Mothers need to work from home

Katya Rossignaud has been teleworking for a year. She says she was the first employee to work in this way, adding that it was not easy to convince management to implement these measures at the workplace, especially for young women who need to care for their children. Some managers are sceptical about the quality and quantity of work that can be done from the home, Ms Rossignaud adds.

Ms Rossignaud's occupation includes updating the company Website, reading for research, sending e-mails and carrying out other administrative responsibilities - therefore work that can easily be performed from home.

She is happy to work from home instead of leaving her young child with a stranger or a family member. This way she feels she can perform her responsibilities in her own time from the comforts of her home, while also being with her child. She is physically at the office twice a week.

She feels that at MTA, teleworking is far from being fully introduced as a business solution for employees. In Malta, private companies do not offer parental leave to their employees. An example would be Ms Rossignaud's husband, who only got a day or two after their daughter was born.

Ms Rossignaud feels very strongly about the implementation of telework because she sees no use in employing an individual with no experience for the period during which the mother is on maternity leave. This means an extra expense for the company in terms of recruiting and training.

She argues that if employers encouraged new mothers to work from home, many more women would successfully manage to care for their young children while continuing to work. In this way parents can also watch their children grow while retaining their employment.

Ms Rossignaud emphasises the fact that there is a major need for more companies and organisations in Malta to adopt family-friendly measures at the workplace, as there is a high percentage of women who face similar problems.

They have children and want to go back to work but will not leave their newborn in someone else's hands. These women need solutions during this important phase in their lives. Telework and flexi-time need to be adopted and implemented in the hope of offering better business solutions to employees with work and family responsibilities.