Staying in work checklist

What do you see as the full range of future options? These could include staying in your current job, moving part-time, starting a new job with a new employer, retraining or medical retirement. It is worth remembering that your employer has a duty to try to retain staff if they know about your disability.

Write down a list of all the tasks you do in your current job and identify those task that you may have difficulty carrying out. Think about whether you could carry out those tasks if you had assistance and try completing the sentence "I could do this in my present circumstances provided that…”. Is there anything not required in your present job that you feel you could offer? For example something you do at home or other tasks at work.

Now that you have an idea of what you would like to happen and which tasks you’ll need assistance with you’re ready to talk to your employer. When meeting with your employer you may wish to cover the following topics:

• aspects of your work that you are having difficulty with
• any ideas you have about how these difficulties could be overcome
• aspects of your work that you can do well, and any that you particularly enjoy
• any changes that you would like to make.

Changes could include where you work, when you work or how you work. They could also include doing a different type of work, drawing on your existing interests, skills and experience.

If you and your employer reach an agreement that satisfies everybody, you will probably not need further support. However, it is likely that this meeting will be the beginning of a process involving Access to Work and an external employment adviser.