Adjustments: being your best at work

We aim to support everyone to be their best at work. That means helping to remove obstacles that might get in the way. We do this by making adjustments in the workplace for you. Read on to see how we approach them.

What is a reasonable adjustment?

The law often refers to ‘reasonable adjustments’. We don’t want anyone to be put off by wondering, ‘is what I’m asking for reasonable?’. We see all requests as reasonable. We just need to talk through how to get the right support in place for you to be your best at interview and at work.

Job descriptions

Did you know that the average reading age in the UK is nine? To make sure everyone can access our content, we review our job descriptions and web pages using a special online tool. It makes sure that the content you see isn’t complex and can be easily read by everyone.

We also know that some people may use a screen reader to access our content. There are various things we consider such as:

• Using contextual hyperlinks so a screen reader can let the user know where they’re headed
• Using alt text to describe an image where it adds value to an experience. Or, we will let you know that it’s not needed so you can move on

We make many other considerations when it comes to our content, for example font size, colour contrast and the use of gifs.

Your interview

If you have a disability, long-term health condition, or a need for adjustments, you don’t have to tell us. However, we want everyone to feel able to share this with us, so that we can support you.

Starting your role

Before you start your role, we will keep in touch with you.

At this stage, if you haven’t already asked, we will talk to you about any adjustments you might need. We will make sure we are aware of anything we can put in place to make you feel at home from day one. We aim to do everything we can to help you shine. If this isn’t possible, we will look at alternative adjustments for you.

We only want you to have to tell us what you need once. So we can do this, we encourage our colleagues to use and keep an updated adjustments passport. You will be able to fill this out when you start your role. This stays with you throughout your time at Home Group. It means that adjustments are seamlessly put in place and maintained. You won’t have to repeat yourself or make new agreements with new managers.

During your role

We know that adjustments are very personal and unique to your needs. We understand that they may change as time goes on too. We are flexible and continually open to adjustment requests.

During your time at Home Group, your manager will check in with you continually. This will be to make sure any adjustments are still working for you. We do this through our brilliant conversations

Support for colleagues

There are a number of other support options our colleagues can use. These are all accessible from our one-stop-shop wellbeing hub:

• Our employee assistance provider (EAP)
• Occupational health
• Mental health first aiders
• My wellbeing plans
• My stress support plans
• Peer support groups
• Self-care guides
• Dedicated resources and support for colleagues experiencing things like stress, menopause, cancer diagnosis’s and more

We also regularly work with Access to Work to ensure colleagues have the right support. We would encourage you to use this if you’re eligible.