New HR strategy

It’s all about our rights!

Cyber-security, Data Protection, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2024-09-25, Working conditions, workplace bullying and harassment Print This Post

*Update 28.10.2024 we’ve added a status on the case(s) at the bottom of this article. Thank you all for your support!*

Original article: We start with a story[1]. There was once an EU Member State whose government was repeatedly named as a cause for concern with regards to its record on the rule of law (2020, European Parliament), the rights of women (2022, UN) and those of minorities (2022, Amnesty International) That government was also named as a cause of concern with regards to allegations of oppressing independent journalists and media freedom (2023, MFRR)[2]. Continue reading It’s all about our rights! →

Oops … the Commission did it again! Illegal request on private phones

Data Protection, Health, New HR strategy, Newsletter – 2024-04-29, Staff Regulations Reform, Teleworking, Working conditions Print This Post

It’s not even a month since the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) ordered the Commission to suspend illegal personal data flows and we see another such order coming.

Last December, the Commission launched a ‘business continuity’ exercise asking most colleagues (if not all, it was never clear) to provide their private mobile phone numbers to create Signal private messenger groups where they could be contacted for work matters. Continue reading Oops … the Commission did it again! Illegal request on private phones →

From culture of trust to control freak

Data Protection, Health, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2024-04-11, Open Plan Office, Staff Regulations Reform, Teleworking, Working conditions Print This Post

HR has stated its intention for the new time-registration tool to allow for comparison with office badging data at DG level: is this a solution in search of a problem?

One of the pillars of the Decision on working time and hybrid working (WTHW) is the culture of trust: a word used repeatedly at the December town hall. At the end of the day, staff are responsible for drafting European law, managing European funds and responding to the needs of the general public and Members States. A large part of European staff perform basically intellectual work; they are information workers and this can be difficult to quantify on a daily basis: only by the results in the mid and long term. Continue reading From culture of trust to control freak →

High time for more flexible teleworking, also from abroad!

additional teleworking costs, Cost of living Luxembourg, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2024-03-15, return to the office-new normal, Social Dialogue, Surveys, Teleworking, teleworking from anywhere, Working conditions Print This Post

The implementation of the Decision on Working Time and Hybrid Working (WTHW) was evaluated by DG HR at the end of 2023 and, while targeted actions are now expected, there will be no big revision, the promised flexibility is still one-sided. Generation 2004 was pleased to notice that the evaluation is overall very positive and that many managers also appreciated the enhanced flexibility of WTHW and made use themselves of the possibilities to better reconcile their private and professional lives. Continue reading High time for more flexible teleworking, also from abroad! →

Own-initiative training: You are, in fact, on your own

Education, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2024-04-11, Professional mobility, Training, Working conditions Print This Post

*Update 09.04.2024 we have received a response to our note below from HR: the own-initiative training budget is very limited but special leave might still be available as a contribution to your OIT. Please use all your options!*

Original article: If you work for the Commission and you would like to keep up with developments in your area of expertise, or to acquire new skills to help you in your work, you are in for an unpleasant surprise. Up until recently, the Commission would contribute to the fees of a successful course, making it easier to take the decision to acquire university or other qualifications later in your career – especially for colleagues at the lower end of the pay scales. Continue reading Own-initiative training: You are, in fact, on your own →

Work groups on private mobile: voluntary?

Data Protection, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2023-12-13, Standby duty, Teleworking, Working conditions Print This Post

*Update 12.04.2024: On the processing of personal data: the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) European Commission’s use of Microsoft 365 infringes data protection law for EU institutions and bodies.* Original article: There’s a difference between the right to disconnect as presented in the working time and hybrid working (WTHW) decision and the reality for those being ‘encouraged’ (voluntold/expected)  to join messaging groups on their private mobile for ‘business continuity’. See our recent communication on this topic. The right to disconnect is in the 2022 WTHW decision and also its 2023 evaluation where it is acknowledged that more needs to be done. Continue reading Work groups on private mobile: voluntary? →

Brownie points, shattered dreams & utility-bill miracles

New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2023-12-01, Teleworking Print This Post

The directors-general from DG HR, DG Interpretation (SCIC) and DG Digital Services (DIGIT), together with the the Director of the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) and the one for Luxembourg (OIL) met with staff in a hybrid Town Hall meeting 20.11.2023. The occasion was the publishing of the evaluation of the eighteen months since the implementation of the Working Time and Hybrid Working Decision (WTHW). The answers given to staff questions there echo still in our ears. Continue reading Brownie points, shattered dreams & utility-bill miracles →

Eismea: when better becomes worse

additional teleworking costs, Agencies, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2023-12-01, Open Plan Office, Working conditions Print This Post

The situation at the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (Eismea)[1] is no bedtime story – staff reductions, reorganisation, unfinished offices, a car park which is unsafe for bikes[2], and where most of the parking spots remain occupied with bulky office furniture, platoons of builders roaming the building without displaying identification: a fundamental requirement under the current alert level to which all Commission buildings are subject. Continue reading Eismea: when better becomes worse →

New guide for Mission: Impossible

Mobility and Climate, Multiannual financial framework (MFF), New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2023-11-14 Print This Post

Going on business travel soon? Beware, it could become Mission: Impossible!

Generation 2004 is currently negotiating the new draft mission guide tabled by the administration, and we believe that the proposed changes to mission rules create additional burden for the mission performer that is simply unacceptable. Continue reading New guide for Mission: Impossible →

Welcome to the Hotel Commission

Cost of living Luxembourg, EPSO, Internal Competitions, Luxembourg, New HR strategy, Newsletter - 2023-11-14 Print This Post

*Update 23.11.2023, thanks to the colleagues who shared their ideas on this situation, we have added their observations below.*

Original article: Luxembourg is a great place to work,  you just have to find somewhere to live first! In its increasingly desperate attempts to do nothing of substance (12 actions for Luxembourg, for example), while still claiming to be working on increasing the attractivity of Luxembourg as a workplace, the Commission now seems to have resorted to the roadmap set out in a classic song. Continue reading Welcome to the Hotel Commission →