Special needs persons in hotel, F&B work with YMCA-Inclus training

Ms Tay Yee Ling, a 30-year-old with special needs, has not had a full-time job before.

But after going for eight weeks of training in housekeeping under a new initiative for people with special needs, Ms Tay, who has global developmental delay, went for guided interviews and landed her first one as a hotel room attendant.

The training programme by YMCA and social enterprise Inclus has helped its first batch of young adults with special needs to get jobs in the hospitality and food and beverage sectors.

Two of the six trainees who completed the programme have secured full-time employment with industry partners such as Grand Copthorne Waterfront. The other graduates have also received offers from some of the 15 employers on board the programme, including Millennium Hotels and Resorts.

The graduates, who include those with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder, were recognised for their achievement in a ceremony at YMCA yesterday.

YMCA trains the young people in skills like housekeeping, general cleaning and customer service, and works to place them in jobs. Specialists from Inclus assess and support the trainees, from matching them to suitable jobs to accompanying them for job interviews.

Inclus also follows up with the graduates and their employers for a year, working closely with their families to tackle any issues that come up during their employment.

Ms Zeng Shujuan, director of human resources of South-east Asia at Millennium Hotels and Resorts, said the pandemic has taken a toll on the hotel industry, and the company has lost workers to other industries. The hotel chain had to recruit from alternative sources, and that was when it partnered Inclus to hire people with special needs to work in its hotels.

It works with the special needs employees' families to understand their needs, prepares department heads for what to expect and matches the workers to specific roles. It also pairs them with an experienced buddy and eases them into their roles by, for instance, letting them start with shorter hours.

"Some people are quite surprised that persons with special needs can work in a hotel ... But there are many jobs within the hotel, and with the right training, the right job placement and the right support system in place, there are definitely areas we can bring them into," said Ms Zeng

Ms Sharon Chan, YMCA's division head of programmes, said: "Through this programme, we hope to empower them towards independent living, while encouraging other organisations to give them a fair chance."