“In developing countries, 80% to 90% of persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed, whereas in industrialized countries the figure is between 50% and 70%.” (‘Disabled still face hurdles in job market’, The Washington Times, 5 December 2005).
“People with physical and mental disabilities continue to be vastly underrepresented in the American workplace,” said a 2003 Work Trends study conducted by Rutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. Misconceptions, on the other hand, are prevalent. One-third of the employers surveyed said that persons with disabilities cannot effectively perform the required job tasks. The second most common reason given for not hiring persons with disabilities was the fear of costly adaptations.”
‘The Next Great Hiring Frontier’, Wall Street Journal, 13 September 2005
How prevalent is prejudice and discrimination against the disabled in Singapore and Malaysia? We might like to think we do not, but are there misconceptions that may lead us to discriminate against the disabled? Recently, with the help of members of the SME-Connection and my Facebook friends, I conducted a survey to take a look at potential employers in this region to see if they are indeed prejudiced against the disabled. Do they inadvertently stereotype the disabled as incapable and unable to manage work well? Perhaps worse than this attitude is the indifference. Do they dismiss the disabled as an economic liability, with little potential in the corporate arena? Another common phenomenon is social stigmatization. Many disabled are stigmatized and often seen as not normal. Many mistakenly assume that the physically disabled is also mentally incapacitated.
Hypothesis: Employers feel that people with disabilities cannot effectively perform the required job tasks, are less capable mentally and physically, and thus will likely under-perform in most areas of their duties.
Method used: Online survey (using Survey Monkey, a free online survey design tool)
Subjects: The survey was sent to members of the SME-Connection Facebook group who are business owners of Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) in Singapore and Malaysia. They currently have 1191 members. It was also emailed to members of The Singapore Small Business Meetup Group which comprises 894 small business owners.
DeDesign:
Using Survey Monkey, I designed an online survey with the following questions:
1. How many people does your company employ?
2. Has your company ever employed a disabled person?
3. If yes, how have you found the experience?
4. If your company has never employed disabled people before, why not?
5. If you had 2 candidates with similar qualifications and capabilities but one had a physical disability, who would you select and why?
6. My company is hesitant to take on employees with disabilities even if there are no adaptation costs because:
Results:
There were a total of 22 respondents to my online survey. Out of that, 16 employed less than 10 staff, 3 had 11 to 50 staff while another 3 had more than 100 staff. Two had employed disabled people before, and were happy with the experience, showing that they had no prejudice towards disabled people. The rest (90.9%) had never employed anyone with disabilities.
While 51.7% did not do so because they felt they never had the opportunity to consider the option, at least 36.4 % (8 out of 22) had the opportunity but did not hire any disabled candidates for one or more of the following reasons:
Afraid of the higher costs involved to make workplace more disability-friendly. (4)
Afraid of inconvenience of adapting to special needs. (3)
Afraid disabled people may not be so capable or productive. (4)
When further probed with the question whom they would select if presented with two candidates with similar qualifications and capabilities but one had a physical disability, 25% (5 out of 20) said outright that they would choose the one with no disabilities.
The majority (76.2%) opted for the answer: “Hire whoever has more talent and suitable for the job, regardless of physical ability” but I suspect this is a “feel good” answer that sounds like the “right thing” to do in a hypothetical situation which may not be true when put to the test in real life.
Below are some of the explanations the respondents gave on their answer:
Hire both but leave the physically disabled one to limited and capable work only
Inconvenience
Past experience positive less job hoping. (This probably comes from the respondent who had hired the disabled before.)
I'm invest on creative industries, so need someone more talented, applicable for anyone.
Equal treatment is important, I have a chronic disorder myself so I know how it is.
More important is have task finished.
It is easier to manage a person with no disability. No matter what, a person with disability will have inconvenience people around them. Although noble - would hold back productivity of others too.
Looking at the last comment, I wonder if that is the sentiment felt by most business owners of SMEs who are more concerned about productivity and bottom-line results of the company. This fear could be why many companies would rather “do good” by contributing to a charity than take on a disabled staff that may hold them back.
As the second most common reason given for not hiring persons with disabilities was the fear of costly adaptations ‘(The Next Great Hiring Frontier’, Wall Street Journal, 13 September 2005), I then formulated the final question to take away this variable.
The answers to this question (they can select more than one answer) were:
My company is hesitant to take on employees with disabilities even if there are no adaptation costs because we are afraid:
They cannot effectively perform the required job tasks 69.2% (9)
They may take more sick leave 23.1% (3)
They are not as ambitious, capable and top performing. 15.4% (2)
They are slower mentally and physically. 7.7% (1)
Five elaborated as follows:
They may not be able to adapt to the hectic pace at work
We are not hesitant to employ people disability.
All the above are true, but it always depends on the nature of the company or business.
They may need more sick leave, but that can be negotiated. All other items are non-issues. If our office's accessibility is adequate to accommodate the disability, we have no qualms hiring
Conclusion:
So is there still a prejudice against disabled people in Singapore and Malaysia? From the results of this survey, I would say: unfortunately, yes. At least 55% of small business owners will hesitate to employ the disabled even if there was no extra adaptation costs. This is supported by the high unemployment rate for the disabled in developing countries in general, despite the various incentives and funds provided by the government for companies who hire the disabled. Singapore has the “Enable Fund” - a government initiative that provides financial support for businesses that hire four or more workers with disabilities.
Although the general feeling is that many employers in Singapore are gradually becoming more receptive to hiring people with disabilities as a result of our improved economy, public education about the disabled and the Enable Fund, my opinion is, there is still a long way to go, for small and medium size businesses. Note tha the Enable Fund may likely not apply to them as it is unlikely they will have more than four (out of maybe ten) staff who are disabled.
Even for companies who do make use of the Enable Fund, many of the disabled who are hired, may inadvertently be marginalised by the non-disabled to helpless roles – stereotypical jobs like telephone operators, service staff behind counters, etc. Transfer of resources from the more able may also be less forthcoming. Are the potentials of “these-abled” people fully recognised?
Hopefully, with the support of the government and employers who have taken the step and found the experience positive (like the two respondents in my survey), the attitude towards the disabled will change.
For now, I just hope this article will help to at least open up your minds to explore the possibility of hiring these-abled people in your organisation!
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