Measure benefits women

A measure widely seen to facilitate female participation in employment comes into force today with a legal framework regulating temping agencies.

This will create a win-win situation judging by the experience of other countries

The legal notice governing the setting up of such agencies will effectively introduce to Malta the concept of temporary workers, who can be contracted by companies to step into the shoes of employees, such as parents, who need to be away from work for a while.

Temps, as they are more commonly known, provide the private sector with stop-gap solutions in many different scenarios, such as when employees go out on long leave, sick leave or even when companies would need a human resources boost to cope with a particularly busy period.

Their introduction has been particularly called for by both employers and women’s organisations in the context of increasing female participation in the labour market, which in Malta is at 40.5 per cent.

There was consensus that the support temping agencies give to the private sector would facilitate maternity leave and, therefore, female employment. The measure, in fact, comes into force in the wake of a Budget ostensibly aimed at boosting the family with tax cuts for parents and the extension of maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks.

The legal notice will provide a regulatory framework laying down parameters of employment and rights of temporary agency workers.

The workers need not be part-time because, in many cases, they are employed full-time with the agency that hires them. However, unlike more conventional workers, they would not be employed directly with the company that hires them but are deployed to different companies that would enter into a contract with the agency that hired them.

Temp workers would have – during their replacement period – the same basic working and employment conditions as though they had been recruited by the company. They will also be able to take advantage of training offers and make use of all the facilities available to other employees, such as childcare or transport, for example.

“It is not a recruitment agency because the temporary agency workers remain employed with the agency. A recruitment agency can facilitate the stages of the recruitment process on behalf of an employer but does not directly employ persons seeking employment with that employer,” a spokesman for the Parliamentary Secretariat for Consumer Affairs said.

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said described the legal notice as a “milestone”.

“We believe there is further scope for temping agencies to operate and to offer their services and the government’s primary aim is to further facilitate the entry of whoever is looking for a job into the labour market,” he said.

These agencies will help employers fill temporary vacancies as quickly as possible, he explained, ensuring minimal losses caused by a reduction in the workforce and production.

“This will create a win-win situation judging by the experience of other countries. The net beneficiary will be the economy as both employers and employees will benefit and these regulations will help people who are seeking employment, parents who cannot work permanently on a full-time basis and even pensioners who want to re-enter the labour market,” he said.

Published last year, the draft legal notice was discussed in the Employment Relations Board, a statutory body that includes representatives of employers, unions and the government.

The move was welcomed by Anna Borg, from the Malta Confederation of Women’s Organisations, who described it as “very positive”.

“It will help employers who have a mother who goes out on maternity leave. They won’t employ someone else but can now have somebody stepping in for a while,” she said.

Dr Borg pointed out that temping agencies also offered jobs to people who did not want to be tied down to one place, meeting “both ends of the spectrum”.

Even Joseph Farrugia, director general of Malta Employers Association, welcomed the legal notice, saying it was a step forward. “If maternity leave increases, then there must be infrastructure – such as temping agencies – to make sure it doesn’t work against the interest of young women. These agencies will make it easier for the employer to find a replacement,” he said.

The legal notice, which the association still had to study carefully, would not solve all the problems employers were facing but was important because it would help fill in gaps of people who opted for career breaks, had injury leave or even until a new employee worked his notice period with his former employer.

Studies showed that it was very common for a company to keep on a temporary employee and many often took the decision to start working full-ime, Mr Farrugia said. It also allowed people who could not or did not want to work full-time or people who were retired to continue working.

The government had pledged in the Budget for 2006 to “address and regulate” temporary work, saying it would discuss with social partners legal provisions to protect workers while encouraging this type of work.