*Update 20.12.2023: 2 weeks after the equivalent announcement for Brussels-based staff, HR Luxembourg have announced (email) that staff outside Brussels can also telework 100% until the general return to the office 08.01.2024: ‘Staff in Brussels, Grange, and JRC sites are authorised to telework during this time. To ensure uniformity on working conditions across our locations’**Update 05.12.2023: here are building closures and alternatives in Brussels, but we don’t (yet) see equivalent information for other places of work e.g. Grange or Luxembourg. Remember you have the right to work from the office 100% if you so wish (and you are prepared for the temperatures there).[*]* Continue reading End-of-year checklist 2023
IT kit for telework
LACC canteen closed permanently, what’s next?
*Update 06.12.2023: here are building closures and alternatives in Brussels, but we don’t (yet) see equivalent information for other places of work e.g. Grange or Luxembourg. Remember you have the right to work from the office 100% if you so wish (and you are prepared for the temperatures there).* *Update 23.11.2023 What is a cafétéria plus?[0]* Continue reading LACC canteen closed permanently, what’s next?
End of year checklist: December 2022
We encourage you to rest and to recharge your batteries during the end-of-year days: this is not an opportunity to get work done! Please, as far as you can, switch off your devices, mute notifications and disconnect: take the time for you. Why not already schedule your out-of-the-office message in Outlook today? It’s one thing you can score off your end-of-year ‘to do’ list. We present a list of suggestions here in no particular order. Please feel free to get in touch to add to this list if you’d like to share what works for you!
Use it or lose it at the Commission
*Update 30.08.2023: opaque and short-notice permanent closure of (well-used) childcare facilities at Grange site* *Update 13.03.2023 here is the presentation on hotdesking from our 10.03.2023 event.* *Here’s our collaborative note to HR on the topic of the building policy (12.12.2022) and on the topic of the North Light building in Brussels(10.02.2023).* Original article: Use your own allocated desk as much as possible, or you might find yourself soon in hot-desking (or as the Commission calls it, a ‘dynamic’ environment). In fact, this non-optimal use of workstations was the reasoning used as a basis to move colleagues to hot-desking environments of the most extreme type – large open-plan office space with no assigned desks, where furniture, individual storage space and quiet rooms are reduced to the bare minimum. Continue reading Use it or lose it at the Commission
Reimbursement of teleworking expenses: the Court says ‘no’
*Update 13.03.2023 here is the presentation on hotdesking from our 10.03.2023 event.* Original article: Here is the update on Court case T-486/21 promised in our article on whether working from home can truly be considered voluntary. We noted there that the Court rejected the application made by one of our colleagues for reimbursement of teleworking-related internet and phone costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic (judgment 07/09/2022). We’ve been raising the issue of additional teleworking costs for over 2 years now and even though all OSPs succeeded in having this issue explicitly mentioned in the Commission Decision of 24/03/2022 on working time and hybrid working (Article 13) we see the Commission is increasingly reluctant to act. Continue reading Reimbursement of teleworking expenses: the Court says ‘no’
All at home! Will the Commission (again) close buildings?
*Update 10.05.2023 closing buildings announced as a great success success, but the figures are incomplete.**Update 14.12.2022 many buildings will be closed between Christmas and New Year. Here is a list. Here is how to find and book a desk.* *Here’s our 30.11.2022 note to HR asking (again!) that the lump sum be paid.* Original article: In August 2022 we asked whether working from home could really be considered voluntary, given the general reduction in office space across the Commission and the closure of many buildings for several weeks over the summer as part of the Buildings Energy Saving Together (BEST) Action. Continue reading All at home! Will the Commission (again) close buildings?
Is working from home really voluntary?
*Update 14.07.2023 many buildings will again be closed over the summer. Here is a list of buildings and dates (note Luxembourg is mentioned only at the bottom). Here is how to find and book a desk (Brussels only).*
There’s a disconnect between the image presented in the working time and hybrid working (WTHW) decision and the reality for Commission staff in terms of choice of work location and working-from-home (WFH) costs. First on choice, the WTHW states that WFH/teleworking is voluntary (Article 9(3)) while the Commission simultaneously pursues a building policy of reducing overall office space and open-plan/hot-desking environments. Would there really be a desk for everyone if all Commission staff chose to work from the office at the same time? Continue reading Is working from home really voluntary?
Things to check before holidays start (Tips)
Well done on getting though another year of a global pandemic! While that brings its own challenges, there are perhaps some additional things worth checking before your well-deserved Christmas and New Year holiday leave.
Collective action on the very discriminatory internal competition for temporary agents (TAs) only: to join our collective action please apply for this internal competition by 21 December 2021. Continue reading Things to check before holidays start (Tips)
Home office kit – assembling the chair
*Update 05.02.2024, this offer is still open. Check out the instructions on assembling or adjusting the chair.* Original article: As you hopefully know, the Commission is offering most (but sadly not all [1]) of us a home-office kit including an ergonomic chair [2]. After having battled for so long on this topic, the team of Generation 2004 did not want to let the opportunity pass to test-drive this offer and participate in this scheme as well. The ordering process is relatively painless, although delivery of the chair took a couple of weeks. From the outside, the chair looks to be of good quality. So, if you are still hesitating whether the offer is worth the trouble, we can recommend it. Continue reading Home office kit – assembling the chair
IT office equipment … ongoing
Unfortunately, this article needs to start with an apology: we here at Generation 2004 are deeply sorry and contrite for the unintended effects that our photography contest on the ‘Wild West of Teleworking’ seems to have had. But let us explain. Continue reading IT office equipment … ongoing
