ESBA Press Release: Work-life balance off balance
27 April 2017by ESBA -- last modified 27 April 2017
On 26 April 2017, the European Commission published the European Pillar of Social Rights Package.
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ESBA welcomes any initiative that provides a healthy work-life balance and makes it easier for women to return to the work-force after a period of maternity leave.
However, ESBA regrets the measures announced in the proposal, which will make it even more difficult for small companies to hire additional staff.
Particularly micro-companies will suffer under the proposed rules, which make them pay for increased periods leave for both parents at sick-pay levels, as well as additional paid leave until the child’s teens.
ESBA Secretary – General Patrick Gibbels said: “The welfare system in Europe is already extremely generous for employees. Especially in countries where employers’ costs already make it virtually impossible for small companies to hire additional staff, measures such as these might just be the nail in the coffin of Europe’s smallest companies. ESBA is in favor of creating employment through healthy policies. We appreciate the importance of a healthy work-life balance but, once again, our members are expected to pay the hefty bill”.
The European Small Business Alliance (ESBA) is a non-party political group, which cares for small business entrepreneurs and the self-employed and represents them through targeted EU advocacy and profiling activities.
ESBA - The European Small Business Alliance