Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/887355
maltatoday SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 2017 Interview 14 On Friday, the Malta Employers' Association organised a workshop about the effect of 'social problems' on businesses: with a focus on "the extent to which employers should be involved in such issues and the mechanisms and techniques that exist to provide assistance at the workplace where possible." Is it really the remit of an employers' association to get involved with employees' private problems? As employers, we are already deeply involved in social issues, because we have a social burden to carry: there is National Insurance to pay, and there are also... let's call them 'non-productive days' that we pay for too: public holidays, vaca- tion leave and so on. That is part of any employer's social burden... and also a duty. Why not? But when other conditions are created in so- ciety... problems associated with drugs, gambling, marriage break- downs... these are things which affect everybody because we are all human. Because we care about people, we tend to get involved and try to help... They are also issues which affect the workplace. Work is an eight-hour daily arrangement, therefore a large part of the day and the life of the employee. If they are undergoing stressful periods, they tend to be unfocused, and not fully engaged. This situation can be detrimental to themselves, to their work colleagues, and also to their employer. The idea behind today's [Friday] workshop is to bring to- gether employers and the profes- sional entities who can assist both the employee and the employer in managing these stressful parts of our lives: firstly for the sufferer as personal assistance, and also to minimise the resulting effects at the workplace. But what sort of 'involvement' does the MEA actually envisage? Employers can help by firstly identifying the problem: which is not easy, as it totally depends on whether there are visible symp- toms, and whether the employee wants the problem to be identified. A good and sensitive employer can offer assistance in various ways, without being too invasive; and should be sensitive enough to as- sess the state to which the perfor- mance at work is being affected. There are, however, lines that should not be crossed: data protec- tion issues, privacy concerns, etc. Employees have rights, and em- ployers also have rights: we want to see how we can help both to observe those rights, without inter- fering with legality... because you can only help to a certain extent. Nowadays, there are entities that can offer specialised, professional help: counselling, even for employ- ers and colleagues... but especially, for the employee himself or herself. We got this group of speakers to- gether to make people aware what's available today; how we can help each other out, by using these ser- vices. First of all, we need to create awareness that these problems are not merely affecting the individual or any one employer: they are be- coming quite common. Secondly, we are guided as to how to deal with them; and thirdly, we have to know how to identify such prob- lems, and how to manage them... Isn't it slightly ironic, however, that one of the social problems singled out for this workshop is 'gambling': which in recent years has become something of a mainstay in the local economy... with Malta now a hub for the international online gaming industry? It is ironic. Very ironic. In fact, when you see due diligence being done, nowadays you actually have to declare that you have nothing to do with any companies that have shareholding with gaming. It's part of the normal bank form you would have to fill out. In the past, it used to be considered 'dirty money'. To- day, there is the argument that if gambling didn't take place online, it would happen underground in- stead... there's been a shift in per- spective. However, igaming is a legitimate business which many other countries would like to at- tract away from Malta to their own economies. This is one reason why there is pressure to harmonise cor- porate taxation across the EU. It is imperative that all political forces in Malta lobby for a retention of our tax regime so that sectors like igaming – which is contributing so much to our economy, both direct- ly through jobs and revenue, and indirectly through the spill over effects on the rest of the economy, including other services and the property market – will be retained in Malta. There's also been a shift in perspective about the nature of employment itself. The traditional concept of a 'job for life' seems to be less popular today: the job market is experiencing high employee turnover, as more and more employees favour short-term or part-time work instead. This has given rise to concerns about 'precarious employment'. Does the MEA agree this is a problem? We have to be very careful when it comes to defining things like pre- carious employment. Precarious work is an umbrella term which does not lead to a meaningful dis- cussion. What is termed as precari- ous employment can be classified into: illegal work practices, atypical employment, and unethical prac- tices. To give a practical example: 'atypical employment' might in- volve a special agreement between employer and employee. It may in- volve part-time work, or be slightly off the standard line of normal em- ployment. But does that mean that it is precarious? I don't think so. I recently attended the ILO meeting, and one of the subjects that was very deeply discussed was the fu- ture of work. Today, we are looking at teleworking... flexible work ar- rangements, whereby a job is done when, how and where the employ- ee likes... so long as the job gets done. We can't be too rigid about being there eight hours a day. We have to allow for these new world- of-work scenarios to come in. The unions tend to paint a very different picture of precarious work when they bring it up as an example of 'social problems'... It depends what one's idea of work is. If, to you, the standard is an eight-hour day at the office... I for one do not agree with that. To- day's standard is not yesterday's standard. But one must make a distinction here. Not all part time work, or new diverse work agree- ments, are to be classified as pre- carious work. In the modern world of work we need to be creative to absorb family friendly measures, and address work life balance is- sues... Is the rest of Malta ready for the transition, though? If we take a scenario where an employee is happy to accept a more flexible work agreement... what happens when he or she tries to take out a bank loan, and is told that the requirement involves steady employment for the foreseeable future? I would say the banks need to educate themselves about the new work realities, too. There are free- lance workers, who take on pro- ject work or short-term contracts. Things are moving in this direc- tion. Sooner or later we will have to redefine our entire understand- ing of 'employment'. Everything is now so connected worldwide... people travel and move so much, that yes, we will have to allow for these new realities. But do these 'new realities' cater for employees' rights to the full? Is MEA concerned that employers might concoct flexible work arrangements to, for instance, avoid paying higher salaries? We are concerned. Let me give you an old example of what used to happen. This is something we never agreed with, and always ar- gued against. When we had the 20-hour week, that was classified as 'part-time', but no law to pro- tect the pro-rata, or all the ben- efits that should go with part-time employment... employers tended to go for 19 hour-and-something- minute week, not to break the 20-hour barrier. This way, they wouldn't have to pay benefits. We were completely against this from the start. As MEA, we feel it is es- sential for the workplace to be in harmony, and for the employer- employee relationship to be on solid foundations. It is not accept- able for employers to exploit em- ployees to that extent... There is, however, more than one kind of exploitation. When the MEA made its proposals on sick leave – arguing that the first day should be counted as a 'waiting day' – some saw this as an attempt to curtail standard employee rights... The sick leave proposal came about after looking at how this is abused and how much it is costing economically. When we compared how we fare against the other 27 EU countries, we noted that the first day is a waiting day in some countries, and in Malta the gov- Raphael Vassallo Today, we are looking at teleworking... flexible work arrangements, whereby a job is done when, how and where the employee likes... so long as the job gets done. We can't be too rigid about being at the office eight hours a day. We have to allow for these new world-of-work scenarios to come in New realities at the wo It is crucial for salaries to be in line with the profession or skill offered to render a product or service successful, against both local and foreign competition. Failing this, there would be no employment... and therefore no salaries SALARIES TELEWORKING