This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 20, 2025 - January 26, 2025
Amirul Safuan Mohd Ishak has not always been identified as a person with disabilities (PWD). His life took a turn in 2020 when he met with a car accident. The aftermath left him almost entirely paralysed and bedridden for a year.
Because of that, he wasn’t able to continue his 18-year career in the banking and investment industry. Amirul didn’t give up and continued applying for jobs but could not find one that was suitable for him.
Instead of feeling glum, he decided to take up the challenge of being an entrepreneur. Incidentally, his ex-colleague Andrew Yeow was establishing the co-working space WORQ and invited him to join a networking party.
That proved to be a fruitful event as Amirul made the necessary connections with start-ups, venture capitalists and partners that inspired him to eventually establish Ameer Safone Ventures, which creates and sells its own brand of perfume and fragrances. This venture was launched in the co-working space WORQ in February 2024.
This whole experience, however, reflected the lack of preparation by workplaces to onboard PWDs, in his view.
“I had offers from other companies but they didn’t have specific policies [for PWDs] and had only wanted to develop them when I joined. Even when I spoke to the Social Security Organisation (Socso), they said that there are not many companies in Malaysia that have prepared a platform for PWDs to be onboarded,” says Amirul.
He believes this lack of preparation is among the factors that have hindered the government’s aim of having 1% of civil service employees made up of PWDs, a target set in 1988.
According to the Malaysian Employers Federation, there are 637,537 registered PWDs but only about 12,000 were employed as at September 2023.
The federation added that based on the 2023 data for the total number of public servants in Malaysia, the 1% employment quota for PWDs should amount to at least 162,000 being hired. Evidently, there is a need to curate and plan work policies suitable for PWDs to fully tap the nation’s talent pool.
Socso has been assisting PWDs in finding employment through its job placement programme and disability equality training for employers. Yet, the reality is that not all doors will be open to them.
“I think the challenge for PWDs is that despite the training, when they are out in the real world, the door is not open. It could be that the corporates are still thinking about how they can adapt to PWDs being part of the working capital,” says Amirul.
There is still a prejudice against PWDs, he says. Accessibility to transport and travelling around the city are also a challenge. Beyond public transport, there is a need to consider the last mile to the PWDs’ destination.
“Previously, I had to get to my office from the MRT on my wheelchair along the main road. In the end, I sometimes had to use a private mobility provider to send me to work, which cost me about RM300 a day,” says Amirul.
The good news is that the shift to remote work and hybrid work models has been a game changer for disabled and marginalised individuals, who do not need to bear the stress of commuting and can work in their home environment now.
However, remote work can get lonely and isolating at times. This is why Amirul chose to base his office in WORQ at TTDI Glo Damansara Mall, which has made the workspace accessible to PWDs and has networking events that benefit him as an entrepreneur. Amirul is also a business consultant for WORQ, providing marketing and branding services for the company.
WORQ allows Amirul to have a hybrid work schedule, which means he only needs to be in the office one or two days a week. The office layout was designed from the beginning to be wide and accommodating to wheelchair users, and the building itself has working lifts and wide walkways.
“For the rest of the time, I will be at home working through online platforms for meetings and presentations,” he says.
Being able to be comfortable in a work environment is key for creativity, says Amirul. He thinks that this flexibility not only benefits PWDs but also working mothers, caregivers and people with learning disabilities.
This is something that WORQ wants to promote, says Yeow. He tells ESG that the company aims to provide support to PWDs and disadvantaged groups, such as single mothers, retirees and freelancers.
“When my co-founder Stephanie Ping and I started WORQ, we wanted to solve two big things. One is the real estate element and the other is the community element,” he says.
Flexible work arrangements have their benefits. The social element can be fulfilled and the traditionally disadvantaged groups can find it more viable to pursue a full-time career.
“We also saw how flexible work concepts have enabled a big part of the disadvantaged groups. Before [PWDs], one of the biggest groups we focused on was actually mothers who have to make a choice to care for their family [or go to work],” says Yeow.
He commends the government on providing a 50% tax reduction to employers for hiring women returning to work in Budget 2025. He urges further incentives for flexible work arrangements to assist these mothers as they may need to stay home to attend to their children.
“We also met many retirees who have a lot of experience. They have also faced a stigma [when wanting to get back into the workforce]. By creating a community-based space, we want to increase awareness that there is such talent and to match them with employers with a place for them to interact and get to know each other,” he adds.
Yeow sees more service-based jobs from overseas clients being offered nowadays, which breaks the geographical barrier for job-seeking Malaysians.
“A lot of our freelancers and small businesses who run [in WORQ] service clients from Japan and South Korea, and that is when they realised that there is a labour force in Malaysia that they can tap that is more economical.”
At the end of the day, it isn’t about big sweeping transformations but thoughtful and consistent support given to PWDs and disadvantaged groups at work.
“Perhaps we can learn from Germany and the UK, where they provide funding for corporations to provide tools for PWDs, such as special computers and Meta glasses that have audio assistance for the blind, to help PWDs to be more productive,” says Amirul.
He adds that the government can also consider giving tax exemptions to companies if they hire PWDs to encourage more inclusive hiring.
“For PWDs, there is also the issue of confidence due to public perception. If you don’t go out and explore, how will people know what you need?” says Amirul.
Additionally, an understanding between corporations and their workers is needed, and this can be achieved through continuous conversation.
“As a PWD, I feel it is important to have this accessibility of meeting with people. When you are able to connect with lots of people and companies, you get to learn from these people. With more connections, you can even build your business,” says Amirul.
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