*Update 26.08.2025 here’s the new link with instructions on how to encode those TWA days [1], note that even Blue Book trainees can have 5 days. [2]*
Original article: Since 2020, Generation 2024 has been advocating for more flexible rules on teleworking, both from the place of employment and from everywhere [3]. At the end of 2023, during the review of the Decision on Working Time and Hybrid Working (WTHW), the administration missed a key opportunity to sit at the table with the staff representatives to analyse results and negotiate some final modifications [4] to the decision to address the issues that remained outstanding, such as the additional costs of working from home [5]. Many staff now question the logic of counting days of presence in the office on a strict weekly basis and of allowing only limited telework from outside the place of employment (‘teleworking from anywhere (TWA)’), considering that:
- Other European institutions [6] as well as public and private employers adopt a far more flexible approach;
- After the big Commission building sale (in Brussels alone, 23 buildings [7]), the available office space cannot host all staff at once, extending hotdesking [8] in open spaces even though we have no up-to-date rules on how it should be done. We continue to ask how voluntary working from home really is [9]. Minimum office presence is fast becoming a situation de facto imposed by the Commission to reduce costs across sites.
- The 2023 review [10] of the Decision on Working Time and Hybrid Working found out that the new teleworking arrangements “increased productivity and efficiency, (…)the institution benefits through better performance and higher motivation.”
- Especially after the Covid pandemic, the flexibility offered by teleworking is a key element for many workers, and even more so for young generations: even Commission senior managers now admit teleworking is a key element [11] in interviews with young candidates to Commission jobs.
With a new Commission in office and a new HR Director-General, Generation 2004 believes it is time to put the issue of teleworking back on the table.
To shape a modern Commission that truly cares for its staff wellbeing, Generation 2004 demands:
On TW from anywhere (TWA [3])
- 60 days/year of teleworking from outside the place of employment (TWA) for all staff, without requiring specific justifications,
- TWA for ad hoc needs, including medical reasons, family reasons, being a caregiver for a family member, pregnancy and maternity, study, pre-retirement, etc.
- Non-restrictive application of exceptional TWA (1 month renewable) for “imperative family reasons”
- Allow carry-over of unused TWA [6] days to the following year.
On TW from the place of employment
- Calculate office days on a monthly basis – not weekly!
- Establish the list of non-teleworkable tasks (as required by the WHTH decision [12]: paragraph 11)
- Review practices [13] in all DGs to avoid stricter applications of teleworking arrangements in some DGs [14]
Generation demands as well that the Commission:
- Monitor the implementation of the right to disconnect [15], avoiding abuses of mobile phones [16] and other types of communication devices outside normal working hours [17].
- Closely monitor the psychosocial risks linked to cases where staff is often called to work [18] or requested to attend to electronic devices outside normal working hours [19] without a formal recompense for what is fast becoming an expected standby duty [20].
FLEXIBILITY MEANS CARING
Flexibility cannot remain an empty word [21] used in the HR Strategy: in fact, it is a way to promote health and wellbeing and to show that the employer truly considers staff as humans, not simple a means of production.
Here are just a few cases where flexibility means caring:
- Colleagues with a serious illness, – including cancer –that have to undergo regular check-ups in a clinic outside their place of employment should have the right to TWA if they want to, as this can affect their general wellbeing (the current rules make this dependent on the line manager: WTHW [12] Article 11(2)).
- staff members who are the caregiver of their spouse or a relative should be able to enjoy more freedom to do TW or TWA, as the current rules (WTHW [12] Article 11(2)) fall short of the more protective legislation in place in many Member Statess. TW and TWA would allow to give some relief to those involved.
- Maternity and paternity leave: having only 20 weeks for mothers and only the legal minimum (an astonishing 10 days [22]) for fathers – much less than many Member States – makes the life of new parents very hard and perpetuates disparity among sexes and old-time family roles. TW could help them reconcile work with family needs – and help the administration understand that more modern rules in this field are absolutely needed!
MODERNISATION MEANS CARING
In some circumstances, additional flexibility with TW and TWA means also a more modern public administration:
- Work-life balance is key nowadays, esp. for young generations (see what happened with the “Great Resignation”);
- Interest of the service: TWA means less absences, and as a consequence less of a burden on colleagues and management;
- Geographical balance: more flexible working conditions can attract candidates from less represented Member States (particularly since the 2014 staff regulations reform [23] removed the link between distance to place of origin and up to 5 additional days of leave per year: it is now 2 days for all independent of the distance);
- Attracting and retaining talents: an employer offering more modern and flexible working conditions with can better compete on the job market for the best talents.
If the Commission wants to be a modern employer that takes active care of the physical and psychological wellbeing of its staff, it is time to act! For our institutions to attract and retain the best talent on the market, it is necessary to offer modern working conditions that put the human factor at the centre.
If you agree, do not miss the chance to support us in this battle!
As always, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us [24] or leave a comment below.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [25].
toolTips('.classtoolTips19','Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (\'Staff Regulations [26] (SR)\') are rules stating:
• fundamental conditions of service
• basic rights, duties and obligations of staff.
The SR have been reformed x 2 (so far):
• 2004 (Kinnock White paper)
• 2014 (Regulation 1023/2013 [27])
For a summary of stated intentions and real outcomes of those two reforms check out: European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [28]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff
'); toolTips('.classtoolTips36','
Blue Book trainees do a 5-month paid traineeship. Here is the eligibility criteria [29]: have completed a standard 3-year higher education degree … have no prior work experience of any kind, in excess of 6 weeks in any EU institution, body or agency, delegation, with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), or Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union (EUCJ) have a very good knowledge of languages.’
Many go on to participate in the \'pilot\' Junior Professional Programme (JPP [30]).
‘Blue Book trainees represent 91% of the JPP eligible applicants and 79% of selected junior professionals (JPs). Contract Agents (CAs) function group IV represent 8% of the eligible candidates and 21% of selected JPs’ (p.9, JPP Evaluation Report [31])
'); toolTips('.classtoolTips47','Trade union or staff association (OSP) [Organisation syndicale et professionnelle]');