Maltese Public Servants are to benefit from further reduced hours, flexitime, flexi-week, and remote working, Principal Permanent Secretary, Tony Sultana has promised.
Mr Sultana (pictured) said modern work practices would be introduced that would strengthen the bureaucracy, ensuring sustainability, flexibility, and efficiency.
“After a wide consultation process with senior officials within the Public Service and unions, the work practices of reduced hours, flexitime, flexi-week, and remote working will be structured and strengthened,” Mr Sultana said.
“The Reduced Hours System has now been given more flexibility and amended in such a way that public officers can apply to work reduced hours without the need for eligibility criteria where work service and prioritisation permit.”
He said the practice of flexitime would be introduced, through which public officers could request to adjust their working hours up to two hours before or after the established hours.
“The Public Service will also adopt the flexi-week concept. With this new measure, public officers may request to spread the 40 hours of work over four or six days a week,” Mr Sultana said.
“Remote working is being structured in a way that public officers may benefit from any number of remote hours based on family-friendly eligibility criteria. This will replace the existing telework arrangements.”
Up to 20 per cent of working hours may be requested to be worked remotely without the need for any eligibility criteria.
Mr Sultana said that with these changes, the Public Service would have more flexibility with less bureaucracy in an accountable, structured, and efficient way.
“This strengthens the Public Service’s credentials as a model employer with the most relevant practices that lead to work-life balance in our country,” he said.
Valetta, 1 April 2023
