Workplace Accommodation Request Process Template for Small Business

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Accommodation requests are one of the most mishandled processes in small businesses, not because owners don't care, but because there's usually no process at all until the first request lands in an inbox and everyone's improvising. That's the worst possible moment to be figuring out who owns what.

Here's a structured way to handle these requests before you need it.

Accommodation requests generally fall into two different buckets, and treating them the same way creates problems.

Track A: Remote equipment accommodations. Someone needs a different chair, monitor setup, or equipment change to do their job comfortably. Usually straightforward, usually fast to resolve, and doesn't require sensitive medical detail to process.

Track B: Health or functional accommodations. Someone needs a change tied to a medical condition, disability, or caregiving responsibility, things like modified hours, remote work exceptions, or task adjustments. This track requires more care, more privacy protection, and more direct involvement from whoever handles HR and, when needed, legal.

Splitting these into two tracks means simple requests move fast, and sensitive ones get the careful handling they actually need, instead of both getting stuck in the same slow, overly cautious process.

The employee submits what's needed and, for Track B, whatever supporting documentation is required, kept confidential and separate from general HR files.

Whoever handles HR reviews the request and routes it, equipment-only requests to Track A, anything health or functional-related to Track B.

IT or whoever manages equipment fulfills the request directly. No medical detail needed, no lengthy review, just get the person what they need to do their job.

This is where privacy matters most. Only the people who need to know, are informed, and only with the minimum detail required. The goal is figuring out what accommodation meets the need, not gathering more medical information than necessary.

Whatever's agreed gets written down clearly, what's being provided, any review date, who to contact if it stops working.

The accommodation goes into effect, and there's a check-in scheduled rather than assuming it's working and never revisiting it.

If your business has a return-to-office policy, that policy does not override someone's right to request an accommodation for a documented medical, disability-related, or caregiving need. An accommodation request under these circumstances has to go through Track B, and it can't be denied, delayed, or discouraged just because there's a general in-office expectation. This is one of the most common places small businesses accidentally create legal exposure, not out of bad intent, just not knowing the RTO policy and the accommodation obligation are two separate things.

The businesses that handle this badly aren't uncaring, they're improvising under pressure, trying to figure out privacy rules and documentation requirements in real time while also being sensitive to someone's actual need. Having the workflow, the tracks, and the documentation template ready before the first request comes in means you can focus on the person, not on scrambling to figure out the process.

GRIC's Remote Ops SOP bundle includes the full accommodation request workflow above as an editable template, along with the intake form, the assessment record, and the accommodation plan template, so the framework is ready before your team needs it, not assembled under pressure after the first request arrives.

— Charysse