Continuous social dialogue is important when seeking solutions and striving to face future crises, the Director-General of the Malta Employers’ Association, Joseph Farrugia, says.

Asked whether a social pact would be necessary once Malta emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, he expresses the view that a social pact would have much wider implications because it would normally encompass other social and economic aspects, including measures to improve competitiveness, wage determination, and social safety nets.

“What is important is for continuous social dialogue to keep the social partners engaged in seeking solutions that work in their mutual interest, and, as far as possible, to anticipate and build contingencies to counter similar crisis that may arise in the future,” he asserts.

He observes that the virus outbreak caught the global community unawares, adding there certainly are lessons to be learned at a global, national, and also at enterprise level.

In his opinion, there should be contingencies in place that may not be limited to the health and safety aspect but also to a fast response to a change in work organisation if required under similar circumstances. Perhaps the clearest example of this, Mr Farrugia notes, is remote working, which, he stresses, has to be seen not just as a work/life balance measure but also as a means to keep a business running during such emergencies. Many companies scrambled to set up an infrastructure after the crisis hit and one should be prepared for the eventuality of a repeat scenario, he advises.

Mr Farrugia agrees that although social distance was forced upon us by adverse circumstances, certain behavioural aspects of the manner in which business operate, even their connection to customers and other members of the entire supply chain, will remain.

He predicts that an increase in teleworking, limiting physical presence for meetings, increasing efficiencies by reducing international and domestic travelling time, a surge in online purchasing and home deliveries and a faster response to customer demand will be part of the post-pandemic scenario. However, he does acknowledge that this will not occur to the extent it is happening now.

Mr Farrugia remarks that physical contact is a human and business need, the workplace in itself is a social network of human relationships and, so, business networking through physical presence will remain important. To make a comparison, he refers to teaching and notes that although one could say that remote learning is effective, an online lecture and being physically present in a classroom is not the same thing. The same applies to watching a rock concert on television and the experience of actually being there, he adds.

He feels that labour laws might have to be designed to reflect the new reality, and to strike a balance between flexibility of the organisation in terms of the distribution of working hours and the requirements of the individual. This, Mr Farrugia insists, has to be discussed on the understanding that what can work temporarily under a force majeure situation cannot be expected to be sustainable indefinitely.