Companies ‘most important’ in enabling employment of persons with disabilities: Lawrence Wong

THE government’s Forward Singapore exercise, which aims to review and refresh the country’s social compact, will discuss how to be more inclusive and provide better support for people with disabilities, including on the employment front, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Thursday (Aug 25).

“But ultimately companies play the most important role,” he said, on the topic of supporting their employment.

Wong was speaking at the Inclusive Business Forum, which promotes best practices for disability-inclusive hiring and is organised by agency for disability SG Enable. He reiterated the Enabling Masterplan 2030’s target to achieve a 40 per cent employment rate for persons with disabilities by 2030, up from the current 30 per cent.

“That’s 10 percentage points. That’s 10,000 people. It’s an ambitious target. But it is achievable,” he said, noting that the group’s resident employment rate has already risen from 2019’s 28 per cent.

“Hopefully, we can reach it even earlier than 2030, and we can set an even higher target after that,” he added.

Wong noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has helped to promote greater inclusivity in work environments. Companies are making greater use of technology, which has increased willingness to adopt assistive technologies that help people with disabilities at work, such as speech recognition software and screen readers. The tight labour market and increased openness to flexible work arrangements could also help people with disabilities to secure employment, he said.

He called on companies to be more disability-inclusive, adding that in addition to being a social good, it also “makes good business sense”, citing a study by SG Enable.

The study found that companies with disability-inclusive practices saw higher retention rates due to a greater sense of purpose; a greater focus on customer needs as a result of employees’ increased empathy and awareness of individual differences; and a more collaborative and innovative work culture.

There is existing government support for hiring people with disabilities, such as wage offsets and grants for workplace modifications and equipment, as well as job matching services through SG Enable, noted Wong.

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But he added: “If we want to see a sustainable improvement in the employment outcomes of persons with disabilities, businesses must see it in their interest to hire such people – not just out of charity or social good alone, but because businesses truly believe in the benefits of disability-inclusive hiring.”