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Hi. Name change for this as outing. I work in a client facing role hybrid two days wfh three days office/community base. I have been there for three years. Around 18 months ago the team expanded and they introduced a second wfh day previously it had been one. It has been decided to resume to one day wfh and they have given two weeks notice. My contract does not mention any wfh days. I am disabled which I have been since birth but the nature of my disability means it is becoming much worse and I am in daily pain. It takes everything I have to get into the office the three days I do. I do all my apts the three days in office and do all of my notes and admin on my wfh days. This works well for me and there are no issues with the quality of my work. I am awaiting surgery which should alleviate part of my issues with my disability but this is going to be around 12 months time due to waiting lists. I don’t think I can physically manage to get myself into the office an extra day and I am considering asking to reduce my hours instead. This will be tight but manageable with some cut backs. Before I do this though I was wondering if I had a leg to stand on with keeping my two days wfh? I am fully aware it isn’t in my contract and that my disability is not my employers problem. I just want to know if there is anything else I could do before losing 20 percent of my income. Thanks

Why don't you put in a formal flexible working request instead?, would be better than reducing your hours - you could even ask to do it for 12 months (or until you've had the surgery)

Your employer are legally obliged to make reasonable adjustments for your disability. That might be a different work pattern or arrangement to others.

I’d suggest approaching it as a discussion with your line manager, and suggest maybe some occupational health input. Can we talk about contingency plans and options. Im concerned that I may not be able to manage because of disability.

Put in a flexible working request. I took my job on the basis of it being WFH (casually, not contractually, as many of us were in the period post Covid) when they introduced an office mandate I submitted a flexible working request on the basis of my caring responsibilities and it was accepted.

Thanks everyone. I have already had one flexible working request approved this year to alter my office hours so I start and finish earlier as my pain gets worse throughout the day. You can only put in two in a 12 month period so I was worried if I put in a request to keep my wfh days and they rejected it, I then wouldn’t be able to request to reduce my hours. I’m sorry if I’m coming across as difficult I’m not but I just struggle standing up for myself and I’m worried it could back fire on me in some way. Is it still a flexible working request if I request to reduce my hours?

Yes I believe it is. I wonder if you could put in one request on the basis of your disability but ask for adjustments to be WFH and reduction of hours? (I’ve no idea) how supportive is your manager?

It’s not a flexible working request that you need to put in, it’s a formal reasonable adjustment request. That means it will be documented that the adjustment is due to your disability and can be changed more frequently if required.

She isn’t very supportive tbh. She’s new so I think this is her way of stamping authority. Although I am only guessing. My old manager was very supportive. My stats are top every month on the data pull so there is no issue with my productivity. I would look for something else with a hybrid contract but I don’t want to jump ship with my surgery upcoming. They said when I called up again today it will be the second part of next year but I am on a cancellation list so hopefully it’s sooner.

Ask for an occupational health referral for reasonable adjustments. I have reduced mobility following long covid & my occ health report recommended adjustments such as extra breaks, more days at home etc

Is that not the same thing? (Genuine question, not antagonistic! I didn’t realise they were different things) if they are different does that mean they’re not bound by the same rules like a certain amount within a year? Which I suppose would make sense as you can’t necessarily predict how many reasonable adjustments you need as health is unpredictable. Is a reasonable adjustment for people with health needs?

yes exactly they’re different things, at my company flexible working and reasonable adjustments are separate forms. The flexible working request we can only do once every 12 months and have to provide business impact type answers. The reasonable adjustments form is for people with disabilities including long term health conditions and asks about the impact of your condition on work and the adjustments required, it can be changed more often and I didn’t have to answer any business related questions just agree it with my manager then HR implemented

the way it worked in terms of implementation was the same, mine is reduced hours so pay reduced accordingly, and additional breaks. But it’s more flexibility as not restricted on the number of changes and more appropriate when the reason for the adjustment is disability

if I had a disability and just fancied not working Fridays though not related to disability, that would be flexible working

As PPs have said you need to do this through the Reasonable Adjustment for disability route. That’s different to a standard flexible working request.

Id advise getting a referral to Occupational Health so you can have your current health assessed and they can make recommendations for any reasonable adjustments necessary to support you at work

Agree - this is the correct approach

Your last request should have been handled as a Reasonable Adjustment, rather than a flexible working request. It’s not the end of the world of it wasn’t, because they have the option of not counting it towards any limit on flexible working requests they choose to set.

Do you have an HR department? It might be helpful to start this conversation with them rather than your manager if your manager isn’t great on it. If not, or if you’d rather stick with going via manager then I’d suggest opening with something like:

Can we have a chat about the change in work set up that’s coming. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to keep my pain level manageable with the new pattern. Things are working ok at the moment with the adjustment from earlier this year and only travelling three days but it’s wiping me out by end of the week. Obviously don’t want to get to the point where I end up making myself worse. How do you want to handle this? Is there any scope for flexibility on the wfh time, or do I need to look at going down to part time.

Thank you, that’s really helpful to understand.