New App Makes Retail Workplaces More Accessible for People with a Disability

Helping to increase the employment of a more diverse workforce

The first workforce management solution app to be fully accessibility compliant has been launched, making retail workplaces in Singapore and across the Asia-Pacific region more inclusive for people with disabilities and an ageing population.

The new release of Humanforce’s mobile app complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA rating. This means it meets 100 percent of the recommendations for making content accessible to people with disabilities including colour-blindness and low vision.

“There is an unresolved tension between the business and technology vendor desire for integrating the most advanced technology solutions that often best meet the needs of millennial workers, and also making the workplace more inclusive of diversity,” explained Mike McGee, Chief Product Officer, Humanforce. “Too often we see the former being the priority at the expense of workers with a disability and those that make up our ageing workforce.”

Recent research from McKinsey found that businesses, such as large chain retailers, with higher diversity are more likely to achieve higher financial performance. However, people with a disability are often overlooked when it comes to workplace diversity. The Ministry of Manpower found in June 2018 that 28.6 percent of people with a disability in Singapore were employed, while 4.2 percent were unemployed but looking for work, which translate to an unemployment rate of 12.9 percent. Additionally, it found that 67.2 percent of people with a disability were outside of the labour force due to poor health or disability. This compares to a 2.3 percent unemployment rate for the entire Singapore population.

“Retail employers can be doing much more to make the workplace more inclusive for the people with a disability currently working and also to increase employment of the many people with a disability looking for work. And as we see the retirement age raised to 35 by 2030 and the re-employment age also go up to 70 by 2030, we’re also going to see the number of people with a disability in the workplace increase.

“A key piece of the puzzle is ensuring all the workplace technologies retailers invest in to increase their success don’t work to preference younger workers, while discriminating against workers with a disability and the ageing population,” added Mike.

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