About the guide
This guide is a 5 step explanation of the workplace adjustment process, from identifying adjustments to having conversations with your manager. It also explains how to use the workplace adjustment and arrangement passport to record your adjustments and arrangements.
Workplace adjustment and arrangement passport (116 kB)
The passport can travel with you throughout your career in the Victorian Public Sector (VPS), helping communicate how you work best when you change teams or departments. Together, these tools help you put in place the right supports and make the workplace more inclusive.
Every employee has their own way of working that helps them to work their best. Adjustments remove barriers for people with disability and others, such as carers, and make the workplace more accessible. See workplace adjustments advice for public sector organisations for definitions of workplace adjustments, disability and carers.
You should use this guide with your organisation’s workplace adjustment policy. If you need support or guidance at any time, reach out to your People and Culture or Diversity and Inclusion teams.
Step 1: Understand your role
Understand your workplace adjustments rights
Workplace adjustments can be requested by all employees, at any time to support diverse ways of working. For employees with disability, the default position should be to implement adjustments. These adjustments help ensure everyone has the same opportunities to perform and advance in their role.
Not providing an employee with disability reasonable adjustments or reasonable accommodations for carers may be considered discrimination or unfair treatment. Additionally, adjustments must not unreasonably be refused for carers to accommodate their responsibilities. Internally, you can speak to your People and Culture team or externally you can make a complaint to the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission or the Australian Human Rights Commission when they are denied.
At any time throughout the adjustment process, you can have a trusted person.
By law, there are some instances where an employer does not have to provide adjustments for people with disability. For example, if the change could lead to serious financial problems, cause technical issues, or if council rules block any building changes. This process should be conducted in a fair and transparent way.
You usually don’t have to share details about your disability. This is health and personal information, and your manager must follow privacy laws with your information. There may be some legal situations where you may be asked to do so. This could be if there are risks to your safety and others if your condition worsens at work. There could also be considerations like affecting your future workers’ compensation claims.
If you are requested to provide this information, you can ask what information is needed, why it is needed, and how it will be used or stored.
Read workplace adjustments advice for public sector organisations for more information on privacy, rights, and responsibilities with workplace adjustments.
Step 2: Identifying adjustments and having discussions
Identify the adjustments you need
You don’t need to know exactly what adjustments you need to have a conversation with your manager about supports. They can be modified over time to meet your changing needs.
If you are not sure what adjustments you need, some things to consider include:
- any barriers that prevent you from doing your job, which could be physical, environmental, cognitive and executive functioning, or sensory
- specific parts of your job where you might need changes
- things that you do in other areas of your life that could be useful in the workplace
- getting a workplace assessment through Job Access or your organisation to identify what adjustments that will help you in your job
- if you need specific evacuation assistance during an emergency such as a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP), you can check your intranet for the relevant warden to help with this.
Having discussions with your manager
Start off by asking your manager for a meeting. You can discuss with your manager how you prefer to have your conversations on adjustments, you may prefer an informal in-person meeting or to do it online.
The goal of these conversations are to identify the right supports to help you fully participate in the workplace, while also considering the needs of the organisation. You and your manager will need to work together to find that balance.
When having these conversations, you don’t have to make decisions about adjustments all at once or make them permanent. You can try out different adjustments to see if they work for you. Think creatively about what adjustments you need. A mix of adjustments might be the best option.
A good way to talk about adjustments is sharing what the barriers you experience are and why you think the adjustment will help remove it. That way, the focus is on the workplace barriers and not disability. This can also help your manager understand your experience and learn how to make the workplace more inclusive for you.
You can share any extra information or documents that help explain your needs better such as reports from medical practitioners that suggest adjustments. This is not an obligation and is your choice.
If you are a person with disability or someone who requires accomodation, such as a carer, consider if you would like to share any information with your team or other colleagues. You can let you manager know what you decide.
Don’t forget to let your manager know if you have a trusted person attending any meetings.