January witnessed the introduction of renewed terms and conditions for all employees at Mapfre Middlesea as a result of the new Collective Agreement signed between Mapfre Middlesea and MUBE.

The new Collective Agreement, which was presented to the workforce at Mapfre Middlesea, is effective from January.

The philosophy and rationale behind the framework of the new agreement enables Mapfre Middlesea to move towards providing its employees with more flexibility, work-life balance and benefits at the workplace. In this regard, a number of organisational work benefits have either been newly introduced or significantly improved upon as of the beginning of February.

"Over the past years, we have been working in a new direction: having an organisation which is much more flexible, collaborative, transparent and agile. We have refurbished our offices with the aim to have better and more open workspaces. We have given more flexibility in terms of working times in order to enable our employees to manage their time, always in alignment with and in accordance to the business' and colleagues' needs. We have also worked on technological mobility to create a workplace which is moving towards more remote working. We'll be able to carry out our work at any place and at any time. We know that the most important thing is no longer the actual presence of the employee. It's a completely different culture, trust-based and results driven where the mutual commitment, trust and flexibility are vital: more control of our time but much more responsibility towards achieving our results," said Ines Silva, chief officer Human Resources.

For that reason, over the past years, the company has implemented some improvements and also effective changes which are now reflected in the new Collective Agreement, namely extension of maternity (16 weeks) and paternity leave (10 working days); allowing fresh mothers to work on reduced hours, with a minimum of 30 hours per week, for a period of one year following six months from birth of their child, while maintaining their full pay; active ageing, appreciating and rewarding our senior people.

Besides flexi hours (in place since February 2017), the company has also introduced new summer times as well as company closure on 24 and 31 December afternoons for our employees to enjoy with their families.

A new sick leave benefit for employees who have children up to 13 years of age which allows them to utilise sick leave whenever their children are sick, up to a limit of 30 days per year.

In addition to these flexible measures, Mapfre has also improved employees' perks: Hospital cover applicable to all employees; introduction of a pensions' plan (already defined but still pending to be launched); transport allowance and also negotiations to attain agreements with parking facilities suppliers around Floriana to acquire parking spaces for our employees, apart from other ones already in place.

To this effect, MUBE, being the exclusive employees' representative at Mapfre Middlesea, played a very important role in introducing the new measures by working together with the company in order to ensure smooth implementation of the more flexible, trust-based and results-driven approach.

William Portelli, president of MUBE went on to declare that through the introduction of the renewed Collective Agreement terms and conditions alongside other corporate initiatives, the workforce at Mapfre Middlesea will continue to enjoy a flexible and sustainable work environment which encompasses a strong sense of work-life balance that is worthy of its hardworking employees. Furthermore, MUBE is keen to continue with its vision of being creative, fully collaborating with management and working in anticipation of changing work practices to a more digitalised flexible working environment.

CEO Felipe Navarro, Silva and Portelli thanked the respective teams who were involved in very cordial negotiations while expressing satisfaction on the Agreement reached which was officially signed in Gozo on 24 May.

Mapfre Middlesea plc (C-5553) is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to carry on both Long Term and General Business under the Insurance Business Act, Cap 403 of the Laws of Malta. Mapfre Middlesea plc is regulated by the MFSA.