Has anyone secured working from home as a reasonable adjustment?

[Twoweeksinaugust]

DH took a job a while ago based 2 hours away. The contract stated his place of work was the office, but he was headhunted and assured that was just a formality to manage expenses etc. I was always very dubious.

Now they've stated everyone back to the office full time. DH has an autoimmune condition that would make this impossible for him.

He's outperformed all targets etc, so can evidence WFH is effective for him. Most of his key colleagues are international so all collaboration is done over Teams anyway.

Has anyone negotiated WFH as a reasonable adjustment? Did you need Dr's letters etc?

Thanks for any advice, I'm somewhat panicked.

I think your husband would need to seek advice from ACAS. I think your husband could have issues because his contract states his 'place of work' as the office. Is there anything in his contract that mentions WFH? Unfortunately, it looks to me as if your husband was told information that wasn't 100% true, in order to secure him working for the company.

My husband went for a job interview several years ago for Nationwide. The job was on a WFH basis. Less than 2 years later Nationwide announced all staff had to return to working at their base site. Thankfully my husband didn't get the job. He was unsure he'd have taken it, even if he'd been successful, because of the uncertainty around WFH. He'd have ended up having to commute from Dorset to Swindon.

Yes, but that was with a fully supportive line manager. I just had to fill in a company form to request WFH and it was agreed with no hassle.

I've seen it done in the Civil Service but not sure about elsewhere.

Does he have emails from them saying that he wouldn’t have to go to the office? If so, that might help.

Yes, in the private sector. A very large company with a process for this. I had to go through occupational health but didn’t need a dr’s note from my own GP. It didn’t matter that my contract said office, as its a reasonable adjustment under the equality act.

In these circumstances - his autoimmune condition being a disability and thus qualifying him for consideration on these grounds - I know that my DH’s company (FTSE100/global) would absolutely work with your DH to support and facilitate. They have also required a return to the office 80/20 with a view to this becoming 100% back in the office by end of 2027.

I would speak to HR and his manager, approaching this as a conversation about how to make this work rather than a ‘demand’ situation, referencing his exemplary work record and appraisals and work from there. Try not to panic.

Yes my DH, private sector. It's a long story but basically they point blank refused, no discussions or anything and they failed to follow process so DH went to ACAS. They were really supportive but his employer still refused to engage so DH ended up submitting tribunal documents. At that point HR got in touch and wheels were put in motion! The never requested GP or medical records but he did go to an occupational health appointment. It was eventually agreed to go into the office once every 2 months. It was a long winded and uncessarily stressful time.

Thank you all so much, it's been a relief to read most of these replies!