While in the middle of a global pandemic, the entire institution is undergoing various changes with unclear consequences. Meanwhile, Staff of the European Commission feel the pressure of the Member States yet again.
At the beginning of March part of the staff at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Geel were caught by surprise when they found out that their unit was to be split in two parts and integrated into two different remote units physically located in Karlsruhe. This decision came straight after the announcement (22.2.2021 senior-management meeting) to cut 19.7% of the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) (Euratom) budget with obvious implications for staff with a reduction of 96 permanent staff and 33 Contract Agents (CAs) over the next 7 years. Unfortunately, when the Member States decide to reduce the administrative budget, any related changes driven by the administration come with direct costs and sacrifices in terms of human resources.
In this context, Generation 2004 has received concerns from JRC staff, who failed to see any added value in this decision and regret that it has been taken in an unclear way and disregarding the JRC people management pledge [1] and the JRC values [2], as well as in with the initiative to ‘reset, re-imagine and re-energise’ the JRC.
In an effort to support the affected JRC colleagues, Generation 2004 sent a note to Director-General Stephen Quest to raise these concerns. While we received a fast reaction from the director-general aiming to clarify the situation, the legal aspects and budgetary implications of the decision, Mr Quest’s reply only partially addressed the concerns raised and was also unclear. Therefore, Generation 2004 sent a second note to Mr Quest.
Following the concerns raised by Generation 2004, by the Geel Local Staff Committee and the staff of the concerned unit, the decision to split the unit was eventually reversed by the JRC senior management.
Additionally, Generation 2004 has decided to document the views of Geel staff on the management of the unit, the directorate and the JRC itself. This survey is restricted to Geel staff. In particular, we are interested in the staff’s opinion on the middle- and senior-management developments since the last Commission-wide Speak Up survey [3] (2018), on which our survey is based. Once the results are analysed, Generation 2004 will include them in a report, and where applicable, comparing the scores with the 2018 survey. Finally, the report will shared with all concerned parties, as well as with staff.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, or you haven’t received the link to the survey, contact us [4].
Useful link: JRC Strategy 2030 [5].