Welcome to the fifth edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter for 2024! In this edition,  we express our concern on Local agents and the need to adapt their salaries. We are happy to share one positive story from the many stories we received about our PMO colleagues. Moreover, stay informed with update on the issue of the use of your personal phones for business continuity purposes.  Don’t miss our state of play on the twelve actions for Luxembourg and the learning opportunities on internal competitions oral test. Finally, you will read clarifications on the intermediate salary update and on the AD5 internal competition and our concern regarding the well-being of colleagues in TAXUD as per the HR Survey 2023.  So, that’s all for now.  Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter for 2024! In this edition, we celebrate the creative spirit of our community, as Generation 2004 proudly awarded three colleagues for their ‘Coolest Picture‘ contest and are happy that due to our efforts, HR will raise quotas for Contractual agents (3a) reclassification. Moreover, we delve into the need for reform of the European School education system.  Also read about transition from a culture of trust to a control-oriented one and updates on electric vehicles.  Finally, check the response from DG HR to our note on the cancellation of funds for Own Initiative Training (OIT) and find challenges to break the daily routine.  So, that’s it for this time.  Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

We wish you all a (belated) international women’s day: we firmly believe equality is something to be done year round, not just 8th March. What have we done in the last year? and Is it a man’s world? We consider too how more flexible working benefits everyone. Linking with flexibility, there are 3 public holidays you can choose to work and get the day back. For Brussels-based colleagues we outline the pitfalls of reimbursements via mobility.net. From limited reimbursements to non-existent reimbursements: own-initiative training (OIT) has been effectively defunded: have a look. In other news, Generation 2004 responds to the confirmation that the European Commission’s use of Microsoft 365 infringes data protection law and we expand on the many outstanding concerns related to fingerprint building access. We ask for your help on behalf of a volunteer group  working in Ukraine, we speak up on behalf of colleagues having technical difficulties with EPSO and internal competitions and show what is being done with Member States taking decades to comply with pension transfers-in.  So, that’s it for this time.

Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

We wish you a good start to the new year and welcome you to the first edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter for 2024. The year starts, as always, with the self-evaluation and we are on hand to help. This coincides with the publication of the list of those to be interviewed in the next stage of the 2023/2024 Certification exercise: here’s how to appeal if your name is not on that list and an overview of the normal timeline for the Certification. Continuing on the theme of taking action and, as far as possible,  getting the year off to a good start, we’d like to hear your positive PMO stories. This could also be a good moment to ask your pension-transfer-out questions or to book training for the certification interview. We ask you to sign the European Parliament Contract Agent petition: please don’t let it disappear!  We also present an overview of how to proceed when a JSIS reimbursement does not go as planned: what needs to happen and when?

Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

Welcome to the (lucky?) thirteenth and final edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter for 2023. Where did 2023 go? We are already looking to the future with  with the 2024 edition of our annual conference on the self evaluation, our offer of training on certification and competitions and our session on doing the transfer-out of pension rights. We give you the preliminary results of our survey on career potential and some guidance on appealing non-inclusion in the 2023/24 certification exercise. Our photo competition on workspace temperatures ‘Operation Hiver‘ is ongoing: send us your pics! On a more serious note, we ask how the disconnection bandwidth corresponds with the use of work group apps on private mobiles and we outline the update to some JSIS ceilings.

That’s it now for 2023!

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year!

Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

Welcome to the twelfth, but not last, edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter for 2023. Many of you asked last year for us to provide our end-of-year checklist and appraisal planning a bit sooner this time round in order to allow you to act on the suggestions there. So, here you have it, please make the best use you can of it! Winter is here and with it our competition for the coolest ‘chilling in the office’ photo. We present a summary of the recent town hall meeting on working time and hybrid working and of what has changed in terms of the annual medical check-up. Continuing with change, how about e-voting on those sites still voting on paper and more transparency and dialogue at Eismea and in the Representations? On the topic of career progression we have a look at the internal competitions in general, at the extremely specific criteria of the latest three in particular and we then invite you to consider our training offer.

That’s it now for now! Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter. We’re currently contributing to the drafting of the new mission guide. There is some (measured) good news in that staff salaries will indeed be updated in December (backdated to July). We give you an update on EPSO pause on testing and invite you to our event. On the subject of EPSO, we also look at the monolingual English competitions together with the new restriction clause applied only to Luxembourg. We are also following the situation for  Local Agents: their pension (‘provident’) fund has lost value, reducing payouts for colleagues who are already very low on the pay scale.

That’s it now for now! Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

Welcome to this tenth edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter. We give you an update on the closure of the childcare facilities at Grange and on whether the proposed increase in paternity leave provision (with a catch) is really what we asked for. This links to the recent development of Member States ‘gifting’ of pension contributions to individuals during periods of economic inactivity (e.g. caring responsibilities) and we share with you why the institutions are a little behind the times on this topic. HR appears to have agreed to open internal competitions to those who have the qualifications and experience, without limiting them to function group, we are hopeful that this might be genuinely inclusive. We have a new survey to ask about your perception of your career prospects at the Commission, we have a look at the certification exercise and we ask you to please request your full quota of 10 TWA days: show that they are useful!

That’s it now for now! Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!

Welcome to the ninth edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter of 2023. Please participate in our Follow-up survey on teleworking, hybrid working and teleworking from anywhere (TWA): we would like to make a comparison with the answers you provided to our two original surveys. At the moment we’re busy with the Preparatory groups for the Joint Promotion Committees (JPCs) 11-13 September: this is the last stage of the promotions/reclassifications process before the publication of the final lists in mid-late November. We have still managed to make the time to address your concerns on the solidarity levy and to present an overview of the situation in Luxembourg, given the  most recent update to the minimum wage (01.09.2023). We have also finally(!) gathered all the questions you have raised relating to our interim colleagues together in a frequently asked questions (FAQs). Generation 2004 is also concerned at the treatment of our local agent colleagues in Sudan, the short-notice permanent closure of childcare facilities at Grange and the permanent closure of the LACC canteen. We offer training with Ya Semos Europeos for the forthcoming MCQ and CBT tests for the AD6 and AD7 competitions.

So, that’s it for this this edition, thanks to all of you for your support, ideas and feedback: please keep it coming!

Take care and enjoy reading!

Welcome to the summer edition of the Generation 2004 newsletter of 2023. Have a look at our updated summer checklist, see the status of the new harassment package and our ongoing work on the EPSO debacle. Check out our frequently asked questions (FAQ) on the Picard judgement affecting retirement and pensions: know your rights! We also make seven observations on the ongoing evaluation of working time and hybrid working: why is it so limited in scope? We propose an update to our previous surveys (please participate!) in order to collect data to facilitate meaningful comparison with the official evaluation. We ask the Commission (again) to address the increasing cost of living using the tools already at its disposal and renew out call for teleworking from anywhere (TWA) to be extended: we’ve shown we can work just as well, so why not?

So, that’s it for this this eighth edition, thanks to all of you for your support, ideas and feedback: please keep it coming!

Take care and enjoy reading!