While we are at home teleworking, Generation 2004 has not stopped working hard for you. During the past few weeks, we have engaged a lot with DG HR to raise awareness of your problems under the current confinement. In this article, we would like to inform you about the current state of play, what DG HR is planning, where we still see room for improvement and, most importantly, what we are doing about it.

Recruitment and mobility

Completely new recruitment is stalled at the moment, as the medical service is unable to perform the medical evaluation for entry into the service. DG HR is considering the possibility to contract new staff with a reservation: these new colleagues would be able to start working, but would need to undergo the medical evaluation later. In the case of a negative opinion by the medical service, the contract would terminate.

Changing jobs for colleagues already in the institutions is possible if they do not need to change place of work. DG HR also considers that traveling and relocating will be possible in the not-too-far future, depending on the locations. Therefore, for some sites, recruiting a colleague from another Commission site is possible with the reservation that it might take a bit more time than usual for the new colleague to arrive at the new place of work.

PMO, hospitalisation and testing

The PMO is classifying COVID-19 related hospitalisation as a ‘serious illness’, which means that reimbursement will be 100%. Colleagues who have to work from the Offices have masks at their disposal and the Commission is working to have masks available for a potential return to the offices. However, virus testing is not provided for the time being.

Reimbursement of costs

Many of you have written to us about additional costs that they have to shoulder, be it much higher telecommunication costs, a larger computer screen or an ergonomic chair. DG HR has pointed to Article 71 of the staff regulations, which covers reimbursement of costs incurred by officials in connection with the performance of their duties. While this is positive news, we continue to press for clearer guidance here: what proof is needed, whom to address the reimbursement requests to, is there a need for prior authorisation, etc. In the meantime, we have sent a note to DG HR and DIGIT on these matters.

As childcare facilities are closed, the invoicing of parental contributions for them will only concern the period of the first half of March 2020, and there will be no invoicing for the period of 16- 31.3.2020. We expect that there will be no invoicing for April, either. The parental contribution is directly deducted from the salary with 2 months delay, which means that the contribution for March will only affect your salary for the month of May.

Annual leave

Many colleagues, especially in the External Action Service, have informed us that they are forced to take annual leave during the crisis. We consider this to be an unacceptable practice and have formally protested about it to DG HR. If you are affected by this forced taking of leave, please let us know immediately and rest assured that this is a priority for us.

Further, we are pressing the Commission to adopt a flexible approach about the maximum amount (12 days) of leave to transfer to the next year. We believe that it is really in the interest of the service to allow colleagues to transfer more into the next year. Otherwise, many colleagues will be forced to take their leave this year, leaving the Commission empty in the very busy period after the crisis.

Communication

We have asked HR to disseminate timely and official information to all colleagues. Far too often, colleagues learn of new developments via the press and rumours. Further, while there is a vademecum available for managers, it is quite vague on many points. HR reacted on our request to review it by organising a conference on the subject and also developed further tutorials for managers, but will probably not update the vademecum.

One point that we have proposed to HR and that in the meantime was implemented are surveys among the staff to learn what problems persist.

The future

At some point, we will enter a transition period where we have to go back to the office. This will vary from site to site and not all colleagues will come back at the same time. DG HR has stated that the Institutions are bound to follow Member State rules on this and cannot strike out on their own. The same is true for the European Schools, the kindergartens and crèches. HR acknowledges the particular difficulties e.g. in Luxembourg where colleagues come from four different Member States. So far, DG HR has had to issue more than 800 certificates to enable colleagues to cross borders.

The exit from the protection measures will be executed in phases and HR accepts that flexibility is necessary. On the discussion table are also guidelines saying parents with children under 12 years old may continue telework and could therefore be among the last to come back to the office.

For more info about our work during these times, please consult our COVID-19 dedicated website section, where you should not miss our Generation 2004 Practical Tips.

Finally, please feel free to send us your feedback and suggestions; let us know if there is something you would like to see covered here, after all, we are here for you!