Your CGM phone at work: what a reasonable adjustment actually is
Your phone is how you read your glucose, so being told to put it away is not the same as being told off for scrolling.
The phone in your hand is how you read your glucose. When you glance at it to catch a low or check a high, you’re using a medical device, not scrolling, and in the UK the Equality Act 2010 gives you the standing to ask your employer to let you do it.
- Type 1 counts as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, which means you can ask for a reasonable adjustment: a change to how work runs so your condition doesn’t put you at a disadvantage.
- Being able to check your CGM (continuous glucose monitor, the sensor that reads glucose and sends it to your phone) and act on it is a fair thing to ask for.
- Put the request in writing to HR, not just to a manager, so there’s a record that stands whoever your boss is next year.
- Ask for phone access “as needed”, not a fixed number of times a day, because glucose doesn’t run to a timetable.
- This is your employer’s territory and HR’s; your diabetes team’s job is a note that says why you need it.
Your phone is medical kit, not a habit to hide
If you were diagnosed young, you may have spent years quietly checking under the desk, half expecting to be told off. That instinct made sense at school, and it can stick for a long time. But the phone is where your CGM data lives. Without it you can’t see whether you’re 4 or 14, and you can’t see the arrow telling you which way you’re heading.
A manager who sees a phone and assumes you’re watching something is making a reasonable-looking mistake, because from across the room a glucose graph and a video look the same. That’s exactly why the fix is written and formal, not a whispered explanation in the moment. You should not have to justify a medical check every time, to every new person who joins.
What a reasonable adjustment actually is
A reasonable adjustment is a change an employer makes so a disabled person isn’t put at a disadvantage compared to everyone else. Type 1 is covered because it’s a long-term condition that would substantially affect daily life if untreated. You don’t need to prove you’re struggling; the protection is built in.
For phone use, a sensible adjustment says something like: you may access your phone as needed to read your CGM, do a finger-prick check, take insulin, and take short breaks to treat a high or a low. Ask for “as needed”, not “x times a day”. Glucose doesn’t warn you on schedule, and a fixed number can be used against you the day you need one more. Route it through HR rather than an individual manager, so it’s on file and doesn’t reset when the people above you change.
Why the phone is not optional
When your CGM shows you dropping, that reading is time-sensitive. A low (hypo, glucose going below about 4 mmol/L) can leave you shaky, sweaty, confused or unable to think straight, but many people feel very little until they are much lower, and some feel nothing at all. That is exactly why the screen matters: it does not wait for you to notice. A low can get worse in minutes, and CGM readings lag behind your actual blood glucose. When you are falling fast, the screen shows a higher number than your blood really is, so you are lower than it looks and by the time it says 4 you may already be below it. When you are climbing, the opposite holds and the screen shows a lower number than you really are. The practical upshot cuts both ways. When the screen shows you dropping, it is safer to act early, because you are probably already lower than it says. When it shows you rising, the reverse holds: you may already be higher than it reads, so a high can be worse than the screen suggests and worth acting on rather than dismissing. Being told to put the phone away in that window is being told to stop treating a medical event.
A working day moves glucose in both directions. Plenty can push it up: a rushed meal, stress before a big moment, the adrenaline of a hard shift. And several things can pull it down: activity, a missed or light meal, stress easing off after a busy stretch, and insulin still working in your body from an earlier dose or meal. A low can also arrive well after its cause, hours later and even overnight after an active or busy shift, which is the timing that catches people out precisely because the trigger has passed. Preventing lows can involve two different things. One is extra carbohydrate, which you manage yourself. The other is a change to insulin, and that is worked out with your diabetes team, never decided at your desk: whether it happens before a shift, during it, or as a standing plan is their call, not something to change on your own. A high that will not come down matters just as much as a low: the same access lets you spot it and act the way your team has worked out with you, rather than discovering it hours into a shift. Neither replaces being able to look at the screen and act on what it shows.
What changes how this plays out at work
Some workplaces (secure environments, clinical floors, warehouses) genuinely can’t have phones out everywhere. That doesn’t remove your right to manage your diabetes; it changes the shape of the adjustment. It might mean a dedicated reader device instead of the phone, or an agreed spot where you step to check, or short breaks logged as medical. Reasonable is not the same as convenient, and both directions matter: an adjustment that lets you catch a low is the same one that lets you deal with a high before it drags on.
How this looks in an ordinary week
Examples, not instructions or doses.
A manager who started last month sees you glance at your phone and assumes you’re off task. You explain it’s your CGM, and get shrugged off. This is the moment a written adjustment already on file with HR would have settled, without you having to defend it live.
Your CGM reads 5.5 mmol/L but the arrow points down, and you’ve been on your feet all morning. You need to look, decide and treat now, not at your next break. The reading and the trend together are why the phone can’t wait.
You work somewhere phones genuinely can’t be out. The adjustment isn’t 'phone at your desk', it’s a separate reader or an agreed place to step and check. Same management of the condition, different route.