Flexing mothers' time

Perhaps one of the major hurdles any mother faces throughout her life is balancing family life with employment. The difficulty of being faithful to both can be, to say the least, exhausting, both physically and psychologically, with guilt and frustration combining to create a barrier against the ease with which the normal day-to-day functioning can proceed.

It has been said time and again that work practices have to change radically if women are to be embraced in the workforce with the least possible disruption to family life. However, much to the misfortune of many mothers, and hence families, employers can be typically blinkered and hard to budge, afraid to move away from work patterns which were originally moulded around the male figure who could, once upon a time, wave goodbye to wife and family early in the morning and return home at sunset to a hot meal, playful children and a sympathetic wife to serve him.

Today's most tangible reality has changed all that radically but employers seem immune to these changes and insist on holding on to the tried and tested, whether it is functional or not.

So, with this frame of mind, it is twice as exciting to meet one company which is pushing the norm aside and taking the plunge to be inventive with its time schedules.

Inspectra, a fledgling company set up in February 2005, has, over the past months increased its workforce impressively. From a mere two employees, the company now embraces a whopping 90 - and the good news is that they are in their very great majority, all women.

One of the directors, engineer Alfred Camilleri, meets me for a tour of the premises and explains the concept behind the set-up.

"The company is run by myself and another director, engineer Joe Caruana. Through our years in the manufacturing industry we identified a common problem in a variety of companies. These are plagued by the hassle of having to inspect finished products for defects, checking for visual defects and sorting the faulty items out of batches, whether incoming or outgoing. A lot of companies were losing time and money over tasks which basically involved quality control."

Inspectra formed itself around this need, catering for big manufacturers, both local and foreign, supporting them during critical times and not only. Obviously the employers needed a workforce to carry out the handiwork.

"We were aware available skilled people did exist - mostly women who had to leave work to raise a family. It is a known fact that factory work can be strenuous and involves long hours, something most mothers can hardly afford because it means staying away from the family. We decided to tap this pool of unemployed and yet well-trained women."

It has proved to be a very viable option, in the sense that these women who were already used to the production line, were already highly trained and disciplined in the needs of a manufacturing ambience.

The added novelty is that the new company has decided to mould itself around the needs of this mostly female workforce - male employees are barely seven, a veritable minority.

"The majority of the women on board are aged between 25 and 45, most are mothers with families. We offer them the flexibility of holding a job while caring for their family."

I get a detailed explanation of the timeframes - most women work between 8.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m., while the children are at school. Any employee is expected to work for a minimum of four hours a day, but if she feels she can contribute more, it is up to her. Some women first started off with four hours and gradually worked their way up to eight.

Others decided to increase to six hours a day. Some work mornings, leave to pick up children and settle the family at home, then return to work for another two hours in the evening. Needless to say, this flexitime arrangement works wonders.

Hinda Shakshaki is the only woman who spends the most hours on the job. As supervisor she is responsible for co-ordinating the training of workers, co-ordinating all the jobs to be done, as well as co-ordinating the women's time schedules around these jobs.

"During the mornings work peaks dramatically. Then most women move out and are replaced by another set of women who choose to work afternoons, in time for another peak between 2 and 6 p.m. These are usually women whose husbands are shift workers or who alternate part-time job hours. However we always have a core group of workers who are full-timers, and these in turn are supported by our pool of part-timers."

The flexibility of the system has been witnessed especially around stressful family periods, such as examination times and holidays.

"The first day of holidays is when all mums want to have a day off. It's not such a problem because we always have more women on our books than we actually need at any one time. Therefore this allows us to be so flexible."

Meanwhile, Inspectra, which only received exposure through effective word of mouth, found it has been working profitably all the year round, with work actually increasing during shut-down periods.

Mr Camilleri tells me how most companies actually give them more batches to inspect during shut-down so that work can resume effectively once the full workforce is back after holidays.

"The work here varies a lot. While most companies give us their batches to check in-house, some request that we send our employees over to their factories for inspections to be carried out on site."

Inspection jobs are very diversified. Materials involved include plastic, metal and rubber components. There are many parts, such as switches, articles for the automobile sector, food products, surgical instruments and pharmaceutical products, among many others.

David Dalmas, operations manager, indicates some parts for interiors of the new Alfa 159 model. He also indicates a new unit which will house checkers whose task is to inspect printed circuit boards, carrying out electrical testing with electrostatic devices.

Mr Camilleri speaks elatedly of foreign contacts. "We are presently working for five foreign clients, three of whom are Italian, one from the UK and another Belgian. Locally, we service nine companies for now."

One of Malta Enterprise's KBIC (Kordin Business Incubation Centre) baby companies, Inspectra has taken the centre completely by surprise. KBIC manager Brian Grima testifies: "When the company started off none of us realised what could actually materialise. It has definitely been a hugely rewarding story and an eye-opening experience which has proved successful.

"The strong influx of personnel in such a short period of time shows clearly that this innovative method of employment has a lot of potential. The company is now planning to move out to a 1,300 square metre set-up in Marsa and possibly diverisfy its services."

The high value-adding processes like those carried out by Inspectra are the sort of businesses ME is encouraging. Inspectra's success can be attributed to the company securing and retaining contracts with a number of local companies.

The latter are learning to focus more on their core tasks and competencies, while outsourcing secondary processes. This is because it is more cost-effective and helps their overall performance. Such Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is also to the clear advantage of young outfits like Inspectra.

Inspectra's secret to success? Its directors firmly believe it is their healthy pool of trained personnel, who would otherwise be a wasted resource. The leap of quality is achieved by seeking people who are already trained - it is hard to instil the discipline of the manufacturing line to a total newcomer.

And Mr Camilleri pointedly comments: "The added bonus for all these women has been to provide them with an employment option which has neither disrupted their lives, nor that of their families."

Readers interested in starting up a technology business or wishing to find out more about Inspectra can contact the Kordin Business Incubation Centre on 2398-0000 or e-mail info@kbic.com.mt. KBIC is a Malta Enterprise project and is accredited with the Business Innovation Centres (BIC) of the EU. Further information is available from the Website www.kbic.com.mt