Generation 2004 recently met with the Chief Confidential Counsellor (CCC), the authority on the topic of workplace bullying and harassment, to explore how we can strengthen cooperation, increase visibility of the network of confidential counsellors, and further promote a genuine culture of bullying prevention and of mutual respect across the European Commission.  Appointed in September 2024, the Chief Confidential Counsellor leads a dedicated team of around twenty trained counsellors.

How many of these workplace-bullying risk factors can you spot at the Commission?

‘For harassment, risk factors include inequity of pay, previous perpetrators not being disciplined, […] lack of trust in reporting to HR and managers, and more. If one or more of these risk factors are present, harassment is more likely….For workplace bullying, risk factors include stressful environments like crazy deadlines, unmanageable workloads, internal competition, or constant change. Unclear roles and responsibilities, a workforce full of long-time employees, highly intelligent staff such as lawyers or engineers, bureaucracy and rule-oriented cultures, and previous perpetrators not being disciplined. Again, if one or more of these risk factors are present, bullying is more likely.’ Catherine Marrice, Handling Workplace Bullying (EU learn via LinkedIn Learning platform).

Workplace bullying redress mechanisms

Informal procedure

The confidential counsellors provide confidential support to colleagues across all sites and Directorates-General. Their mission: to advise and assist anyone experiencing inappropriate behaviour, bullying or harassment, or workplace conflict — and to foster prevention and awareness before issues escalate. The counsellors act independently, confidentially, and always in the interest of staff and the service.

formal procedure

Normally the formal harassment procedure cannot be done in parallel with the informal procedure: it must be one or the other. If you have already started the informal procedure then you will have to pause that to proceed with the formal procedure.

The confidential counsellor network

During our meeting, Generation 2004 expressed appreciation for the CCC’s proactive and open approach to dialogue with staff representation. Together, we looked at how to make the confidential counsellor network and its activities better known to colleagues, particularly those who might not yet know where to find confidential and trustworthy help.

We also reiterated our longstanding recommendations to reinforce the confidential counsellor network visibility and impact:

1. Targeted training for senior managers on identifying and addressing inappropriate behaviour and harassment, building stronger prevention at leadership level.

2. Strengthening the CCC’s team with a seconded national expert (SNE) to provide analytical and administrative support as the network’s workload continues to grow.

Generation 2004 welcomed the announcement of the CCC’s upcoming annual report to the High-Level Management Group – a key instrument offering anonymised insights into trends, challenges, and lessons learned across the institution. We believe this report deserves greater visibility among staff, as its findings could inspire preventive measures that make a real difference to our daily work life.

Constructive suggestions for the future

To increase transparency and communication, we also suggested that the CCC organise a public conference after one year of mandate – an open event to present the report’s main findings, share progress, and exchange ideas directly with colleagues and staff representatives. Such a forum would help give visibility to the work already done and reinforce a collective commitment to prevention and respect.

We also encouraged the CCC to consider publishing aggregated statistics on trends across Directorates-General – for example, identifying where more cases of harassment or inappropriate behaviour are being reported (while of course preserving full confidentiality). Understanding these patterns would help target awareness-raising and preventive actions where they are most needed. We would also look at where staff move from and to, since this is often the simplest means of distancing oneself from a situation before suffering damaged self confidence.

Finally, Generation 2004 raised the question of cooperation between institutions. We asked about the timeline for the memorandum of understanding between the European Commission and other institutions such as the EEAS, which could pave the way for more coherent and supportive mechanisms for staff across the EU family.

At Generation 2004, we believe that the Confidential Counsellor network, done well, could be a cornerstone of a healthy, respectful workplace culture – one built on trust, dignity, and care for people. We will continue to support the CCC and her team in their mission to strengthen prevention, awareness, and transparency.

Because every colleague deserves to work in an environment of mutual respect, fairness, and wellbeing.

Building on work already done

We recommend that you read all you can around the topic of bullying and harassment, perhaps even get in touch with the Harassment Watch Network and read their publications.

• 2021, Abuse of the annual appraisal exercise (“CDR”) in the European Commission as tool of psychological harassment with recommendations how to prevent this and better protect the targetted colleagues: second analytical paper
• 2022, My Commission Calvary: Testimonies of harassment at the European Commission

We list additional non-Generation 2004 resources here.

The costs of not addressing the issue

We appreciate that the costs of workplace bullying and  harassment go well beyond the financial. Nevertheless sometimes it is the financial aspect that quantifies the damage. The 2008 activity report of the Mediation Service pointed out the non-existence of figures and studies which would enable it to quantify the cost to the institution of conflicts in professional relationships and stated:

“The Mediation Service is aware of this, but proposes that reference be made to the figures published by the Justice Ministry of one Member State. According to its figures, in any organisation between 2 % and 5 % of staff are involved in at least one dispute a year, with the cost of a dispute put at €50,000.

Although we must be careful when making an extrapolation for an Institution with a staff of over 30,000, we can advance the estimate that the annual cost to the Commission as a direct consequence of staff disputes, based on a 2 % dispute rate, is at least €30 million”.

It is enough to multiply the estimated cost of a dispute (€50,000) by the number of cases resolved to see that the activities of the Mediation Service save the institution millions of euros annually. However, it is not the short-term savings that matter most but the recovery of human resources in the long term.’ (2015 Annual Mediation report , p. 10, point 10)

Don’t get stuck!

Generation 2004 is here for you!

If you are interested in becoming more involved or if you are thinking of standing in the November 2025 Luxembourg Local Staff Committee elections
Please get in touch with us by 3rd November 2025 at midday.

If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.