Friday 8 April 2022

Malta 1st national event on Digital Transformation of the workplace The Malta Chamber and the Malta Business Bureau in association with the General Workers Union organised a webinar event discussing two key topics from the EU autonomous framework agreement on digitalization, namely (i) Modalities on Connecting and Disconnecting and (ii) Respect of Human Dignity and Surveillance. The event was organised as part of the Transformwork Project.
The event saw the participation of the main five cross-sectoral social partners in Malta. The employers were represented by The Malta Chamber, the Malta Employers Association, and the Malta Chamber of SMEs. The workers representatives were represented by the General Workers Union and UHM Voice of the Workers.
Other special guests were invited to share their expertise and experiences on specific topics such as the psychological impact of excessive use of technology, the legal parameters of surveillance, and best practices on implementing positive cultures at the workplace.
The main outcomes of the discussion revolved around the need to promote more positive cultures in companies and implement proactive HR policies that are centred on flexibility, respect and trust, in the relationship between employers and employees.
There was also agreement on the need of continuously creating awareness on the downside effects of excessive use of technology and the need for training to disconnect from digital tools during leisure time.
It was agreed that monitoring and surveillance should only go as far as what is needed for the purpose of securing the work environment and to gather data for productive purposes. Employees should be made aware when surveillance takes place and employers should gather data through transparent process and by meeting full GDPR requirements.
There were divergent views on the need for legislation, with workers representatives arguing for legislation on the Right to disconnect while employer legislations favouring a review of existent legislations such as the Working Time Directive and evaluate whether it requires refining to adapt to fast evolving digital realities. Nonetheless, employers insisted that any future legislation should not be overly prescriptive and avoids a one-size fits all solution in view of the diverse condition applicable to companies of different sizes and operating in different economic sectors.
During the event, the Malta Chamber launched a policy guideline document on the Right to disconnect for businesses and has subsequently distributed it widely among its membership. It is committed to continue proactively creating more awareness on this very relevant topic.
The event also included a presentation on the EU Autonomous Framework Agreement on Digitalisation and the TransFormWork project.

 

Topic	Speaker
Opening Remarks	Alison Mizzi, President, Malta Business Bureau
The Autonomous Framework Agreement	Daniel Debono, EU Affairs Manager, Malta Business Bureau
TransFormWork Project	Daniel Debono, EU Affairs Manager, Malta Business Bureau
The Malta Chamber Guidelines on the Right to Disconnect	Diana Miceli, Projects Manager, Malta Chamber
Modalities of Connecting & Disconnecting – Striking the balance Daniel Debono to Moderate	Social Partners: The Malta Chamber – Dr. Marthese Portelli, CEO General Workers Union – Mr. Mark Farrugia, Representative Malta Employers Association – Mr. Joseph Farrugia, Director General UHM Voice of the Workers – Mr. Gian Paul Gauci, Deputy CEO Chamber of SMEs – Mr. Marcel Mizzi, Vice President
Glued to Technology: the psychological impact	Ms. Mireille Pellegrini Petit, Thrive Positive
Surveillance – The Legal parameters	Dr. Lara Pace, Ganado Advocates
Company Best Practice	Mr. Chris Busuttil Delbridge, Evolve
Q&A / Comments	Participants
Reactions to Psychological Impact, Surveillance & Concluding comments Daniel Debono to Moderate Social	Social Partners: The Malta Chamber – Dr. Marthese Portelli, CEO General Workers Union – Mr. Mark Farrugia, Representative Malta Employers Association – Mr. Joseph Farrugia, Director General UHM Voice of the Workers – Mr. Gian Paul Gauci, Deputy CEO Chamber of SMEs – Mr. Marcel Mizzi, Vice President
Closing	Moderator Daniel Debono

The fourth SC meeting of the project took place on 25 February 2022 via Zoom and was attended by the project coordinators and researchers from CITUB, ETKL, Malta Chamber, SEK, OEB, Ibec.

During the meeting the following topics were discussed and or/reported: an overview of the implemented activities and planning the next activities; research status – the second stage of the research – information on the implementation; the National reports on the second stage of the research – content, volume, processing of the data; the Second Round Table and VIth SC meeting in Malta and the progress implementation reports and the progress financial reports.

The First Bulgarian National Info Day took place on 15 February 2022 organized jointly by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Industrial Association. The event was attended by 30 people (in presence) and 15 people on-line. The participants were representatives from CITUB and its federations, BIA and its branch chambers, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP), the Executive Agency – General Labour Inspectorate (EA GLI), HR managers and employee representatives at company level.  The National Info Day was opened by the president of CITUB – Plamen Dimitrov, who presented the national and European context, as well as the challenges facing the social partners related to the implementation of the Framework Agreement of the European social partners on Digitalization. During the event the results achieved in the first year of the project were presented by Ina Atanasova, project manager of TransFormWork, as well as the results of the first stage of the study within the project by Lyuboslav Kostov, director of ISTUR at CITUB. Velichka Mikova, National Secretary, CITUB and Mariya Mincheva, Deputy Chairman of BIA presented the European Social Dialogue, the Social Dialogue Committee and its role in the European Autonomous Agreements and the European Autonomous Framework Agreement on Digitalisation, the partnership processes between employers and workers’ representatives and areas of joint work. The participants in the event had the opportunity to hear from the representatives of the MLSP what is the position of the State on the impact of digitalization on the transformation of labour relations and whether our labour legislation needs changes and were acquainted with the latest practices of control activities by the representatives of the EA GLI in connection with the expanding application of digitalisation in labour relations, including how visits are made to the workplace. The second session of the National Information Day was dedicated to focus group work.

Presentation Ina Atansova

Presentation MLSP

Presentation EA GLI

Presentation Velichka Mikova and Mariya Mincheva – 1

Presentation Velichka Mikova and Mariya Mincheva – 2

Presentation Lyuboslav Kostov