What is the current attitude of deaf employees and employees who work with the deaf in Singapore regarding inclusive practices at work?

The Perception of Inclusive Workplace Practises Among Employees Working with Deaf Individuals in Singapore.

Introduction

Extrinsic Motivation

The concept of disability inclusion is often observed from the pragmatic perspective of funds (Wong & Wong, 2015; Lee, Mathews, Shing & Kuansong, 2017). Nevertheless, there is a need to shift the focus to personal wellbeing, development and engagement in different environments (Zhuang, 2016). According to Koh and Soon (2015), the Civil Society in Singapore in the recent past has moved to develop measures to help create inclusive workplace environment for disabled people.

Statistics from the Singapore Department of Statistics (2018) show that disabled make 3.4% of working population in the country. Although it may seem it is quite an insignificant proportion of the workforce (only 3%), in the current demographic situation, all groups of employees should be included in the labour market. It is also noteworthy that some industries and areas can benefit from the inclusion of disabled employees if appropriate working environment is provided (Yng, 2016). An increasing number of companies start acknowledging numerous benefits of including disabled employees due to their characteristics and ability to perform certain tasks effectively.

Deaf individuals make almost half of the disabled working population in Singapore, which makes it important to address the welfare concerns of this population. The inclusion of hearing-impaired employees may require modest investment (flashing alarm signallers or employees’ note taking can often suffice) , so companies will be able to enhance their workforce diversity. The current efforts to integrate disabled people in society include training, financial assistance and employment (Ministry of Social and Family Development, 2018). Unfortunately, these efforts do not tackle all issues or involve the whole society (Heera & Maini, 2018).

Yng (2016) mentions a serious obstacle preventing many disabled people from entering the labour force or enjoying equal opportunities with the rest of employees. One of the challenges for disabled people is the need to commute to different locations as working and public spaces still lack the appropriate facilities. As far as hearing-impaired people are concerned, environment-related obstacles include the absence of visual signals that could help them perform the assigned tasks effectively.

Yng (2016) also touches upon another important aspect related to inclusive working practices as customers’ being insufficiently informed can lead to certain misunderstanding and even conflicts. Numerous issues disabled people have to face in their professional life causes a lot of distress and puts these people under considerable pressure (Hui, 2016). They tend to feel discriminated and have difficulties in becoming a part of teams. Inappropriate level of management’s knowledge regarding disability is named as one of the primary reasons for the maintenance of organisational cultures that are inappropriate for inclusive working practices incorporation (Hui, 2016). Hence, there is a need to enhance the efforts, involve the whole society and improve inclusive workplace practices to successfully integrate and involve deaf employees.

Intrinsic Motivation

As a deaf person working in the telecommunication industry as a senior UX designer for four years, I have experienced some communication challenges when trying to communicate with my colleagues at work. The challenges include difficulties in discussing project details and conveying design ideas during meetings. Many times, it is not the unwillingness to help but rather the lack of existing frameworks and mechanisms to enable efficient and effective communication. I personally identify with the need to make workplaces more truly inclusive for deaf employees as I have a friend with a hearing impairment who often shares his views regarding the existing obstacles. The stories told by this person make my relationship with a deaf individual a guiding element as I have identified some of the areas to explore based on the ideas shared by my friend.

Problem Statement

Current inclusive workplace practices in Singapore do not address all issues and challenges pertaining to the integration of deaf employees in their place of work (Heera & Maini, 2018). The challenges lead to reduced productivity due to low motivation levels. Few studies on inclusion have explored inclusive practices for deaf working individuals (Morgan, 2017), most studies focus on general diversity inclusion. Therefore, there is a need to study the current workplace practices in order to design solutions that foster inclusive working practices for deaf employees and those employees who work with the deaf.

Some of the areas of major concern include environmental, communication-based, and those associated with organizational culture. This study will highlight the participants’ attitudes towards the physical outline of their working places, as well as their commute routes. Many disabled people find it difficult to get to their workplace on time, especially when it comes wheelchaired people (Yng, 2016). At that, deaf people also have difficulties as they may miss some signals, which can lead to certain negative consequences such as unmet deadlines or unnoticed notes from customers. The scope of this study includes the identification of obstacles for deaf employees.

The development of relationships with other employees is another serious challenge many disabled people have to address (Heera & Maini, 2018). This area is specifically relevant for employees with hearing impairment as they tend to find it difficult to communicate with colleagues, which results in negative consequences and poor performance of teams. Deaf employees may experience multiple negative situations due to the lack of or low-quality communication with their supervisors and customers. Improper communication often hinders effective collaboration and company’s performance, which, in its turn, leads to the creation of unfriendly working atmosphere. Deaf people may feel isolated, which has adverse effects on their motivation and performance. Hence, this study will include this area, and the participants will be invited to share their views regarding communication-related challenges they encounter in their professional life.

More importantly, certain attention will be paid to the participants’ perspectives concerning the incorporation of inclusive workplace practices into organizational cultures. The use of some instruments and practices enabling disabled people to be included into companies’ operations does not translate into friendly and effective working environments. Sporadically used inclusive workplace practices are insufficient or even harmful as they prevent employees from developing proactive attitudes, as well as specific skills necessary to collaborate in the inclusive environment. This study will explore whether the participants feel they are a part of the workforce.

Hunt Statement

I intend to examine inclusive working practices, as well as the perspectives regarding inclusivity of deaf employees and employees who work with the deaf in Singapore, which will be instrumental in designing solutions that will improve or enhance current inclusive practices for both deaf employees and employees working with deaf.