discussion to ensure all relevant areas are explored in a systematic way.

“Putting a phone receiver to my ear makes my hearing aid feedback, so I needed to use loudspeaker, but was in a busy office and calls were of a confidential nature. But my manager facilitated use of a private office for calls when I asked. I learned (that) I needed to self-advocate.”

WIDE Consultation Participant – Disabled Person

3. Developing a Support Action Plan (see Action 5.3B for more): Arising from stage 1 and 2, a short Support Action Plan is developed which documents the recommended supports, approximate timelines for implementation, when it will be reviewed and who has responsibility for what actions. It also requests informed consent from the employee to share relevant information with individuals involved in implementing supports such as managers or other members of the organisation. This plan is signed and agreed by both employer and employee. Ensuring the implementation of support is overseen and completed in a timely fashion ensures employees are not disadvantaged.

“There was a bit of hassle around this and unnecessary delays. Eventually, I did get the software, but I had to explain this to my colleagues.”

WIDE Consultation Participant – Disabled Person

By conducting an employee-led needs assessment and implementing tailored reasonable accommodations, your organisation demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and equity and provides the best platform for employees to effectively contribute to the organisation. Documenting this process in a systematic way provides clarity for all parties and mitigates legal risk should issues arise.

“All employers should have open discussion regarding reasonable accommodations. There should be an ongoing reasonable accommodation process. It shouldn’t just be done once but this should be regularly reviewed”.

WIDE Consultation Participant – Disabled Person