In order to maintain the quality of life many of us enjoy today, our economy needs to maintain a steady pace of growth. To achieve growth, we need coherent strategies and policy measures designed to make us more competitive. More specifically, we need to look at our social model in a creative way, one which keeps in mind the reality of the pace of change taking place globally, and the results being achieved by the competition.

Rigidities in both labour and product markets, as well as obstacles to entrepreneurship in general, are factors that risk hampering the prospect of a dynamic supply-side recovery in Europe, as well as its global competitiveness. In this regard, adopting labour market reforms along EU flexicurity principles to encourage the necessary adaptability, and to support companies’ hiring decisions, seems all the more urgent. The debate about flexibility has never been more topical.

But first, a definition of flexicurity. Flexicurity is an integrated strategy for simultaneously enhancing flexibility and security in the labour market. The concept attempts to reconcile employers’ need for a flexible workforce with workers’ need for security – the confidence that they will not face long periods of unemployment.

The EU identifies four components by means of which member states can implement flexicurity principles. These include flexible and reliable contractual arrangements, comprehensive lifelong learning strategies, effective active labour market policies, and modern social security systems providing adequate income support during employment transitions.

Integrated flexicurity policies are seen by the EU as playing a key role in modernising labour markets and contributing to the achievement of the 75 per cent employment rate target set by the Europe 2020 Strategy. Naturally, each member state, including Malta, has to look at its own labour market realities and adapt this concept accordingly. However, I strongly believe that labour market flexibility is a key concept to improving competitiveness and hence ensuring employment. The progressive implementation of local, tailor-made, flexicurity strategies should always be at the top of our national economic agenda.

I strongly believe that labour market flexibility is a key concept to improving competitiveness and hence ensuring employment

Formal flexitime programmes are vital to permit employers to meet changing patterns of demand, particularly the regular and sharp peaks and troughs which occur in service sectors. Flexicurity principles and flexitime programmes can offer advantages to both the employer and employee. The adoption of such programmes will lead to benefits for the employer in terms of improved delivery time and responsiveness to customer demands, better adaptability of the workforce to the workload, increased worker motivation, the retention of key, dedicated employees and, finally and perhaps most importantly all round, increased productivity and worker satisfaction.

In return, the employee will benefit from a novel approach to the work week through a more flexible work schedule and greater control over these. It will also be possible for these to achieve a better balance between work, family and private life. From a financial standpoint, it will also secure the payment of a consistent wage despite variations in working hours.

Ultimately, our focus must lie in ensuring an improvement in people’s employability, not simply the safeguarding of jobs in specific companies and sectors. Providing security through training, activation and modern social security systems, as well as improving labour market flexibility, is indispensable to move away from job security to employment security.

Helga Ellul is a corporate leader and a PN candidate for the forthcoming European Parliament elections.

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