Work accommodation helps when an employee is not fit enough to perform their regular tasks
Regardless of whether the symptoms are psychological or physical, lighter or modified work may have a better impact on the employee’s health than a long period of sick leave. When the employee is able to do their work and experience the satisfaction of getting things done, work continues to be an important anchor and resource for them.
What is work accommodation?
Work accommodation means adjusting or modifying work tasks or working conditions and supporting an employee’s resources when psychological or physical symptoms impair their work performance. Accommodation is one of the most important actions an employer and a supervisor can take to support an employee’s ability to continue working or return to work after a long sick leave.
Temporary or permanent change?
As an employer or a supervisor, you can first accommodate the work temporarily. Temporary accommodation is sensible when your employee returns to work as a convalescent or when you or they are not sure how they will cope in their work. This allows them to recover while doing their work. If you know that your employee has a permanent injury or disability, accommodate the work permanently from the beginning.
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Take accessibility into consideration
A work environment designed to be accessible supports the coping at work and return to work of all employees. This means fewer individual work accommodation measures will be needed.
A diagnosis does not determine work ability
When you start thinking about accommodating your employee’s work, don’t focus on their illness. Instead, focus first on the tasks and situations that they can still manage, and then the ones that they have trouble managing due to their weakened work ability. If, for example, your employee has rheumatism or multiple sclerosis, they may find it as difficult to perform a specific task as an employee recovering from a broken bone. The same may apply to someone suffering from a mental health disorder.
Examples of work accommodation methods
When work needs to be accommodated for physical reasons, you and your employee know, for example, what your employee is supposed to do if they are not allowed to lift heavy loads. You may even have general instructions on these types of physical adjustments. You can accommodate work for mental health reasons following exactly the same principles and agree on related practices. If musculoskeletal symptoms are a result of a work accident, its causes must always be investigated and corrective action taken.
Take a look at some case examples
Concrete examples show you how work could be modified in different situations.
Musculoskeletal health case examples
Mental health case examples
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You can suggest these accommodations, for example
1. Work arrangements
- Reduce your employee’s workload: limit work tasks, put client, customer or member of public interaction on hold.
- Reinforce resources, such as your employee’s opportunities to influence the content and pace of their work.
2. Working hours arrangements
- Increase the flexibility of working hours or agree on changing the working hours for a fixed period.
3. Modifying the work environment
- Give the employee the opportunity to concentrate and work in peace; provide an appropriate workspace for your employee. Why not try remote work?
- Facilitate work-related social situations by, for example, proposing a transfer to a smaller team or ensuring that the employee is not left alone in a situation involving clients.
- Create good working conditions so that your employee has the energy needed to control their mood and emotions.
4. Arranging support
- Make time for conversations in which you support your employee’s self-confidence and motivation.
- Agree with the employee on a support person at the workplace who they can turn to if required.
- Monitor your employee’s situation and talk about it with them; if necessary, make more adjustments to their work.
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You can suggest these methods, for example
1. Work arrangements
- Limit work tasks: focus on the tasks that your employee is able to do.
- Divide the tasks into smaller parts.
- Adjust the workload and modify the targets.
2. Solutions to make commuting easier
- Look for alternatives to commuting.
- Offer your employee an accessible parking space.
- Improve accessibility in the work environment.
3. Modifying the work environment
- Ensure the accessibility of the work environment.
- Modify the workstations if necessary.
- Acquire assistive devices or suitable tools for work.
4. Providing assistance
- Arrange the opportunity to work in pairs or agree on a support person.
5. Technology solutions
- Provide suitable equipment and digital services.
- Ensure that your employee has access to software and settings that support their work.
6. Competence development
- Promote your employee’s professional development and familiarise them with their new position.
7. Working hours arrangements
- Make the necessary working hours arrangements: avoid overtime, shorter hours, changing from evening and night shifts to daytime work, taking breaks during work.
- Improve flexibility options, i.e. offer the opportunity to work from home and to divide up vacation days.
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Learn the basics
What are the situations where you should consider work accommodation? What are the means and steps of work accommodation? You will learn these in a 10-minute course module.
Go to the online learning environment
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1. Ask, listen and discuss
You should suggest work accommodation whenever your employee’s work ability has declined or when they are returning to work after a long sick leave. Avoid making assumptions. Ask questions, listen to the employee, discuss the need for accommodation and make proposals on how to modify their work.
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2. Ask occupational health services for help
If the measures carried out at the workplace are not enough, reach out to occupational health services. An occupational health nurse, physician, psychologist, or physiotherapist can help you to, for example, conduct an occupational health negotiation, i.e. a discussion with the employee, and provide guidance in applying for support measures, such as the partial sickness allowance.
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3. Consult us
If this is not enough, contact us. Your employee may be eligible to apply for vocational rehabilitation, such as a work trial, where they try returning to work with more suitable workload or doing an entirely new job. Read more about vocational rehabilitation
Already the information of available work accommodation may help
If your employee has symptoms, hearing their supervisor say that work accommodation is possible can already make them feel better about their ability to cope with work. Once you have talked to the employee, agree together on when you will discuss their situation again. This shows your employee that you are there for them without them having to ask you for help. Be sure to hold the agreed discussions even if everything is going well or seems to be going well.
Propose work accommodation and preferably modify the work sooner rather than later. When you make frequent adjustments to work at your workplace, they become part of normal activities and do not attract attention. When your employee is able to do their work and experience the satisfaction of getting things done, the work continues to be an important support and resource for them.
Support for work accommodation
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Support from Job Market Finland
Job Market Finland can offer subsidy for arranging working conditions.
Read more (tyomarkkinatori.fi) -
Support from Kela
Applications for support to acquire tools that assist working can be submitted to Kela.
Read more (kela.fi)