Interview and workplace adjustments guide

Crucial bits

Most importantly, you’ll never suffer any disadvantage from telling us you’re disabled or neurodivergent. So please let us know what support you need and why. We’ll always treat this information sensitively and confidentially.

Legal information

If you’re disabled or neurodivergent, you’re protected against discrimination at work under the Equality Act 2010. Under the law the term ‘disability’ can include conditions which you might not necessarily think of as a disability – like diabetes, asthma, back problems, and depression.

If you’ve got a physical or mental condition that has lasted, or is expected to last, for 12 months or more, or the rest of your life, and it has a significant negative effect on your ability to do day-to-day activities, you’re protected by the law. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re on medication or have a medical aid that controls the effects of your condition – you’ll still be covered. Some conditions, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS) , and HIV, are automatically covered from day one.

If you’re disabled or neurodivergent, under the Equality Act 2010 we’ve got a responsibility to make reasonable adjustments to your role or working environment to remove any barriers that get in the way of you doing your job. At Co-op, we recognise the need to utilise the term ‘reasonable adjustments’ in a formal policy and legal context(s). Otherwise, we refer to these as ‘interview and workplace adjustments’. In the recruitment process we also have a duty to make any adjustments you need to remove any disadvantage you may have in the process compared with non-disabled applicants.

How we can make adjustments

We can make interview and workplace adjustments in four ways:

• By making changes to our recruitment process – for example, providing alternative methods of applying for a job, changing the location of in-person interviews, or providing assistance or extra time for assessments
• By making changes to your working arrangements – for example, agreeing for you to work part-time if your disability means you get tired easily, or making adjustments to absence triggers
• By making changes to the physical features of a building – for example, putting in a ramp for wheelchair access
• By providing extra equipment, technology or services – such as voice-activated software if you’ve got a visual impairment

To make sure you can be fully supported in your role we'll consider a few different things. These include:

• How effective the adjustment would be in removing the disadvantage
• How much disruption it would cause to make the adjustment
• Whether the adjustment would create any health and safety risks
• How much the adjustment will cost if anything
• How practical the adjustment would be to implement

We’re committed to exploring every possible avenue to provide adjustments that make it possible for disabled and neurodivergent people to take part in our recruitment processes on a level playing field and thrive in their role at Co-op.

As a Co-op colleague, your manager will get advice from ER Services about any workplace adjustments they might need to make to enable you to do your job to the best of your ability.

Things to think about

Are interview and workplace adjustments needed?

You don’t have to tell us about any disabilities or neurodivergent conditions you have – but we can only help make adjustments if we know they’re needed, so we really encourage you to share information about your needs with the Talent Acquisition team and/or your line manager.

We’ll ask you whether you need interview and workplace adjustments when we invite you to take part in the recruitment processes for any Co-op job. If you’re successful in your application, your new line manager will also talk to you about what adjustments you might need to help you perform the role.

If your manager notices that you’re having problems at work, they’ll talk to you to understand if there are any underlying health issues and then see if any changes need to be made.

If you’re struggling at work because of a health condition and your manager hasn’t discussed it with you yet – even if you don’t think it would be classed as a disability – you should talk to them about the support and adjustments you feel you need.

If you’re absent from work due to an ongoing health issue, we’ll talk to you about workplace adjustments as part of the absence process to see if there’s anything we can do to help you get back into work.

If you can’t carry on in your current job because of your disability, a possible workplace adjustment might be redeployment. There’s more information about this in the Disability Redeployment Policy.

Identifying and making interview and workplace adjustments

Sometimes it’ll be clear what interview and workplace adjustments are needed, but other times we might need to get an Occupational Health assessment, or ask for more information from your GP.

We’ve also got an interview and workplace adjustments process so you can see the steps we’ll follow.

Different types of adjustments

There are lots of different adjustments that we can make to a job or working environment – appendix 1 lists some examples. Different people will need different adjustments, sometimes even for smaller conditions, and you might need a combination of different adjustments. The case study in appendix 2 and appendix 3 shows an example of how several different interview and workplace adjustments can be made.

We can agree adjustments on a temporary or a permanent basis, depending on your needs. For example, we might agree a phased return if you’re coming back to work after a long period of illness.

Costs of interview and workplace adjustments

You won’t be asked to pay for any interview and workplace adjustments that need to be made. If there are any costs, these will be paid for by your business area. 

A government scheme called Access to Work can help with some of the costs of making interview and workplace adjustments and can also give advice on making adjustments. They give grants for things like:

• Special aids and equipment
• Modifying premises and adapting equipment
• Travel to and from work
• Communication support at interview
• A wide variety of support workers

There’s no set amount for the support that the Access to Work can offer – it will depend on the circumstances of each case. There’s more information about using the Access to Work service in the interview and workplace adjustments process.

If you need further support

We’ll ask you whether you need interview and workplace adjustments when we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for one of our jobs.

If you’ve got any questions about workplace adjustments in your current role, you should speak to your manager.

You may need additional support, so remember we have an Colleague Support Programme who can help. You can contact the EAP in confidence on 0800 069 8854.

If managers need advice they can contact ER Services. Our Occupational Health provider can also offer advice to managers on interview and workplace adjustments. See the Occupational Health Guide for more information.

Co-op are a member of the Business Disability Forum, and we can access a range of tools and guidance on disability on their website http://businessdisabilityforum.org.uk. Specialist advisors are also available to answer manager’s queries – either on 020 7403 3020 or advice@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk.

Appendix 1 - Examples of interview and workplace adjustments 

Here are some examples of interview and workplace adjustments we could make:

Changing working arrangements

• Changing work patterns and hours - for example, starting later or having a flexible start time, or reducing hours of work
• Allowing more frequent rest breaks if, for example, a colleague gets tired more easily or needs to go the toilet more frequently
• Enabling working from home, or transferring to a location closer to home or which can better accommodate other adjustments
• Providing alternative formats for our application forms if required by the candidate - such as a braille version for someone with a visual impairment
• Changing the location of in-person interviews to suit the needs of the candidate – for example, holding the interview in a lower-lit room for candidates with epilepsy
• Providing assistance for your interview – such as a British Sign Language interpreter for candidates with a hearing impairmen
• Giving time off work to attend appointments for medical treatment, including physiotherapy, counselling or rehabilitation
• Making adjustments to the duties of the job - for example, removing manual handling or giving more time to carry out tasks
• Agreeing a revised absence trigger for absences relating to a disability
• Agreeing a phased return to work after a period of sickness absence
• Agreeing for a support worker, friend or family member to attend an Absence Review/Performance Review/Disciplinary/Grievance Meeting with a colleague, where their condition means they need extra support
• Agreeing for someone to use taxis for business travel if their condition means they can’t drive 
• Providing a car parking space close to the workplace for someone with mobility issues
• Adjusting performance targets 

Changing the physical features of a building

• Widening a doorway or installing a ramp to make room for a wheelchair
• Moving things like door handles if they are difficult to reach
• Making changes to the till area, for example making space for a stool
• Having new toilet facilities installed to improve accessibility

Providing extra equipment, technology or services

• Providing a specialist chair, back support or a footstool
• Providing additional training, coaching or mentoring
• Having documents produced in Braille
• Providing assistive technology, such as voice-activated software or ‘mind mapping’ software
• Providing a sign language interpreter for someone who has a hearing impairment
• Providing help with transport to and from work

Appendix 2 – Case study 

Jane is a Customer Team Member in one of our Food stores. Jane was asked to complete some online training but she found it difficult and kept failing the modules. Her manager was concerned about this, so he contacted ER Services for advice. They suggested to refer Jane for an Occupational Health assessment to see if she had any underlying health issues that could be causing this. Jane agreed to have the assessment. 

The report from Occupational Health told us that Jane suffered from dyslexia. This was why she was struggling with reading the screen when doing the online training. Occupational Health recommended that Jane contact Access to Work so they could arrange to conduct an assessment of her needs.

Access to Work visited Jane in the store and, following their assessment, recommended that she have a coloured overlay for the screen which would improve the focus and make the words clearer. Access to Work agreed to provide some funding towards the cost of this as a workplace adjustment.

With this overlay in place on the computer screen, Jane was not only able to successfully complete the training modules, but it also made her job much easier any time she needed to do some work on the computer.

Appendix 3

Sania is a Customer Service Advisor in our CBS (Co-op Business Services) team. As a blind person, Sania had previously struggled to find a job after leaving university as many organisations were unable to accommodate a blind person in their recruitment processes.

Sania applied for an apprenticeship at Co-op and was reassured to discover that we could adjust our assessment process to meet her needs. We asked Sania about what interview adjustments she would need to participate, and agreed to conduct her interview virtually to make the process as comfortable, fair, and accommodating as possible for her.

With this adjustment in place, Sania successfully completed our recruitment process and is now a full-time Customer Service Advisor, having completed her apprenticeship in 2021.