Employers and Community Stakeholders Registered under SG Enable or Have Employment Programmes for Special Needs Adults
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns MP Er Dr Lee Bee Wah’s inquiry into the number of employers hiring special needs adults and government assistance for workplace adaptations. Minister Desmond Lee stated that over 1,000 employers have worked with SG Enable to facilitate inclusive hiring through advisory services, workshops, and internship programmes. Support includes the Special Employment Credit for wage offsets and the Open Door Programme, which funds training, workplace modifications, and assistive technology. Minister Desmond Lee also highlighted the Inclusive Business Forum and the Enabling Employers Network as platforms for stakeholders to share best practices and collaborate. Lastly, the Third Enabling Masterplan will enhance skills development and vocational training in special education schools to better prepare students for meaningful employment.
Transcript
32 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) to date, how many employers and community stakeholders are registered under SG Enable or have some form of employment programme for special needs adults; (b) what is the Ministry doing to encourage more to come on board to hire special needs people; and (c) whether more can be done to help employers with adapting the workplace and designing jobs for special needs employees.
Mr Desmond Lee: To date, SG Enable and its VWO partners have worked with more than 1,000 employers to hire persons with disabilities. SG Enable works with employers to build up their capabilities to train, hire and integrate persons with disabilities into their workforce. It offers advisory and consultancy services, disability management workshops and training at the Enabling Village, as well as job shadowing, internship and mentorship programmes and various online resources. It also helps employers assess their readiness to hire persons with disability and to identify areas they could work on to become more inclusive employers. When employers are ready to hire, SG Enable and its VWO partners will provide job placement and job support services.
The Government supports private sector employers who hire persons with disability in a variety of ways. For example, we give a Special Employment Credit to provide a wage off-set and defray costs for employers hiring persons with disabilities. We also provide grants under the Open Door Programme, which is a scheme administered by SG Enable and supported by Workforce Singapore and MSF. The Open Door Programme helps to fund employee training, workplace modifications, job re-design as well as the purchase of assistive technology devices that support persons with disabilities at work.
Later this month, SG Enable will hold the annual Inclusive Business Forum, which brings employers and other stakeholders together to share best practices and to collaborate in order to create more opportunities and supportive workplaces for persons with disabilities. MSF will continue to work with our partners to bring more employers on board the inclusive hiring journey.
Under the Third Enabling Masterplan, the Government will also enhance opportunities for persons with disabilities to leverage their abilities and secure meaningful jobs. We will work with key stakeholders such as industry leaders to identify new areas of skills development and to refine training and vocational programmes in our special education schools, to better prepare our students for employment. Business networks such as the Enabling Employers Network have also been set up so that businesses can learn from each other and support each other as they work towards becoming more inclusive.