Speech by President Halimah Yacob at the Enabling Mark Awards Ceremony

Mr Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Deputy Secretary-General of NTUC

Mr Eric Chua, Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development

Mr Chew Hock Yong, Chairman, SG Enable

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Good afternoon.

I am delighted to be here today to present the inaugural Enabling Mark Awards. These awards celebrate the spirit of inclusion, as well as the commitment, best practices and outcomes of organisations and individuals in disability-inclusive employment.

In October last year, I launched the Enabling Mark. It is the first national-level accreditation framework that recognises employers who are disability inclusive and innovative in enabling employees to fulfil their potential.

Today, I am happy to congratulate 88 organisations that are accredited with the Enabling Mark. Among them, 69 organisations were accredited with Silver, 13 with Gold and 6 with the highest accolade – Platinum. These employers have made remarkable efforts to tap on a wider talent pool of persons with disabilities. By focusing on their abilities, persons with disabilities can be gainfully employed, along with a sense of identity, purpose and social connectedness.

In particular, the six organisations that are receiving the Enabling Mark (Platinum) have demonstrated a strong culture of inclusivity. Their policies and practices support disability inclusion in the areas of Leadership, Culture and Climate; Recruitment Practices; Workplace Accessibility and Accommodations; Employment Practices and in promoting disability inclusion to the wider community. They have hired and integrated employees with disabilities in the workplace, and we will hear more about them later.

I am also glad to confer the Enabling Innovation Award on four recipients for putting in place new projects, ideas or innovations to improve the employability or productivity of persons with disabilities.

One such project is the Beautiful Minds programme by Procter & Gamble (P&G) Singapore. This programme enables the employment and support of persons with disabilities by matching successful candidates with specific roles suitable for  their skillsets.  In collaboration with the Autism Resource Centre, P&G has developed customised support processes for hiring, onboarding and training for persons with autism, some of whom  have graduated from on-the-job training and are now working full-time as product supply analysts in the organisation. P&G has also recently welcomed an employee with autism as an associate researcher within its Singapore Innovation Centre Research & Development team. I am glad that P&G plans to expand this programme to other departments, and offer an even broader selection of roles to be matched with varying abilities.   

I hope that the experiences of these award recipients will encourage other organisations to employ persons with disabilities. SG Enable is committed to supporting employers in this effort through the Open Door Programme (ODP). The ODP provides job placement and job support services, training support and the Job Redesign Grant to defray costs such as workplace modifications. The Government also administers the Enabling Employment Credit (EEC) which provides 20% wage support to employers of eligible persons with disabilities. Last year, around 6,100 employers have benefited from the Special Employment Credit, which was the pre-cursor of the EEC. I encourage organisations to tap on such resources to do more in inclusive hiring.

Today, we also recognise 12 individuals who have made significant contributions as disability inclusion champions in their organisations, or as exemplary individuals with disabilities who made a mark at their workplace with their extraordinary performance.

One such individual is Fiona Tan, who will be receiving the Exemplary Employee Award. Fiona has worked at the National Archives of Singapore for eight years. Her physical disability has not stopped her from undertaking diverse work responsibilities in three different departments during those years. Fiona also played an instrumental role in the design of the Former Ford Factory mobile app, which was recently awarded the prestigious 2020 “Exemplary Innovator” award by the Ministry of Communications and Information.

Many colleagues would know Fiona as someone who is always ready to contribute in areas beyond her scope of work. Though she is no longer part of the project team for the galleries, Fiona continues to volunteer to conduct guided tours for guests. She also regularly takes on other roles, such as being a guest speaker and emcee for the Archives’ public engagement programmes, writing publication articles, and volunteering as a facilitator at events.

Like Fiona, the other Exemplary Employee Award recipients are role models to their peers, demonstrating that persons with disabilities can excel when organisations focus on their abilities and provide support.

My heartiest congratulations to all award recipients. I hope you will continue to blaze the trail and chart new paths in disability inclusion. I encourage everyone to inspire, influence, and involve your partners and stakeholders in this journey. Together, let us move towards a more inclusive and enabling society.

Thank you.