Report - Acas Independent research Disabled employees' experiences of workplace conflict

At MHScot, a lot of what we talk about is what "support" actually looks like in practice, not just the policies, but the everyday conversations that make people feel safe to ask for what they need.

New Acas research puts numbers behind why that matters. They interviewed 30 disabled employees about workplace conflict, following up on a survey that found 68% of employees whose condition has a substantial daily impact have experienced conflict at work, compared to 44% across the board.

A few findings that stood out:

• Disclosure isn't the fix people assume it is. Even when employees told their employer about a disability, that often didn't lead to adjustments, or prevent conflict. Non-visible and fluctuating conditions (chronic pain, mental health, neurodivergence) were especially likely to be met with doubt.

• Reasonable adjustments were the biggest flashpoint - not because they're hard to arrange, but because they were often informal, delayed, imposed without consultation, or treated as a one-off box to tick rather than an ongoing conversation.

• Line managers make or break it. Conflict was far less likely to escalate where managers responded promptly, engaged collaboratively, and had both the knowledge and the interpersonal skill to handle these conversations well.

• Formal processes tend to harden conflict, not resolve it. Once trust had broken down, things like performance reviews or absence procedures often escalated tension rather than easing it. Early, informal, human conversations did far more good.

The takeaway: awareness training helps, but it's not enough on its own. What actually prevents conflict is treating support as a two-way, ongoing conversation, and giving managers the confidence to have it well.

Worth a read if workplace wellbeing is part of what you do.