Adjust the Workplace, Not the Person
You can’t change someone’s medical condition.
But you can remove a barrier.
Yet too often, adjustments are tied to a medical diagnosis or a piece of paper that “proves” someone needs support. That mindset misses the point. Adjustments aren’t about fixing people. They’re about changing environments so people can do their best work – A really interesting point made by Robbie Crow at the BBC recently.
At HCB Group, we work with both employees and employers to make sure people can access work — and that work itself is accessible to all. In practice, that means shifting the conversation away from “what’s your condition?” to a more practical and human question:
“What’s getting in the way of you doing your job well?”
Across hundreds of adjustment conversations, we understand the small number of individuals with actual medical diagnoses.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
It’s important that we remember:
- Not everyone can get a diagnosis.
- NHS waiting lists are long.
- Private assessments are expensive.
- Not forgetting that some conditions are never formally labelled at all.
- Not all barriers are medical.
None of that removes someone’s legal protection. None of that removes their right to adjustments.
This isn’t just good practice — it’s backed by UK policy and evidence.
The Stevenson/Farmer Review (led by Dame Carol Black and Paul Farmer) made it clear that good work is a healthy outcome in its own right, and that early, practical workplace support prevents people falling out of employment in the first place.
More recently, Charlie Mayfield’s “Health is Everyone’s Business” review reinforced that employers play a critical role in creating environments where people can stay in work — not by medicalising problems, but by making simple, timely adjustments that reduce friction and preserve dignity.
Both reports point to the same truth we see every day at HCB:
Two people with the same diagnosis can face completely different barriers.
Two people with no diagnosis at all can need the same adjustment.
If you really stop to think about reasonable adjustments, they don’t have to be big things.
- Flexible hours.
- Different communication formats.
- Quiet spaces.
- Assistive tech.
- Clearer instructions.
- Accessible toilets.
None of these adjustments require a medical label to be valid adjustments and none of them will have a large impact on an employer to implement.
When adjustments are made conditional on medical evidence, everything slows down. The trust between employer and employee erodes, sometimes to the point of no return. And nine times out of ten, people who already face the most friction are left navigating even more of it.
When we switch the focus to barriers instead of labels, adjustments become faster, more human, and more effective. Employees stay at work. Employers retain talent. Everyone benefits.
At HCB Group, our role is to bridge that gap — supporting individuals early to identify the barriers, to look at people as a whole, not just their diagnoses. We enable employees to remain economically active, and support organisations to build truly inclusive, accessible workplaces that work for real people, not idealised ones.
Accessibility works best when it’s proactive and collaborative — not reactive and guarded. Occupational Health has a huge role to play in that.
HCB are reimagining the role of Occupational Health, turning traditional models on their heads by taking a people first approach. We believe in a truly collaborative approach to workplace health and wellbeing where conversations are transparent with all involved to drive the best outcomes.
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH REDEFINED
Photo by Michael Rosner-Hyman on Unsplash