Employment of PwDs in Public Versus Private Sectors and Sharing of Best Practices

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the ratio of persons with disabilities hired by the public sector compared with the private sector; (b) among the public agencies, which have the highest proportion of people with disabilities in their workforce; (c) have other public agencies been able to learn from their best practices; and (d) if the private sector has a higher proportion of disabled workers, what lessons can public agencies learn from it.

As of December 2023, about one in 420 public officers and one in 240 private sector employees are persons with disabilities. It would not be meaningful to compare the proportion of persons with disabilities hired in the public and private sector, and even among agencies within the public sector, as the types of jobs in each sector or agency may differ.

Since 2019, SG Enable has been facilitating the sharing of best practices in inclusive hiring among public agencies through regular Public Sector Networking Sessions. Today, seven Public Service agencies have achieved the Enabling Mark, a national-level accreditation framework by SG Enable, that recognises organisations for their best practices and outcomes in disability-inclusive employment.

As per the recommendations of the Enabling Masterplan 2030 Taskforce on Promoting Inclusive Employment Practices, we will continue to build on this by identifying inclusive hiring champions amongst Public Service agencies to accelerate the adoption of inclusive hiring practices. Champions will share their experience in hiring persons with disabilities and best practices with other Public Service agencies and provide guidance and support for them to do the same.

SG Enable also works closely with employers, in both the public and private sectors, to support the employment and retention of persons with disabilities and build their capabilities to do so. Under the Open Door Programme (ODP), administered by SG Enable, persons with disabilities and employers receive support for job redesign, and up to one year of job matching and customised employment support from trained job coaches. Job coaches will advise employers on how they can create accessible work environments and make reasonable job accommodations to enable employees with disabilities to perform their roles effectively and work well with co-workers.

Grants under the ODP also provide subsidies for employers and their employees without disabilities to attend workshops that equip them with the knowledge and skills to interact with, hire, integrate and retain employees with disabilities in their organisation.