DG Interpretation (SCIC) colleagues contacted us recently to have more clarity about working-time arrangements for the Easter holidays.
There are more restrictive leave-management rules in place at DG SCIC in general, for example the need to announce changes to a leave schedule 2 months in advance. Continue reading A difficult Easter for DG SCIC staff?
Commissioner Hahn said in his video message (16.3.2021) that ‘we are all impatient to be free again’. At this stage, please allow me to modify his message and stress that ‘we are all impatient to be finally vaccinated’ (at least most of us). After 1 year of teleworking at home we are all fed up with this situation and cannot wait to resume a normal life. While entering the third wave, we are facing yet another lockdown. As most countries begin to tighten the restrictions, the vision of going to visit our loved ones over the Easter period seems to be vanishing. The pressure is high, our workload has increased, some of us at the brink of burnout, digital overload is a hard reality and some of us are worried about our family members in other Member States, which are currently fighting for their lives. Continue reading Latest on COVID: vaccines a little behind initial estimates
In January a call for expression of interest presented the possibility to work in a DG Health and Food Safety (SANTE [1]) unit in Luxembourg from any Commission site ‘for about six months’. As stated in the email, the initial Luxembourg-wide call had been unsuccessful, so this was a ‘plan B’ of sorts in these difficult times, a workaround.
Unfortunately, this quick fix opens a can of worms (there are so many issues here we almost didn’t know where to begin, hence the delay in writing this article. If you spot any additional issues, please feel free to get in touch and we’ll add them to this list!) Continue reading Remote-working precedent: a workaround or a can of worms?
Many of you contacted us over the past weeks and months to highlight a number of important issues specifically related to DG Translation (DGT). If you want to discuss them more in-depth and share with us your concerns and ideas so that we can act on them, join our special DGT meeting, Thursday 25.03.2021 at 2 pm. Continue reading Special DGT meeting 25.3.2021@14.00-15.00
You asked, we listened! Many of you have contacted us recently to enquire about the possibility to telework from abroad before the Easter break [1], as was the case in summer 2020 and before Christmas ( setting a precedent).
We at Generation 2004 reacted promptly to your requests by asking DG HR to allow this flexibility again. It was our previous requests on your behalf that resulted in the possibility to telework from abroad for 2 weeks in the summer and before the Christmas break: these requests were accepted and led to a well-deserved and very-much-appreciated flexibility for staff, after months of isolation and restrictions due to the measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading Teleworking from abroad before the Easter break
At Generation 2004 we continue to closely follow the development of all matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic and to voice your concerns and requests to the administration.
Here you find the most up-to-date information provided during the last meeting with DG HR devoted to COVID-19 (the 20th on the issue so far!) held 12 February 2021, complemented with that provided in communication update 30. Continue reading Latest news on COVID vaccination, teleworking and the right to disconnect
As Commission staff, we are now approaching one full year of compulsory teleworking, with no clear prospects as to when we will be able to go back to the office. Many of you contacted us at Generation 2004 to share your concerns regarding what this ‘new way of working’ means in practice: sitting more hours in front of the computer, being forever reachable, reading emails at midnight Continue reading Digital overload and the right to disconnect: the Commission must act now!
A silent revolution, without the involvement of staff and staff representatives.One year ago, on Friday 13 March 2020, we were all told to go home and start teleworking. No one would have imagined at the time that by now the vast majority of staff would still be doing compulsory 100% telework.
However, while we are sitting at home doing our best to continue delivering on our objectives in spite of all the difficulties created by the pandemic, in our empty buildings things are moving fast. A silent revolution, already well under way, pre-Corona, continues full steam ahead: from DG BUDG, to DG TRADE, to the new Publications Office (OP) (POST-Mercier), to the Jean Monnet 2 (JMO2) and now rue de la Loi. Continue reading The ONE: the latest casualty of the hot-desking policy of the Commission
The Committee for prevention and protection at work (CPPT) recently agreed on the need to request more detailed information – including technical data and the proof that staff have been consulted and agreed with the project – before giving an opinion on two requests to transform office space into an open-plan environment. Continue reading CPPT: keeping up the good work to safeguard the health and safety of staff
In an article published on 18 December 2020, we informed you about the reply to Generation 2004’s November note to Ms Weyand, Director-General of DG Trade, requesting clarification on their plans for an office-space reorganisation.
We welcomed this reply, however at Generation 2004 we are aware that the devil is often in the detail, Continue reading Office-space reorganisation in DG Trade: the latest
