With a mission to enhance accessibility to the labour market through modernised and targeted services whilst facilitating labour mobility and promoting investment in human capital, Jobsplus is certainly doing a great job and proved itself during these COVID-19 unprecedented times.

In Parliament this week, I highlighted how this agency went outside the box to continue with the countless services it offers to a wide spectrum of clients, local and foreign.

An immediate measure taken was an internal one, where employees were encouraged to take up teleworking and the agency approved all teleworking requests from its employees. The necessary measure was taken to be in line with the Health Authority’s direction meant to safeguard not only the workers’ health but also, in this case, Jobsplus clients’ health during the situation brought about by this pandemic. The management and the absolute majority of the agency’s employees in fact, have continued without any disruption, their meticulous work by working from home – teleworking.

This would not have been possible had the present Government not invested heavily in proper Information Technology systems throughout the public sector, which led to this agency’s smooth running during these past weeks.

During my speech in Parliament, I emphasised that all challenges also bring about new opportunities. Days without challenges, large or small, simply do not exist. Challenges facing management and employees simply change, but never diminish. I am proud that Jobsplus overcame the challenges that cropped up during these weeks, and overcame them with perfection. Their commitment to excellence in their field delivered great results.

I will list some of the new work experiences that Jobsplus management and employees faced from day one of this pandemic. However, I should also mention the relatively new Jobsplus CEO Alexia Vella, who took the helm of this agency just a couple of days before our country had to re-think its work practises.

A baptism of fire, if ever there was one! I thank Alexia, the management team and all the employees who met the challenges faced with enthusiasm, and showed us clearly that during this crucial time they continued to serve their clients fully and effectively through new and simplified electronic means and processes.

In order to continue to provide their services, we saw to the provision of all necessary means and facilities to Jobsplus workers, so that they could work from home. For those services that were usually provided face-to-face, new systems were adopted where the customer is served by using virtual means, mainly by using the agency’s website or else through a one-to-one chat provided by the entity's Facebook page, apart from the traditional phone call and email.

A series of video guides have also been created, showing step-by-step how one can apply for certain services, amongst them how to download the much needed Employment History document - a crucial document for numerous uses, and also how one can register for work easily and safely from the comfort of one's home. These video guides made life easier for all those who find it a bit more challenging to use electronic means.

These video guides were and still are being well received by Jobsplus clients, so much so that a strong interest was registered in the last few weeks, leading to the use of virtual media increasing by more than 40% compared to previous months.

One of this agency’s commitments is that of providing training of all sorts to its clients. Jobsplus continued to offer this training virtually, through live webinars. So far, almost 600 people are benefiting from this free training, ranging from vocational care work courses, food handling, basic language training courses, business accounting and more. A number of other courses in more areas will be added to those already taking place in the near future.

I commend the full commitment and cooperation of the public service workers who were able to adapt to this new reality and who met this challenge in order to achieve this goal in just a few days. Although many departments and public entities are ‘closed’ to the public as a face-to-face service, the public were still able to receive Jobsplus attention, albeit electronically.

In these difficult days, Jobsplus’ consistent work enabled this agency to continue to offer support to clients, to those who were most negatively affected by the impact of COVID-19.

Again, I cannot but thank all the workers of the entity both those based in Malta and those who provide their services from Gozo, who have continued to perform their duties efficiently for the benefit of the all Jobsplus clients.

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This week I visited the childcare centre in San Ġwann which caters for the children of health professionals and members of the disciplined forces. The Centre, which offers its services for free, has been open since the 16th of March.

There are a total of 38 children attending the childcare, 20 are registered in the 0-3 years club and another 18 children are between four and sixteen years of age.

I thank all those involved for making this childcare centre happen, changing the San Ġwann Primary, which forms part of St Clare College School, in a matter of days into a fully equipped child care centre for the benefit of our health professionals and members of disciplined forces who are at the forefront in the fight against the pandemic. I thank in particular the childcarers who have been taking care of the children for the last two months, providing a service which the country needed and still needs.

The Government had announced in March that free childcare services were going to be offered to the children of healthcare professionals and members of disciplined forces in a concerted effort to fight COVID-19. This service is being offered by the Ministry for Education and Employment. All the necessary precautions were taken throughout, acting upon the directions of the Health authorities according to specified protocols.