While the flexible working arrangements such as offsetting and recuperating working hours (‘flexitime’) and working from home are implemented for Member States and headquarters (HQ), as of today, colleagues in 144 Delegations around the world still have no legal basis to telework. This issue has been flagged multiple times in different meetings with management and a social dialogue was planned to be concluded in September 2022. As of today, still, nothing. Continue reading No work-life balance for colleagues in Delegations?
z Newsletter article
The future of our survey on the rise in teleworking energy bills
*08.11.2022 we have republished this survey to enable a comparison, please participate!*
*Update 07.11.2022 we add a list of all available state aid in Luxembourg.*
*23.10.2022 the teleworking costs court case has been unsuccessful.*
It’s the perfect storm of costs: increased consumption of utilities and higher bills due to teleworking meets increased energy costs due to the political situation and even higher bills. We intend to show the compounded effects of these two hits by comparing the snapshot we took at the end of 2021 with a new pic from now: we will republish our survey and ask you again to contribute. Continue reading The future of our survey on the rise in teleworking energy bills
Colleagues in Kyiv to return to the office
*Update 22.12.2022 EEAS wants to increase the number of staff present in Kyiv, pushing staff evacuated to Brussels to return for 2 weeks at a time, starting in January 2023. We have asked for clarification and flexibility in this.* Against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (24.02.2022), colleagues in Kyiv are to return to being present in office starting from 31.10.2022. Local Agents (LAs) are provisionally required to be present four days per week and official (generally expatriate) colleagues are required to be present for a minimum of 2 weeks (we have asked for clarification of this part of the instructions, since the plan for presence suggests that the 2 weeks can also be teleworked). For context, teleworking in Ukraine and abroad was made available also for LAs by Admin decision (2022)20, initially for a period of 3 months. Continue reading Colleagues in Kyiv to return to the office
Inflation and rising energy cost impact in delegations
Generation 2004 is closely following the financial impact of inflation and rising energy costs to all staff in 144 Delegations around the world. We noted that especially for Delegations which are paid in local currencies (whether legally or not, we hear you Turkey!), colleagues are severely harmed by growing inflationary pressure and are experiencing deteriorating purchasing power. To illustrate (this is not an exhaustive list, information is based on available internet figures of inflation statistics [*] and the latest available information of salary review status) with a few examples: Continue reading Inflation and rising energy cost impact in delegations
Newsletter editorial – 27-09-2022
Welcome to the Generation 2004 Newsletter of 27 September 2022. In this edition we start with looking for results from the 12 actions announced 6 months ago to make it easier to fill vacancies in Luxembourg. We have a series of lunchtime events planned, starting today, with a contract-agent-focussed look at the future, this links with an update on internal competitions and our ongoing contract agent petition: please register and sign! The next Generation 2004 event takes place on Tuesday 4 October and looks at all things AST, particularly the approaching deadline for application for the 2022/23 certification exercise. Unfortunately, our petition on AST/SC issues has come to a halt, with the conclusion that the Commission ‘does not consider that the AST/SC staff members are treated unfairly’. We are checking out what further options we have there. And finally, we present a medical ‘control’ during sick leave FAQ: what it is, how to respond and how to challenge outcomes if you don’t agree.
That’s it now for now! Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!
Six months on, what´s happening with the 12 actions for Luxembourg?
*Update 11.11.2022, where we are with this 9 months on.**Update 07.11.2022 we add a list of all available state aid in Luxembourg.* Original article: In March 2022 the Commission announced a list of actions from the Heads of Administration (Chefs d’Administration) of EU institutions and bodies based in Luxembourg (CALux) to address the difficulties of recruiting staff, a topic closely related to the cost of living in Luxembourg. Note that this March announcement was before the current cost–of-living crisis could be factored in, meaning that Luxembourg is potentially even less attractive now than before. Oddly, the news of the 12 actions proposed to address the attractiveness of the Luxembourg site did not include the list of actions themselves, so we list them below. What announcements/events/conferences have you noticed on any of the items on the list? Please share them with us, MyIntracomm is rather quiet on this topic. Continue reading Six months on, what´s happening with the 12 actions for Luxembourg?
AST event: all you ever wanted to know!
*Update 19.02.2025: ‘By default, all [internal] competitions will be cross-category.’ (Stay tuned: A new approach for internal competitions) This is excellent news and should now put the Commission on an even footing with the Parliament and other EU institutions. We hope that this inclusion is genuine and that the competitions are not otherwise skewed to reduce participation. Participation in these competitions can be done in parallel to the certification: use all your options!*
The Contract Agent petition is still open: you can still register and sign!
The European Parliament (EP), accepting our petition No. 0117/2021 on the contract agent (CA) precariat in the European Commission, asked the Commission for more explanations on the CA work situation. We’ve received a surprising reply with standard arguments (see ‘notice to members’). As a result, we want to relaunch our petition now, showing our reasoning, making our arguments even more specific than ever before! Continue reading The Contract Agent petition is still open: you can still register and sign!
Certification: what’s being tested?
*Update 02.10.2023: the deadline for applications for the 2023/2024 edition is Friday 6 October 2023 at 23:59 (Brussels time).* Original article: We have been contacted in the meantime by colleagues who are interested in participating but who are disappointed by the lack of detailed information about the exams and the skills tested. Sadly, the MyIntraComm European School of Administration My EuSAnet Certification page has little more than an outline to offer on this topic. Continue reading Certification: what’s being tested?
Newsletter editorial – 15-09-2022
Welcome to the Generation 2004 Newsletter of 15 September 2022. We’ve been looking at the working time and hybrid working decision, collecting examples of how the new rules are being implemented in different DGs and looking forward to contributing to general Commission-wide guidelines via the new WTHW joint committee. Tied in with the WTHW decision and the ‘new normal’, is an evaluation of whether working from home is truly voluntary (especially when several Commission buildings were closed during the summer, ostensibly to save energy, will they be closed again in winter?).
One of the many issues we have with working from home is the additional cost, particularly for utilities. This is significant in the context of the Council request to further reduce spending on staff. Costs disproportionately affect our colleagues who earn less and for those whose earnings buy less. Luxembourg-based colleagues, check whether you qualify for the new state aid on accommodation costs (the Commission itself is fully committed to doing nothing).
In other news, we present the first in our new series of ‘it happened to me’ with the case of Schrödinger’s reimbursement, and we continue on the topic of health with a long read on the culture of burnout and a look at how the annual medical check-up is to be done for the foreseeable future in Brussels. There have been big changes in Luxembourg with the change in the electoral rules for November 2022. In terms of events, we have a series of lunchtime events planned with a contract-agent-focussed look at the future. Last, but not least, we are recruiting a Brussels-based IT specialist, feel free to let your IT-savvy colleagues know!
That’s it now for now! Enjoy the reading and get in touch if you believe we can help!
