110 disability-inclusive employers and individuals recognised at the 3rd Enabling Mark Awards Ceremony
15 Oct 2024
Highest number of annual award recipients to date, highlighting Singapore’s progress towards greater disability inclusion, with SG Enable calling for continued collaboration to enable persons with disabilities to live, learn, work and play in an inclusive society; new Employer Development Grant for employers.
SINGAPORE, 15 OCTOBER 2024 – 110 organisations and individuals were recognised today at the third Enabling Mark Awards Ceremony for their best practices and outcomes in disability-inclusive employment – the highest number recognised since its inception. This brings the total number of organisations accredited with the Enabling Mark to 246 to date. Organised by SG Enable, the awards ceremony held at PARKROYAL on Beach Road was attended by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, as Guest of Honour. Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth, and Social and Family Development also attended the event.
98 organisations were accredited with the Enabling Mark, SG Enable’s national-level accreditation framework that benchmarks and recognises disability-inclusive employers. The accreditation incentivises, inspires and supports organisations in their inclusive employment practices. These organisations come from public, private and people sectors, including multinational companies, small and medium-sized enterprises from diverse sectors such as Information and Communication Technology, land transport and financial services.
Furthermore, 12 individuals were presented with the Changemaker Awards, which comprise the Enabling Champion, Enabling Buddy, and Exemplary Employee awards. These awards either recognise management staff, supervisors and co-workers for their key contributions in integrating employees with disabilities and promoting disability inclusion within the organisation, or employees with disabilities who have made commendable efforts and contributions at the workplace.
Ms Ku Geok Boon, Chief Executive Officer, SG Enable, said: “As the specialist agency in disability-inclusive employment, it is encouraging to recognise the highest number of organisations and individuals this year, all who have played a crucial role in helping employees with disabilities to transition, integrate and thrive in their work environments. It is also heartening that employers have progressed across the accreditation tiers, affirming Enabling Mark’s value in providing a learning roadmap for organisations to become more mature in their inclusive practices. We congratulate our award recipients, including individual changemakers, for their stellar contributions towards disability inclusion and call on everyone to play their part in effecting change at work and beyond.
Leaders in disability-inclusive employment
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Collage of DPM Heng Swee Keat handing out trophies to the Enabling Mark (Platinum) recipients.
Top honours – the Enabling Mark (Platinum) – were awarded to nine organisations: Autism Resource Centre, Deutsche Bank, Foreword Coffee, Marina Bay Sands, Microsoft, Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Standard Chartered Bank, UOB and VITAL.
These Enabling Mark (Platinum) recipients have demonstrated excellence in disability-inclusive employment, including their recruitment practices, workplace accommodations and arrangements, relevant training and employment efforts that ensure employees with disabilities can work comfortably and to the best of their ability. Beyond cultivating an inclusive culture in the workplace, they also actively engage the community in disability inclusion.
Ms Pratima Amonkar, Director of Business Strategy, Microsoft ASEAN, said: "At Microsoft, we recognise that inclusion is a key driver of innovation, and we’re committed to inclusive design by involving people with disabilities in our product development teams and improving accessibility based on customer feedback through our Disability Answer Desk and Insider programmes. There’s more work to be done in this important space, but we’re seeing promising progress through initiatives like the Microsoft ASEAN Enabler programme supported by SG Enable and our partners to advance training, technology adoption and career opportunities for people with disabilities. We’re honoured to receive this recognition for our collective efforts to create an accessible and inclusive world for every unique person.
Additional funding support to enhance employers’ inclusive hiring capabilities
DPM Heng Swee Keat and SPS Eric Chua interacting with participants at the Enabling Mark Awards Ceremony.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development will introduce a new Employer Development Grant of up to $40,000 per employer, under the Open Door Programme (ODP), to build up employers’ inclusive hiring capabilities. This includes appointing, hiring or engaging an inclusive workplace champion or in-house job coach to put in place inclusive hiring practices. This is in addition to existing grants under the Open Door Programme, such as the Job Redesign Grant of up to $20,000 per employee with disability and Training Grant for employers which provides up to 90% course fee support. This is in line with the recommendation by the Taskforce on Promoting Inclusive Employment Practices (TIE) to enhance support for employers to put in place inclusive hiring practices to retain employees with disabilities and scale up inclusive hiring.
The Government will also work with SG Enable to support inclusive hiring champions in reaching out to other employers within their sector, to increase the pool of inclusive employers. SG Enable will identify and develop companies in the six target sectors identified by the TIE to become inclusive hiring champions via two channels – amongst Enabling Mark-accredited companies and by partnering relevant SkillsFuture Queen Bee companies.
UOB – re-accredited with the Enabling Mark (Platinum) this year after first receiving it in 2021 – has committed $2 million in continuous support of SG Enable initiatives to foster inclusive hiring.
In 2019, UOB launched "The Unlimited" as the first inclusive hiring collaboration among the public, private and people sectors in Singapore to promote sustainable employment for persons with disabilities. This underscores the collective commitment to create more opportunities for persons with disabilities and build a stronger and more inclusive workforce for Singapore.
Ms Gan Ai Im, Head of Group Wholesale and Markets Marketing, UOB, said: “We are honoured to be a recipient of Enabling Mark (Platinum) once again this year. This underscores our commitment to create more opportunities for persons with disabilities and build a more inclusive and strong workforce through The Unlimited as the very first inclusive hiring collaboration among the public, private and people sectors in Singapore.”
Organisations can apply for the Enabling Mark at enablingmark.sg; applications for the accreditation are open all year round.