Opening the event, Mr Wong said that Singapore’s success did not simply rely on economic growth, but also how comprehensive it was as a community.
He noted that this COVID-19 pandemic acquired helped paved the way for the more inclusive work environment. Employers were ready to hire PWDs to fill in manpower gaps in a tight work market.
Firms made better use of technology in order to facilitate work, which usually helped open employers to working with aiding technologies, such as talk recognition software. These types of could help PWDs function in the workplace. Flexible work arrangements also aided in the employment of PWDs.
But more can be achieved, he said.
“We need to do more to ensure everyone can participate fully in the progress of our nation. And for persons with disabilities, we will have to build on what we should have achieved up to now. ”
Mister Wong cited the Enabling Masterplan 2030 released last week, where the Government set the target of attaining an employment rate associated with 40 per cent meant for PWDs, an increase from your 30 per cent currently.
To aid the employability associated with PWDs, the Government already offsets up to 20 per cent of their income through the Enabling Work Credit and defrays up to 90 percent of the cost of workplace modifications and products to help companies accommodate PWDs’ unique needs.
Firms play the most important role, Mr Wong noted. More companies are being accredited with the Enabling mark, an SG Enable accreditation that acknowledges organisations for their best practices and outcomes in disability-inclusive employment.
Mr Wong named Microsoft, Thong Siek Food Sector and VITAL, the government agency underneath the Ministry of Financing, as a few good examples.
“If we want to see a sustainable improvement in the employment outcomes of individuals with disabilities, companies must see it within their interest to hire this kind of people – not really out of charity, not out of social great alone, but mainly because businesses truly rely on the benefits of disability-inclusive employing, ” he mentioned.
Companies were increasingly seeing the “good business sense” of being disability-inclusive, according to Mr Wong.
He shared results of research commissioned by SG Enable which showed that employees doing work in companies with disability-inclusive practices reported a larger sense of objective, leading to higher preservation rates among current employees.
These firms furthermore showed a greater concentrate on customer needs, and a more collaborative plus innovative culture, since employees became a lot more empathetic and more available to discussing new suggestions, Mr Wong stated.
Companies who were worried about the particular challenges of disability-inclusive hiring could consider starting with small-scale internship programmes or having a few full-time hires, such as Microsoft plus Thong Siek did, he added.
Firms may also tap on SG Enable, from work matching and training to job redesign and grant assistance.
“Ultimately, persons with disabilities do want to work and if given the opportunity, have many valuable abilities to offer. And as a society we must pay back it to them to provide them this chance. So let’s most of do our part to get 40 % of persons along with disabilities employed by 2030, ” said Mister Wong.