Work-Life Balance

Managing a career, family responsibilities, and personal interests in a fast-paced society is an increasingly challenging task, particularly for female workers, but also for men. Workers are seeking to reconcile employment and caring responsibilities, including, among others, parenthood, care for the elderly, and illness or disability within the family unit.

Without family-friendly measures and flexible working arrangements, such reconciliation is often impossible for workers. Work arrangements should be sufficiently flexible to enable workers of both sexes to undertake lifelong learning activities and activities related to their further professional and personal development, not necessarily directly related to the worker’s job.​
 
Thus, achieving balance between work and life does not only focus on domestic tasks and caring for dependent relatives, but also extracurricular responsibilities or other important life priorities.

EU Directive Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers
Source: European Commission  

The Directive of Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers’ was adopted on 13th June 2019 to reinforce individual rights. The directive is to present a model on how to affiliate social and economic priorities as businesses will attract and withhold talents of both men and women.

The EU Directive on Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers’ aims to achieve equality between men and women pertaining to the opportunities of the labour market and treatment at the place of work. This directive aims to improve families’ access to family leave and flexible work arrangement and must now be adopted by Member States by August 2022.

The Work-Life Balance Directive is to set a new or an advanced minimum standard to preserve and extend prevailing rights including:

  • 10 working day​s of Paternity leave;
  • At least 4 months of Parental leave per parent, out of which 2 months are non-transferable between parents;
  • 5 working days of Carers’ leave per year;
  • The right to request Flexible Working Arrangements referring to reduced working hours, flexible working hours and flexibility on the place of work.
 
​The directive is valuable for all citizens as it will improve the working conditions of employees, the labour market will be attracting more workers with different responsibilities, while growth in the labour supply will enhance competitiveness.

The Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on Work-life balance for Parents and Carers, has been transposed into Maltese law on the 12th July 2022 through Legal Notice 201 of 2022 titled the Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers Regulations.​

EU Directive Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carer​s​

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