A declining work ethic that sees young workers taking more sick leave than older employees is partly to blame for labour market mismatches, employers believe.
This is one of several issues raised by Malta Employers’ Association director general Joe Farrugia asked about employer complaints that they were not finding enough workers with the right skills.
A culture of entitlement saw an increase in sick leave abuse, which was more visible among the younger employees, he said. “The Monday morning syndrome [following a weekend of partying] has become a common phenomenon.”
But he also laid part of the blame on “unethical practices” by medical practitioners when issuing sickness certificates.
He said it was a fact that the economy enjoyed close to full employment and there was a growing labour and skills shortage in many economic sectors.
But the problem went deeper than just a material lack of available workers, he said. “A declining work ethic is one of the problems employers face as the work force is becoming more inflexible, with no loyalty to the workplace.”
Mr Farrugia’s comments come in the wake of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index released this week that polled business executives.
A culture of entitlement saw an increase in sick leave abuse, more visible among younger employees
A “poor work ethic” was listed as the fourth biggest problem for doing business in the country. A workforce that is inadequately educated topped the list. Mr Farrugia said prospective employees sometimes lacked “soft skills” as a result of an education system that encouraged students to reproduce what they learnt rather than speaking out and being innovative.
“Some also lack general knowledge. All this could be the result of an exam-oriented education system,” he said, urging more students to take up science, technology, engineering and mathematical subjects.
Linked to this was the problem of early school leavers, who exited the education system with few or no skills and qualifications. “Many of these problems and their solutions lie within families, not educational institutions,” he said, calling for a more holistic approach to address this phenomenon.
Accreditation of informal education and skills to encourage re-entry into educational channels was one way of dealing with low-skilled workers, he said. But Mr Farrugia also pointed to some employers. “The difficulty sometimes lies with the high expectations employers have, apart from the need to provide on-the-job training.”
Only last week, the executive chairman of the Gaming Authority, Joseph Cuschieri, in a Talking Point in the Times of Malta, spoke of the need to keep “the idea doors open” by encouraging the importation of foreign workers.
“With fewer than 4,000 people on our unemployment register, one of the major hurdles for our businesses is to find enough local talent, particularly in the digital economy space,” Mr Cuschieri wrote.
However, Mr Farrugia believes the situation is made worse by a large public sector that drains human resources from the private sector. “This two-tier labour market is one reason why some companies have to resort to foreign labour,” he said.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com