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 days 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 Carers