Singtel aims to lead the way for organisations

Singapore

SINGTEL is looking to set an example for organisations to start hiring more people with disabilities.

It has just hired its first two employees with disabilities for its contact centre for customer support, and an intern, 21-year-old Dickson Tan, for its infrastructure team.

Mr Tan, who is visually impaired, is also one of the ambassadors for the newly launched "See The True Me" campaign by the National Council of Social Service.

Andrew Buay, Singtel vice-president for group corporate social responsibility, said: "Singtel wants to promote diversity of all elements because we see diversity in the company as a source of agility and innovation."

Singtel provides training for people with disabilities at the Singtel Enabling Innovation Centre in the Enabling Village in Redhill. "It gives persons with disabilities opportunities to gain corporate type skills which are currently in demand," he said. He believes that these people provide an alternative talent pool that organisations should look at.

With the latest assistive technology programs, people with disabilities are able to work as productively as those who are able-bodied. "The assistive technology can augment and complement some of the disabilities these people have," says Mr Buay.

For example, Mr Tan works with the infrastructure team to provide essential IT services for Singtel. He uses a screen reader program that reads to him the content on his computer screen.

Last year, Singtel provided seed funding of S$10,000 to six social impact start-ups to leverage technology to tackle social challenges faced by the disabled community. One of the start-ups, BevEat, lets people with disabilities use mobile technology to help them work better.

Singtel also hopes to bring corporations together to collaborate on mentoring programmes for tertiary or undergraduates with disabilities. Mentoring would allow them to secure jobs and improve networking.

"We hope that by raising advocacy and demonstrating that they are like any other talent, companies would be more aware and over time, with the right training and support, hire persons with disabilities," said Mr Buay.