Keynote Address by Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Eric Chua at the Enabling Mark Business Conference
1 A very good morning everybody.
2 Meet Daniel Kwa. He’s a data centre operations engineer at OCBC. But let me take you back to the day when he was looking for his first job.
3 Daniel went from Pathlight to ITE, then on to polytechnic and then enrolled in NTU. He graduated in 2023 with an Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree. He then sent out nearly a hundred job applications. He had one or two interviews. No offers. Nothing.
4 I am Eric Chua. For our friends who are visually impaired, I’m a middle-aged skinny Chinese man in a navy suit and white shirt.
5 On my lapel is a pin by Thaddeus, the artist behind Thaddino. Thaddeus lives with autism and designed these dinosaurs carrying the Singapore flag. To me, they’re a little picture of a Singapore where everyone has something to contribute.
6 Over the years, I’ve listened to parents who wonder whether someone will give their son or daughter that first chance at work. Daniel got that chance at OCBC. Today, we know the engineer that he became. But picture his application on your desk, two years back. How would you have found out what he could do?
7 Daniel is living with autism. Sometimes, he needs a little more time to think through a question. Now, I want all of us to imagine that Thaddeus is sitting opposite you right now. You pose a question. He pauses. In those few seconds, some of us might already be forming an opinion about them. It is natural for us to do so.
8 But if you think about the job you’re hiring for. Does it require somebody to answer so quickly? What might you hear if you had waited for his answer?
9 Daniel got help from job coaches at the Autism Resource Centre’s E2C or Employability and Employment Centre. They helped him prepare for interviews and he first joined OCBC as a Cyber Threat Analyst.
10 At the bank, his colleagues explained what they expected of him, gave him feedback that he could use, and they trusted him to get on with his work. Over time, Daniel came to feel that he belonged on the team.
11 As his supervisor and colleagues worked alongside him, they noticed that his strengths might suit another role. So, they worked with his job coaches, and Daniel moved into data centre operations, and that was how he became the engineer he is today.
12 But in Daniel’s journey, what struck me was the fact that somebody kept paying attention after Daniel was hired.
13 Most of us know what it feels like to belong at work. For instance, a colleague calls out to you, “Hey would you like to come for lunch?” Someone turns to you in a meeting and says, “You’ve worked on this before, what do you think about this problem we have on our hands?” And sometimes, somebody says something you remember, even years later: “I know you’d be good at this. Would you like to give it a try?”
14 Maybe someone once said that to you. Maybe that’s how you came to do the work you do today.
15 Now from OCBC, let me take you into a café. In 2020, smol café & salad bar hired its first Deaf staff member.
16 Think about a busy kitchen. Someone calls out an order. A colleague behind you needs your attention. So much of what you need to know comes through sound.
17 At smol, customers can point to pictures on a menu. Mirrors help staff see what’s happening behind them. Lights and vibrations let Deaf colleagues know when something needs their attention.
18 And actually, the hearing staff at smol went for sign language lessons! SG Enable’s Job Redesign Grant helped pay for those lessons!
19 Imagine turning up for your first day and finding out your colleagues have been learning to sign, so that they can communicate with you.
20 Other employers have seen benefits too. A review of 39 studies on hiring persons with disabilities found that employers reported better staff retention, higher productivity, better ideas. Inclusive hiring is one way businesses can do good. But it can be good for business, too.
21 In May this year, many of my friends with disabilities and their loved ones joined me for a picnic at Marina Barrage. Here is a photo of a few of us trying to squeeze into a selfie. And that’s Hester, Lee Lee’s guide dog, on the picnic mat with us.
22 I’ve been listening to persons with disabilities and their families since our work on the Enabling Masterplan 2030 started. One question that keeps coming back to me via parents is, “What will working life be like for my son or daughter after they leave school?”
23 Will they find a job that suits them? If they have a hard day at work, who can they turn to? And once they’ve learnt the job, will someone give them a chance to try something new?
24 I heard those hopes again through the Taskforce on Assurance for Families with Persons with Disabilities. It reinforced something parents have taught me over the years: when they ask about a first job, they’re already thinking about what comes after.
25 To be sure, employers we met through the Taskforce engagements also had questions. How do I prepare my team? What changes would help? And if we get stuck, who do we call? For this one, let’s start with SG Enable.
26 SG Enable’s new Employment Support Office will help employers work through those questions, with practical guides for different sectors.
27 Sometimes you know what would help, and the question is how to pay for it. In the first half of 2027, we’ll bring three grants together into one single Enabling Employment Grant. It will help employers adapt your training, support a wider range of courses for your team, and provide more funding for in-house job coaches.
28 Today, I’m pleased to share how we’ll strengthen the Enabling Employment Credit. The Credit already helps employers pay the wages of eligible employees with disabilities. We’ll raise the monthly income ceiling from $4,000 to $5,000, so more employees can qualify.
29 If you hire someone who’s been out of work for at least six months, you can receive additional wage support. We’ll increase that support and extend it from nine months to a full year. With that extra help, the Credit could cover up to half the employee’s monthly wages for the first year. That’s up to $1,000 a month. And you’ll receive payouts on a quarterly basis instead of twice a year.
30 Wage support can help an employer give someone a good start. What happens after that depends on the people they work with. Daniel’s colleagues got to know him well enough to see where and what he could do his best work. That’s how the bank found its data centre engineer.
31 Next, let me introduce you to two friends of mine. This is Allan Cai in the middle. And this is Johannes Cheong. We walked together at the Purple Parade last year.
32 Allan works at Mushroom Buddies. He harvests and packs mushrooms. His colleagues also trust him to look after their timesheets. Johannes works at UNIQLO. When someone asked him about his work, he showed them the watch that UNIQLO gave him for five years of good service. He was proud of that watch.
33 And I’m proud to call them my friends. And I wonder how often we decide what someone can do before we’ve taken the time to get to know them.
34 In Singapore, we say there are many multiple paths to success. We want young people to know that what they can do with their hands counts too, not just academic results. That promise, surely has to hold for young people with disabilities, too.
35 I once spoke to a chef from a local bakery about the apprentices that they have who are living with autism. The chef told me they could count on those apprentices to turn out good croissants, batch after batch, day after day. The folks at Eden + Elie told me something similar. They spoke about the care their apprentices with autism took with each piece of jewellery in their hands. What struck me was how well these employers knew each person’s work.
36 Now, let’s think of someone already on your team. What’s one thing they do really well? Tell them what you’ve noticed. Then ask, “What part of your work are you most proud of?” Their answer might surprise you.
37 And the next time you’re hiring, choose one task the job actually requires. How could you give the applicant a fair chance to show you they can do it? Maybe you could let them try. Maybe you wait a little longer for their answer.
38 Somewhere in Singapore today, somebody is filling in a job application. Perhaps, it could be for a place on your team. Five years from now, what would you want their working life to look like?
39 For me, I would like them to have colleagues who know what they’re good at. Someone they can turn to on a hard day. A supervisor who asks, “What would you like to try next?” And when a more senior role opens up, I’d like someone in the room to put their name forward. Because they know their work.
40 That someone could be you in this hall today. You could be the one who says, “I’ve worked with her. I’ve seen what she can do. Let’s ask her.”
41 Imagine that happening in workplaces all across Singapore. Together, we can make disability inclusive hiring ordinary.
42 On that note, thank you very much for being here today.