How To Ensure Fairness Through Reasonable Adjustments in Pre-Hire Assessments

While no online assessment can be perfectly standardised for every individual need, we’ve built our approach around three core principles: relevance, accessibility, and flexibility.

1. Relevance: We Only Assess What’s Intrinsic to the Role

We start by ensuring that everything we assess is directly related to the job being performed. If a task isn’t essential to success in the role, we won’t include it in the assessment. For example, we only use time-based questions when speed is genuinely required on the job. This means we’re not using artificial constraints that could unfairly penalise certain candidates.

This principle also provides a legal and ethical basis for asking candidates whether they need adjustments. Under the UK Equality Act 2010 (Section 60), employers may ask questions about disability if it relates to the ability to perform a function intrinsic to the work.

Our assessments typically require candidates to read from a screen, type into a keyboard or touchscreen, and navigate using a mouse or similar device – core functions in most entry-level roles we assess for.

2. Accessibility: Designed with Inclusivity in Mind

Before any new assessment version goes live, we review it with accessibility in mind. Our assessments are compatible with most screen readers, and we can actively avoid question formats that disadvantage those with visual or auditory impairments.

Some of the reasonable adjustments we can support include:

• Removing time penalties for timed questions (e.g. for candidates with dyslexia or motor impairments)
• Screen reader support for candidates with visual impairments
• Text transcripts for any voice or audio content, to support candidates with hearing loss
• High contrast mode and dyslexia-friendly fonts for better legibility

We deliberately avoid full-assessment timing unless it reflects a real-time-sensitive aspect of the job. When time-based performance is essential, we can apply score adjustments for candidates with specific conditions, such as dyslexia.

3. Flexibility: Offering Alternative Assessment Paths

Fairness sometimes means treating candidates differently based on their needs. That’s why we offer alternative pathways for candidates who declare that they require adjustments.

Accessibility information is often captured on the candidate application form in the ATS. If a candidate requires reasonable adjustments then they can declare it here and take an alternative assessment path that does not have the potential to disadvantage them.

Alternatively, we can implement the following solution within ThriveMap.

• At the start of the assessment, candidates are asked if they require any reasonable adjustments.
• If they say yes, then candidates can then proceed with an accessibility-optimised version of the assessment:
  • Simplified UI (keyboard accessible, no decorative visuals)
  • High contrast mode
  • Larger, legible fonts
• Their results are marked as “Assistance Required,” which means:
  • They are not included in comparative leaderboards
  • Recruiters can toggle score views (e.g., excluding time-based metrics)
  • Adjustment requests can be flagged and shared with the recruitment team

This helps ensure that comparisons are not made unfairly between candidates who completed the assessment under different conditions.

Why Not Just Make All Assessments Accessible by Default?

While we work toward universal accessibility, some features like time-sensitive tasks or certain question types, are incompatible with tools like screen readers. Making all assessments accessible in the strictest sense would limit our ability to reflect real job requirements accurately.

Also, disabilities differ greatly in type and severity. For example, two people with dyslexia may require very different adjustments. Standardising adjustments for all would not create a level playing field, it would simply create a different kind of imbalance.

Final Thoughts

We’re committed to fair hiring, and that includes thoughtful, case-by-case approaches to accessibility. If you’re an employer using ThriveMap and want to discuss how to best support candidates with additional needs, we’re happy to advise.

We believe great assessments don’t just test skills, they remove unnecessary barriers. That’s what fairness looks like in practice.