In response to your feedback we try to send this list out a bit earlier in order to give you time to take action. We encourage you to do what you can now in order to be able to use the end-of-year period to rest and to recharge your batteries. 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. Continue reading End-of-year checklist 2024
Teleworking
10 days of teleworking from outside the place of employment: use them or lose them!
It’s been use it or lose it at the Commission for some time now and the 10 days of teleworking from anywhere (TWA) are an example of this. Article 11 of the March 2022 working time and hybrid working (WTHW) decision gives all staff the right to enjoy up to 10 days of teleworking from outside their normal workplace per year, upon their request, subject to the agreement of the line manager. Continue reading 10 days of teleworking from outside the place of employment: use them or lose them!
‘Voluntary’ availability during end-of-year break
We are aware of colleagues being asked to ‘voluntarily’[1] declare their availability to ‘ensure business continuity’[2] during the end-of-year stop (23.12.2024-02.01.2025). Given that many staff will already have their laptop with them, whether that’s to use the 10 telework from anywhere (TWA) days, to accommodate the routine building closures at this time of year[3] or to work around cold offices, it can seem a little predatory to then ask when (not whether) colleagues are available during these rest days for unspecified and as-yet-unmeasured tasks. As though no one would have the intention of filling that time with their own plans!
Continue reading ‘Voluntary’ availability during end-of-year break
Cold? leave a paper trail!
It’s that time of year again and several of you have got in touch to say that your workspace is below the legal minimum temperature of 19°C in Brussels and 20°C in Luxembourg. We raise this point everywhere we can, but so far it is falling on deaf ears. What can we all do about it? We ask you to make some noise. Please contact your proximity team [1] every time you suspect that your work area is below the minimum temperature.
Are interpreters being listened to?
New technologies do not always bring benefits for everybody. One of the collateral victims of more digitalisation are interpreters. The job of an Interpreter was already difficult in the “old” days of meetings in situ, with interpreters working from booths in the conference room where delegates negotiated EU policies.
Summer holiday 2024 checklist (Tips)
For those of you who remain in the office keeping the Commission standing (thanks!), please check out the heatwave instructions for dealing with hot offices and the list of buildings to be temporarily closed under Buildings Energy Saving Together (BEST) 2024[1]. Read our related article on how these closures undermine that working from home is voluntary.*
Oops … the Commission did it again! Illegal request on private phones
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
Operation Hiver – Winter is over
*Update 15.10.2024, while we did receive a response from HR it did not provide the requested figures, we are following up on this. In the meantime, please continue to complain to your proximity team (Brussels/Luxembourg) if you suspect that your work area is below the minimum[*]: leave a paper trail!*
Original article: Winter is over and we have not yet received a reply to our note to HR and OIB/OIL asking for the year of data on office temperatures. Continue reading Operation Hiver – Winter is over
From culture of trust to control freak
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!
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!
