Employment agencies have played an important role in Malta’s labour market for a number of decades. They were first regulated in 1995 and some fundamental principles were laid down in the legal notice. Four stick out more than others.

The first, was that employment agencies were required to apply for a licence to operate as such.

Lawrence Zammit

Secondly, employment agencies were not to levy fees on job seekers. They had to earn their income from the fees they charged to employers.

The third one was the interpretation which was given to the term employment agencies. It was a very wide interpretation and was meant to capture any activity aimed at bringing together a job seeker and an employer. As such this also included temping services.

The fourth principle was that a recruitment company could not pass on the CV of a job seeker to an employer without the express permission of job seekers themselves.

The benefits which employment agencies offer their clients can be various. These include faster hiring, providing high-quality candidates, and specialist recruitment knowledge.

Over the years, as employment opportunities in Malta grew, the number of organisations offering recruitment services mushroomed, and as with everything else in life, quantity does not necessarily equate with quality.

Abuses have been reported several times in the media, not to mention situations where the confidentiality of job seekers was not respected.

Abuses have been reported several times in the media

The reliance of our economy on low-cost labour in the last few years only exacerbated the situation. This led to a number of employment agencies to seek the help of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, which immediately took up the challenge and set up a business section specifically for employment agencies. We gave ourselves two tasks – ask the Government to enforce the existing regulations and develop a code of practice for employment agencies.

Eventually Government published two legal notices, one for companies offering recruitment services and one for companies offering temping and employee contracting services. These are now in force. They have retained the principles of the previous regulations and clarified certain matters.

Two essential principles were introduced. One was that employers are to ensure that the employment agencies and temping agencies they do business with, are to have a licence. The second principle is that employment agencies and temping agencies cannot ask their clients to enter into exclusivity arrangements.

Unfortunately, we still have individuals and companies who are seeking to find loopholes in this new legislation to avoid having to obtain a licence to operate or to charge fees to job seekers.

Our second objective, that of developing a code of practice, was also achieved. Its application is voluntary. However, employers are encouraged to insist to the agencies they work with that they apply this code of practice in their operations.

The code is built around nine namely Respect for legislation, Respect for honesty and transparency, Respect for work relationships, Respect for diversity, Respect for safety, Respect for professional knowledge, Respect for good employment practices, Respect for ethical international recruitment and Respect for confidentiality and privacy.

The application of this code is nothing more than the application of good practice, which is meant to instil a sense of professionalism in what is meant to be a professional service.

Copies of the Code of Good Practice for Private Employment Agencies operating in Malta may be obtained from the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

Lawrence Zammit is Chairperson Employment Agencies Business Section at Malta Chamber.

This article was first published in The Corporate Times