Work-life balance : some considerations about recent initiatives introduced in Malta

Abstract

The National Commission for the Promotion of Equality's (NCPE) Gender Mainstreaming Report indicates that research on family-friendly measures at the workplace shows that these instruments are the result of a long history of struggle. The Government of Malta is committed to building strong social foundations by providing support to meet the needs of families and to ensure that children receive the best possible start in life. One approach to reach this goal is to support working parents achieve work-life balance so that they can build strong and cohesive families. In this respect, the Government embarked on a series of discussions and negotiations with interested stakeholders to develop and promote policies which support the family, like childcare subsidies, extension of a paid week for maternity leave and the re-introduction of children's allowance, all of which can be considered as family-friendly measures aimed at facilitating work-life balance. Government is also committed to lead by example, by encouraging and endorsing the fourteen different types of family-friendly measures which a public employee can avail of. Such flexibility and choice is restricted to the public sector. The few measures adopted in the private sector (depending on the size of the organization) are very limited.