Some Commission staff in European Commission (EC) Representations to EU Member States are subject to rotation. Under normal circumstances the exercise is already complex to manage. If you have any doubts about that, then think about the last time you moved house and then add to it: Continue reading Generation 2004 requests suspension of staff rotation in Representations during COVID-19 crisis
Welcome to the latest Generation 2004 newsletter. In this issue, we will keep covering the working conditions changes related to the COVID-19 crisis. Alongside this we will complete our series of articles on JSIS complementary health insurance, give you some insight into the transfer of pension rights, remind you why Generation 2004 must exist and finally ‘retract’ our recent article on positive change at the Local Staff Committee Brussels. We are also looking for a new secretary for our Brussels headquarters.
On a different note, as you may have noticed, the number of articles in this issue is lower than usual and the time since the previous issue is also shorter than usual; this is not an accident and is part of a new format we are introducing to our newsletter and communication strategy.
In general, especially when compared with other Commission staff organisations, Generation 2004 has always taken a frugal approach to emailing colleagues. Apart from announcing some events and actions here and there, throughout our near 8 years of existence, we have refrained from spamming colleagues with individual union tract mass emails and we have ‘stubbornly’ stuck to our policy of publishing and producing a newsletter, which sees, on average, 6 to 8 issues per year, and prides itself on the quality of its content. We have however come to realise that this policy has led us to publish issues of the newsletter which are too long, and where some of the articles are already a bit aged.
Today we introduce a reduction in the length of the list of articles per issue and an increase in frequency to one or two issues per month. We believe this will allow us to serve you better without reducing the quality of our articles: something we have always striven for!
For our daily work ‘For the many, not the few’ Generation 2004 employs a team of committed and hardworking colleagues. Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, our last call for interest has not allowed us to find a candidate and we invite you again to apply for this full-time secretary post. We offer a Contract Agent FG II contract. If you are not eligible but you know someone that is and that you believe could be interested in the job, please feel free to forward the message on. Continue reading Generation 2004 is hiring a Secretary at the European Commission in Brussels
It seems our article on the Brussels Local Staff Committee (LSC) positive change from last month was perhaps given the wrong title. Following the latest March plenary session, we now believe a question mark is needed. The correct title would then be: Positive change at the Brussels Local Staff Committee?
We believe this is so because of the positions and actions of some trade unions during the March plenary session, held with the single point of electing a new president of the LSC Brussels and this despite the request by Generation 2004 to include other points of more relevance for staff in the agenda. Continue reading Positive change at the Brussels Local Staff Committee?
The 2004 and 2014 staff regulations reforms introduced discrimination towards colleagues hired in the post 2004 generation, most of them from the – at the time – ten new Member States, which later got to 12 and eventually 13. These reforms introduced many changes affecting a wide range of working conditions for these newer colleagues while not touching most of the benefits of the already existing civil servants. Noteworthy are:
Continue reading A little reminder why Generation 2004 MUST exist
When you start in the European Institutions, you might already have worked somewhere else and gained pension rights that you can transfer into our pension scheme of European officials (PSEO), a so-called transfer-in. The same is possible or even compulsory when you leave the Institutions, a so-called transfer-out. For a transfer-in, your previous pension scheme transfers a certain amount of money to the PSEO: in return, you get credited with some more time that is used for the calculation of your future pension paid by the PSEO. For a transfer-out, the PSEO calculates what your accumulated ‘years’ are worth and transfers this sum to your next pension scheme.
Continue reading Updated conversion coefficients for transfer of pension rights
In this third and final article in our series about complementary health insurance, we will present some of the available options for this type of insurance. If you have missed the previous articles, you can still find them all on our website and linked below[*].
As explained in the previous articles, the external schemes fall into two categories: ‘Hospitalisation only’ and ‘Hospitalisation and other medical expenses’. Continue reading Available options for complementary health insurance
Teleworking Guidelines 4.2.2021 are now available.
The Commission has sent the vast majority of colleagues home to telework, following the Guidelines on teleworking in Commission departments during the Covid-19 pandemic and their subsequent update. In this article, we explain these guidelines – however, please do invest the time to read the guidelines yourself! It is not necessary to read the first version as the update replaces it completely as of 1 April 2020. The explanations below uses the updated guidelines as their base. Continue reading Current exceptional guidelines on teleworking
Due to the coronavirus, we were forced to adjust our lives and the way of living. Some of you might find it challenging as you work from home for the first time. Many colleagues usually opt out of teleworking, as they would not feel the pressure to complete their tasks or perhaps they need the social aspect. We found some interesting tips for you. Continue reading How to cope with work, handle challenges at home while maintaining good health?
Generation 2004 recently welcomed the new Director General in charge of HR matters, Gertrud INGESTAD. The new DG started her functions at a period of severe crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In our welcome letter we raised a number of most pressing practical issues and problems relating to the COVID-19 protection measures. While we fully endorse these measures, we know that certain elements can still be improved. We have collected various examples of your many recent difficulties with our new working arrangements like: Continue reading Generation 2004 welcomes the new DG HR Director General Gertrud INGESTAD
