Behind Grab's push for more diverse workspaces

GrabFood has around 20 riders with physical disabilities carrying out food deliveries.

When Juni Syafiqa Binte Jumat landed a job at GrabFood to deliver orders on her electric wheelchair, it marked the end to a three-year search for an elusive job and a step forward for more inclusive workplaces in Singapore.

Through a flexible work schedule, Jumat is able to carry out deliveries on her wheelchair and work only short distances as GrabFood’s support team helps in unassigning orders that are too far to carry out. “It was the first time a company looked past my disabilities and did not ask for any education certifications. I’ve worked with GrabFood for 11 months now,” she said.

GrabFood has around 20 delivery partners with physical disabilities, a spokesperson told Singapore Business Review, out of approximately 13,000 riders as of April 2019 data. The platform also offers free personal accident insurance and dental benefits to its drivers as part of its welfare programme.

“For delivery-partners who have been identified with physical disabilities, we currently prioritise them for the shorter distance jobs. These delivery-partners who require real-time support from our team may also contact us via phone hotline, in app help centre or Telegram,” the spokesperson said, adding that they are considering enhancing the platform’s functionalities so as to only assign jobs at wheelchair-friendly locations and indicate on the app that they have physical disabilities so that merchants and eaters can have better expectations.

Inclusive workplaces
Persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Singapore account for 0.55% of the resident labour force, according to a 2018 study from Workday cited by the Disabled People’s Association.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary response from the Ministry of Social and Family Development indicated that 8,600 PWDs were employed in 2017, up 9% from 2015. On a separate note, SG Enable, an agency dedicated to supporting PWDs, stated that 559 landed jobs from April 2017 to March 2018, as a result of its initiatives.

Singapore has measures in place to encourage PWD hiring including the Open Door Programme which offers employers incentives and subsidies to employ PWDs, according to Dr Marissa Lee Medjeral-Mills, executive director of the Disabled People’s Association, although the road ahead is still fraught with difficulties.

“Hiring people with disabilities is still a rarity in Singapore,” she said.

"Current positions made available to individuals with special needs are usually entry-level and there aren’t enough executive-level jobs that cater to PWDs," Mills noted. "It is also important to understand what types of jobs constitute the small percentage of PWDs in the workforce- whether they are outside the traditional sectors, such as hospitality, F&B, and data entry, where they would be more likely to be employed."

Dr. Medjeral-Mills said that there is still a need of legislative policies similar to the Anti-Discrimination or Equal Employment Opportunity Act which could push employers to improve on their existing inclusivity policies. “A lot more people with disabilities should be in employment especially given the healthy number of subsidies and incentives that the government offers,” she added.

Lee Hui Lin, assistant director for employment and training at SPD, a charity for PWDs, noted that employers could do their part by identifying core job competencies and be open to modifying or reassigning duties to give more employment opportunities to PWDs. “Employers and the general public need to recognise that people with disabilities can work efficiently if given the opportunities, training and accommodation support, such as assistive technology, job carving and job modification,” Lee said.

The sentiment was echoed by Juni who believes that more can be done to increase earning opportunities for PWDs in Singapore. “The most prominent challenge is definitely the mindsets of employers. There is still a stigma towards people with disabilities, and it is hard for employers to look past our disabilities and see us for what we are capable of doing.”

By Nathanielle Punay