Author: Developers Think

Driven to maximize rental income for property owners in the Maltese islands & deliver an impeccable holiday experience for guests, Malta’s fastest growing hospitality brand powered by technology Zzzing, announced today that they have launched an office in Victoria, Gozo.

According to the Malta Chamber’s latest report, Rediscover – A New Vision For The Tourism Industry In Malta, holiday rentals continue to see strong gains in both consumer interest and high revenue performance with no signs of slowing down.

Celebrating one of their most successful quarters since their launch in 2019, Zzzing continues to reimagine the holiday rental experience for landowners and guests. The company’s Gozo portfolio has tripled in just a few months and with a dedicated team focused on Malta’s sister island, Zzzing will continue to give Gozitan property owners the opportunity to leverage their earnings from their property investment thanks to the combination of stellar property management services, custom built technology as well as their one-of-a-kind revenue management expertise – all for a low commission which is highly competitive & includes access to a complete suite of unique tech features.

Gozo is a gem for our island’s tourism industry & we are extremely proud to have a strong presence here. We are determined to continue to work with stakeholders & property owners to achieve sustainable, long-term success in the Maltese islands & beyond – Bikram Arora, Zzzing’s co-founder

ABOUT ZZZING
Headquartered in the Maltese islands, Zzzing is a hospitality brand powered by technology which makes renting a holiday home easy & affordable for guests and hassle-free & money making for property owners. Zzzing’s 24×7 virtual concierge gives guests the opportunity to enjoy a five-star inspired hotel service in their private holiday rental while the brand’s unique Landowners Dashboard allows home owners of second properties to get a real-time birds’ eye view of their short-let property’s performance & potential.

For more information visit www.zzzing.com.

Vivian kicked off it’s 70th Anniversary celebrations in the best possible way by being awarded the Equality Mark.

The Equality Mark is a certification awarded to companies that make gender equality one of their values and whose management is based on the recognition and promotion of the potential of all employees, irrespective of their gender and caring responsibilities.

The certification is based on the concept of gender equality where the rights, responsibilities and opportunities offered to men and women are not determined by sex, a concept that Vivian firmly believes in. This implies equal access to opportunities by focusing on individuals’ capabilities.

Vivian has shown commitment towards best practices in the area of gender equality, marital status, pregnancy as well as maternity and paternity benefits.

Vivian embraces and respects diversity, be it concerning gender, sexual orientation, nationality or religion , creating a harmonious culture not only within the organisation but also externally with all the esteemed stakeholders they connect with.

Vivian`s Managing Director, Joanna Gatt commented that ‘Achieving the Equality Mark has actually rubber stamped our values and modus operandi at Vivian throughout the years. We are truly very happy to have achieved this, so every Vivian colleague knows that we are respected for who we are as individuals because we embrace diversity to create harmony. I would also like to thank our HR team for making this possible.’

Building on the Equality certification, the company`s Corporate Social Responsibility team will be organising various events throughout 2022 to commemorate 70 years of service to patients.

To mark its 10th year as a systemic player in the recruitment economy, Keepmeposted has produced its first comprehensive report on employment in Malta. This detailed and exhaustive analysis explores the evolution of employment in Malta over the past ten years, the changes and how it is likely to develop going forward. The global pandemic, undoubtedly responsible for the single biggest shift in working practices in recent times, was another reason that propelled Malta’s leading recruitment brand to commission such a report.

The study sheds light on areas surrounding employment over the past decade, with some key findings confirming that the rise of female employment rates was the factor that mostly fuelled the overall growth in employment rates, as a result of two main factors. Firstly, economic growth created many more job opportunities, and secondly, the country’s economic growth was accompanied by several fiscal incentives that enabled women to join the working world.

The Covid-19 pandemic, and its impact both globally and locally, led the team to carry out a deep dive into the specific changes it has brought about: those work practices that have worked and are likely to stay and those which will be ditched as soon as the pandemic is fully behind us. The data from the study highlights that the future of employment lies in combining both office and remote working.

Artificial Intelligence is expected to have an increasingly big impact on the type and size of businesses’ workforce, with repetitive jobs continuing to be taken over by machines over the next five to ten years. While some jobs, due to their very nature will never disappear, others will be gone by 2030. Manufacturing and production are also moving at a fast pace towards full automation.

As for the future of jobs, the data showed that local responses mirrored those reported in the World Economic Forum’s, ‘The Future of the Job’ report, published in October 2020. The general agreement is that AI and digitalisation will change the world of work with the pandemic accelerating this process. The data confirmed that there will be an increase in new jobs with the vast majority in technology and digitalisation, and the exciting prospect that greater use of technology will result in new service opportunities at better efficiencies and lower costs. Most of the respondents in the Keepmeposted survey also believed that greater use of technology would create new requirements in areas such as technical support, risk management, cybersecurity, data science, software development as well as AI, robotics, and the Internet of Things. In tandem to this, the data further highlights a need for a national strategy to reskill the workforce.

The full report which includes several key insights into the local economic landscape may be downloaded here: https://www.keepmeposted.com.mt/employment-report/

The research and analysis were done by EMCS Ltd.

The HSBC Malta Foundation is supporting the Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JAYE) Malta Foundation with a grant of US$350,000 over the next two years. The Funds, which were allocated following a successful application by the HSBC Malta Foundation to HSBC’s global ‘Future Skills Impact Fund’, will help JAYE to continue bringing entrepreneurship and financial literacy into the communities of the Maltese islands via the JAYE Local Council’s Project 2021 – 2023.

Within the framework of the project, JAYE Malta will train local businesses to become facilitators of knowledge in their communities. In turn, these businesses, with the support of local communities, will deliver upskilling and reskilling sessions to various sectors of the community, such as school children, the elderly, and people who are out work, in several localities in Malta and Gozo. Delivery of the educational sessions will be carefully tailored to the audience’s age and background.

The main topics of the training sessions will include, but will not be limited to, financial management and literacy skills, with an emphasis on credit scoring and creditworthiness and their relevance to individuals’ life choices.

Simon Vaughan Johnson, the CEO of HSBC Malta, said: “HSBC is delighted to be able to support this important initiative in our community. Financial literacy is an essential life skill that supports key decisions throughout the various stages in a person’s life. The HSBC Malta Foundation has worked closely together with the JAYE Malta Foundation for many years to nurture the financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills of people in our local community and we are honoured to be contributing significant additional support today to ensure that we provide access to the financial skills which everyone needs to lead a successful life.”

Chris Vassallo Cesareo, the Chairperson of JAYE Malta Foundation, said: “As a member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, we have always worked hard to foster economic development by improving the understanding of business, economics, employability, and entrepreneurship. HSBC Malta and the HSBC Malta Foundation have been partners in our efforts for many years, and this project, with HSBC’s support, will reach people who are most in the need of acquiring skills that are essential to improve their lives.”

The Future Skills project was officially launched on 2 March 2022 and will run for the coming two years. Visit https://futureskills.jayemalta.org/ for more information.

During the last week of January, BNF Bank has relocated the Customer Care Centre operations from its Head Office in Gzira to its Paola premises, to better serve a range of customer requirements. The Customer Care Centre has been a key service delivery channel for BNF Bank since its inception, proving to be an important first point of contact for the Bank’s customers, from daily inquiries to wider banking functions. Recently, the BNF Customer Care Centre has refocused its strategy to enhance its call centre functions and streamlining operations with the objective of offering a frictionless, high-quality banking experience. With highly trained, empathic people available to answer both concerns and urgent requests, the Customer Care Centre offers BNF customers peace of mind without having to book an appointment or step into one of its branches spread around Malta and Gozo.

In addition to the human interaction provided by the team of customer care officials, BECS, BNF e-Customer Service Agent has for some time been successfully deployed to further enhance the service delivery 24/7/365 through the interactive chatbot available both through the Bank’s website and Facebook page.

Leading on from this, Rueben Bezzina, Head of Retail Banking at BNF Bank commented, “We understand that post-Covid people value interactions which are simple, safe, and that enable them to get on with their daily needs, not least their banking requirements. Our focus has always been on offering services that add value and meet the demand of our customers. The relocation of BNF’s Customer Care Centre is just another exciting change that will support this. We are always on the lookout for exceptional people to join our team and encourage those interested to join BNF’s exciting journey where one will find the right support and environment to flourish a fledgling career in banking.”