Maltese at work: Three out of four have male boss

The Maltese are the third least likely in the EU to have a female boss, the second most likely to have fixed working hours, the fourth most likely to be directly controlled by bosses and the second least likely to fear losing their job in the next six months. 

An EU-wide survey also shows that the Maltese are more likely than other Europeans to work longer hours, to breathe in fumes and dust, and work in physically painful positions. But they are among the least scared of losing their jobs.

The Maltese, 75% of whom report having a man for a boss, are among the most likely in Europe to have a male as their immediate boss. Only the Cypriots and Greeks are more likely to have a male boss.

But surprisingly, in Germany the percentage of respondents reporting having a female boss is only one point higher than in Malta.

The most likely to have a female boss are the Swedes, 45% of whom say that their immediate boss is a woman, followed by Estonians and the Finns (42%).

Significantly, while only 15% of Maltese employees report having a woman boss, 40% of women report having a woman for a boss. The percentage of female employees reporting a female boss is eight points lower than that in all EU 28 countries.

The survey also shows that the Maltese are far more likely than other Europeans to have fixed starting and finishing times at the workplace. Only the Bulgarians are more likely to have fixed times than the Maltese. While only 25% of Maltese do not have fixed times, the percentage rises to 39% in all 28 EU countries. The least likely to have fixed hours at work are the Finns and the Dutch.

Maltese workers are the fourth most likely to be dependent on the direct control of a boss during their work. Only the Cypriots, Hungarians and Bulgarians are more rigidly controlled. While 48% of Maltese workers report that they depend on the direct control of their bosses at work only 13% of Finns, 19% of Swedes and 22% of  Dutch workers report the same experience at work.

Younger Maltese workers are even more tightly controlled by their bosses. While 55% of under-35 year olds are dependent on the direct control of bosses, the majority of over-35 year olds are not dependent on their bosses during their work. Women are also more likely to be dependent on their bosses than men.

Maltese workers are also more likely to work more than 10 hours in a day at least once a month. While 40% of Maltese workers do so at least once a month, only 18% of Italians and Portuguese work more than 10 hours at least once a month.

But the Maltese are also the second least likely (after the Slovaks) to fear losing their job in the next six months – only 10% of Maltese respondents fear losing their current job in the next six months, compared to 27% of Slovenes, 26% of Spaniards and 25% of Dutch workers.

Despite the introduction of smoking laws, 13% of male Maltese workers are still exposed to tobacco smoke for more than a fourth of their working day. Only 3% of female workers are exposed to the same danger.

The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) targeted working people who were randomly selected from a statistical sample, comprising a cross-section of society, ranging from 1,000 to 3,300 people in each country.