Workplace adjustments for employees

The employee or job candidate is responsible for:

requesting adjustments including identifying, where possible, the types of adjustments they consider appropriate
assisting with implementation
- supplying documentation if required and in a timely manner
- participating in conversations around options or additional adjustments
- maintaining ongoing communication with the manager about how adjustments are going
telling their manager or a trusted person if:
- there is a risk to their own or others’ safety
- a risk to the ability to perform their role’s inherent requirements or
- if the adjustment is not working or isn’t enough for evolving needs.

Employees would need to be mindful their original request may not be available or possible to implement.

Adjustments can be considered and requested by any employee or prospective employee. They generally support people who are neurodivergent, have a disability or a physical or mental health condition, or care for someone who does.

This inclusion of ‘carers’ extends to family kinship models and adult children who care for their parents and others.

This includes employees and contractors in full-time, part-time, casual, short-term contract and ongoing positions, as well as those who are job candidates and people who have been offered employment.

The following adjustments can be considered across any stage of employment:

Accessible content and communications
Assistive technology, such as voice-activated software, an amplified phone, or a digital recorder
Car parking or travel arrangements for any work-related travel where possible
Changes to how co-workers give them information, such as in writing and verbally
Changes to ways of working or how tasks are done
Disability awareness and confidence training for co-workers and managers
Equipment or furniture that lets the employee work in a safe manner
Flexible working arrangements
Inclusive meetings, such as having an agenda and sending accessible materials in advance
Job redesign, such as job sharing or re-assigning tasks to others
More supervision or a different style of supervision, or clear deadlines for tasks
Using a person’s preferred communication device, such as a communication board, tablet or mobile phone
Using a person’s preferred way to communicate, such as an Auslan interpreter, the National Relay Service (NRS), live captions or a larger font size.

Non-physical adjustments

Non-physical adjustments are adjustments that do not require a change to the physical environment in which the employee works. These are adjustments to the way in which the employee works. Flexible working arrangements provide options, such as:

Flexible start and finish times
Compressed hours
Working from home
Working part-time.

Different ways of working may look like:

alternate methods of communication (e.g. written instead of verbal)
using headphones to cancel noise
more time for certain tasks
working in a quiet room when needed
additional or frequent breaks
restricted manual tasks.

Physical adjustments

Physical adjustments include a change to the physical environment in which the employee works. This may be physical changes to the workstation or work area, or the work environment. This could include:

a specific chair
larger monitors and keyboards
braille keyboard
vision impaired phone
ergonomic mouse and keyboard
interpreter
sit to stand desk
lighting changes
work area re-configuration.

Software adjustments

Software adjustments are changes or upgrades to the device employees use when working, such as:

Fusion: program for vision impaired providing ZoomText and JAWS
Screen reading software such as JAWS
NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) software: open access software which allows blind people and people with low vision to access and interact with the Windows operating system
Screen magnification software
Text readers
Speech input software
Text writing help software or subscriptions.

In some workplaces where there are high levels of respect and knowledge about disability, accessibility and inclusive ways of working, a verbal agreement about adjustments may be enough to support and implement a change or purchase any equipment needed.

In other situations, a workplace adjustment plan may be useful. This document can communicate an employee’s accessibility needs at work with their current or future manager and be co-signed if necessary.

Your local workplace may have an adjustments policy, process and plan template you can use to request an adjustment. Generally, the process looks like:

Step 1: Manager invites job candidates and employees to consider their adjustments needs

Step 2: Employee considers and submits request

Step 3: Manager responds

Step 4: Monitor and review.

Download the workplace adjustments plan template (DOCX, 565.1 KB) which features detail on the process.

Someone who asks for adjustments can have another person support them in the process. For example, the support person could be:

a colleague, friend, family member or a carer
their manager
a union representative
someone from a disability support service such as a case manager
someone from a diversity and inclusion, cultural capability or a human resources team.

The support person can do things like go to meetings with them or help fill out forms. A support person must comply with the entity’s privacy obligations.

Deciding whether to talk to others at work about a change in circumstances, the onset of a condition, your disability or neurodivergence (as examples) is a personal decision. You should decide based on your own situation.

You can choose if, when and how much to share.

Your manager may also raise their concerns with you if they notice that something is impacting your ability to work.

You should talk to your employer about your experience if your disability, condition, neurodivergence or caring responsibility:

affects how you might do your job
affects you or someone else working safely.

There are some benefits to talking about your experience, if you choose to. For example, it can:

build trust between you and your employer and colleagues
let you talk to how you could do your tasks in a better way, with changes to the workplace, the task or arrangements to support you
show how you may have been impacted in relation to work.

See Documentation and decision making to understand the advice given to managers about taking a tiered approach to levels of evidence.

Your manager or colleagues can’t ask:

for personal details – for example, about how you live
general questions about your health – for example, how you got your disability.

Note that it is illegal for your manager or colleagues to make upsetting or offensive comments. If you are worried about how people act around you at work, talk to your manager. You can also raise it with someone in your human resources team.

To learn about managing workplace conflict, bullying and the steps managers can take to respond to poor performance, see Employee management, conduct and performance.

For information and resources on discrimination visit, visit the Queensland Human Rights Commission website.

Your privacy

There are laws that protect your privacy. That means if you mention your condition or disability, for example, to someone at work, they can’t tell anyone else about it unless you give your permission.

For more information about the Information Privacy Act 2009 and how personal information should be managed more broadly, visit Recordkeeping and information management.

Many people with disability, an ongoing physical or mental health condition, or who are neurodivergent or take care for someone who is, don’t consider themselves ill or injured.

If you are ill or injured, your workplace will be able to connect you with a rehabilitation and return to work coordinator to support you throughout your recovery and guide your return-to-work journey. This will include considering a range of workplace adjustments.

For more information, see Rehabilitation and return to work services.

An employee can make a grievance or appeal about:

the outcome of an adjustment request
how an entity handled the adjustment request
how an entity implemented the employee’s adjustment request
another issue related to the adjustment process and policy.

An entity should identify the process for internal appeals (using the relevant directive or policy), including who an employee should appeal to in the first instance. For example, to the human resources team.

If the employee is still unsatisfied after this, they can also consider making a complaint through the:

Note: employees cannot lodge a grievance or appeal the outcome of an independent medical examination—this is a separate process. For more information, see Legislation requirements and considerations.

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