We expect much more and much better! The administration must review its HR Strategy paper
« HUMAN »
At the heart of the Human Resources management
of our Institution!
We expect much more and much better!
A MODERNISATION BASED ON WHAT? :
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.
Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts”
« Ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est »
Under these conditions, rather than modernising our institution's HR strategy, we risk seeing the implementation of 45 HR strategies.
• R&D has already made clear its total and outright refusal, the adverse consequences of these two office arrangements, are no longer to be demonstrated.
How can DG HR be so ill-advised as to saying that they want to create “a flexible, inclusive and sustainable working environment”, if colleagues move from day to day in open spaces and “hot-desking”, without having been involved in the decision-making process, without having expressed their ideas or wishes and without any involvement of staff representation!
Especially as this is happening in the midst of a health crisis. Here, staff are faced with a fait accompli!
Even worst, the OIB seems to believe that hot desking can work without any appropriate supplies such as efficient IT equipment, notably headset with proper noise cancellation, wireless ergonomic keyboard and mouse… Adding colourful sofas in a corner does not turn an old-fashioned office space into a dynamic workspace.
• The green dimension and the commitment to reduce emissions are compatible with an innovative building policy; no excuse for unacceptable office arrangements.
• Special attention should be paid to colleagues with special needs (disabilities, vulnerable persons, etc.).
• As a rule, no decision on office refurbishment should be taken without prior consultation of colleagues from the DG concerned and the Joint Committee on Prevention and Protection at Work (CPPT). See our dossier
“Focusing on tasks and not hierarchies” - was one of the first messages of President von der Leyen.
Still since decades, the Commission talks about abolishing silos but never walks the talk. Let’s finally do it!
Implications for the managers and for the individual staff member are manifold. Therefore, managerial implications are numerous: raise awareness, offer support, empower, organise and reward the colleagues who deserve it.
Leadership is not only about task distribution in line with organisational strategy and even less “obsessive staff control” of the staff.
Leadership it first of all maintaining a cohesive social unity, building the team and meeting the needs of EACH member of the staff.
Managers must encourage the staff to engage in something they care about, to assume a more personal role in the group, and to be a bit stubborn about an early-stage idea they want to champion.
As a manager it’s not only a matter of appreciating the hard figures in terms of measurements, but also appreciating and valuing new learning and insights generated and put forward by staff.
Hybrid working in the “New Normal”
• Telework and office presence must be put on a truly equal footing and their balance cannot be left to the sole decision of line managers.
• Clear rules must be set at the level of the Commission, DG HR must play a clear role in avoiding inconsistencies and abuses and it is not acceptable that each Director General is allowed to define her/his personal “New Normal’ policy.
Moreover, in many cases, these colleagues are considered ‘critical’ and have therefore been asked to come physically to the office.
The crisis and the lockdown proved that in our new digital era, they can perform their tasks remotely like any other staff member. The imple¬mentation of the new Commission decision must ensure widespread access to structural telework for secretaries and assistants.
• A joint committee responsible for ensuring the proper application of the rules, preventing, and sanctioning any inappropriate decision must be set up. The interests of the service must not be able to justify everything!
A green workplace
• This should also apply to our furniture and office supplies catalogue
Recruitment and Selection
A genuine annual internal competition policy
It is compulsory to set in close collaboration with the staff representation a genuine annual internal competition policy ensuring transparency and fairness of the procedure, focusing on colleagues’ skills, providing real and fair opportunities of tenure for CA and TA colleagues and also enabling real career development for AST-SC, AST and post 2004 AD colleagues in order to finally take into account the level of colleagues’ actual tasks.
A genuine annual internal competition policy is also the only viable solution in order to take into account the concerns of our post 2004 and POST 2014 colleagues.
The professional junior programme must be fully transparent and fully accessible for AST, AST-SC and AC existing staff of all grades, with selection procedure and criteria being non-discriminatory and by considerably extending the current 3 years limit of professional experience (AST, AST-SC and AC staff have more than 3 years of professional experience) eventually with a new professional programme reserved for more experienced candidates.
Ethics is not an empty slogan
Internal competitions and appointment procedures especially those organised only at the end of the mandate of each Commission in order to serve the “parachuting” of colleagues into cabinets must be stopped once and for all.
The external publications of management positions must not encourage cronyism and nepotism: all too often the laureate is known before the procedure is launched and sometimes the “external candidate” is already working at the Commission….
Our mandate a clear commitment to staff unity and a strong opposition to any corporatist approach aimed at dividing staff and, or even worse, pitting groups of colleagues against each other, we must never prevent to provide an appropriate response to the specific difficulties and needs encountered by different categories of colleagues.
To deny the existence of these specific problems and not to give an adequate response to them will strengthen the power of who aim to divide the staff.
R&D alongside with AD’s colleagues
Real career opportunities and career development must be offered to colleagues who do not wish to take up management positions, by making practical use of their skills.
Provide concrete alternatives for colleagues at the end of their careers to enable them to progress and not remain stuck at AD12 grade. Not everyone wants to be a manager; there should be more opportunities to be a senior expert.
R&D alongside with AST colleagues
Stop social doping ! The Commission must duly recognise the value and reward the contribution of ASTs according to the tasks they perform. We are a long way from the motto: the right person in the right place.
It is important to offer more possibilities to access certification, many AST colleagues have been doing AD work for years without any acknowledgement and/or reward.
R&D alongside with AST/SC colleagues
Stop social doping ! The new HR Strategy focuses on three strategic priorities to address the common challenges facing the Commission: attractiveness, recruitment and selection, and career prospects, but it does not bring any new element for the AST/SC category.
The perception of the Commission as an attractive employer varies according to the category of recruitment, and it is certainly not high among AST/SC staff or future applicants.
Providing a career path for AST/SC colleagues is simply a necessity.
This can be ensured by:
• Further increase of promotion quotas :
There are still DGs where no promotion quota for AST/SCs has been granted since the creation of this category.
• Guaranteeing wider access to internal competitions
AST/SC is the only category of officials without any mechanism for moving to another function group (AST/AD). Without access to annual internal competition, they are denied any chance to career development. Colleagues should also be able to participate in internal competitions in order to progress in their current career and have the possibility to reinforce the internal talent pool, rather than participating in external competitions to start a new career. The Commission should invest in the human capital that is already in-house.
• Clarifying the long-term vision perspective for AST/SC and AST
In terms of tasks, there is often no distinction but it is clearly different in terms of salary and career perspective.
The 2014 Staff Regulations normally foresee an evaluation of the AST/SC category within 10 years of its creation. In this regard, 2023 (if not possible earlier) is the year to take on board and eliminate all the difficulties on staff development imposed by the AST/SC category.
Greater mobility must also be guaranteed for instance by opening up the access to posts in delegations)
R&D alongside with CA colleagues
Stop social doping ! Concerning Contractual Agents colleagues, the problem stems first from the establishment plan and the interpretation made by certain technocrats in the Administration, since officials and similar staff are listed on posts (temporary or permanent) and contract staff are only considered as "credits", whereas the vast majority are assigned to permanent functions.
Apart from being very costly, this personnel policy has become humanly and technically unmanageable.
The institution must start by putting in place a real career management system for our CA colleagues with fair and transparent procedures for access to higher function groups and TA as well as permanent officials posts.
Unlocking careers, strengthening social cohesion by "screening" all positions of responsibility would ensure greater consistency and satisfaction.
The grade bracket for the reclassification of contract agents should be reviewed: promotions should be faster, in order to enhance the work of colleagues and strengthen their motivation.
The entry grade for newly recruited CAs should adequately take into account the qualifications and very importantly: the level of responsibility that a given post entails.
The proposal to extend the duration of the contract goes in the right direction and will help to implement a genuine multi-annual policy of internal competitions allowing access to civil servant status with selection tests guaranteeing equal treatment among candidates and the objective charac¬ter of the selection.
For CA colleagues leaving the institution, the Commission must ensure the education costs of their children until the end of the school year.
R&D alongside with the colleagues of representations
R&D has always been on the side of the staff of representations and its representatives went constantly on the spot to be even more attentive to the specific problems encountered.
Thanks to these efforts, it was possible to obtain, the application of working time arrangements for all, the recognition of the years of seniority service of local agents, the resolution of individual cases, the defence of the expectations of the institution’s colleagues to become heads of representation by strongly opposing the massive use of external appointments.
Much still needs to be done in order to rebalance the workload and adapting the means in the representations.
It is crucial to involve staff in the event of reorganization of a representation, to restore true fairness in the financial conditions and to give real career prospects to CAs.
Mobility
the Commission should propose real annual internal mobility exercises always on a voluntary basis.
Training should also allow for future career development and not only be linked to current tasks.
Performance management
Early detection of talent: this should not become a golden (internal) path to promote buddies. Clear criteria should be defined and communicated as well as a joint committee should be set up.
Poor and unsatisfactory performance: the new HR strategy only talks about assistance for the manager, not a single word to help the colleague!
End of career
The Commission has no end-of-career management policy and there is an urgent need to put it in place. We must put an end to the waste of the added value of the "50 and over" who are too often humiliated by a management incapable of valuing the wealth of all our staff.
Recognition of years spent in the service of the Institution must be rewarded in a more personalized manner.
The possibility of becoming “Active Senior” should be extended, valued and encouraged.
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Mondays for the Prevention of Psychosocial Risks - R&D E-CONFERENCE
We sincerely thank you for your interest and participation in the "Mondays for the Prevention of Psychosocial Risks" series of conferences.
If you could not attend one of the conferences, we invite you to watch the REPLAY and to consult the presentations:
- Pourquoi le travail nous rend-il malade? (Why does work make us sick?) REPLAY FR EN
- Institutional psychological harassment, when work organisation and pathogenic management push the victim to extremes! REPLAY Presentation
- Le management pathogène, de quoi parlons-nous? (Pathogenic management, what are we talking about?) REPLAY Presentation
- Le harcèlement moral, de quoi parlons-nous? (What are we talking about when it comes to psychological harassment?) Presentation
- Les RPS et la QVT, de quoi parlons-nous? (PSR and QWL, what are we talking about?) REPLAY Presentation
We would like to inform you that a new conference « Burn out, what are we talking about? » will be held on Monday 29 November at 12:45
We look forward to seeing you and please do not forget to click on the YES/NO button in the attached email.
Latest news on the Correction Coefficient applicable at Ispra
We are delighted to share with you that the final value of the Varese 2021 Correction Coefficient will increase from 90.7% to 91.2% (more info).
The +0,5% adjustment will be applied retroactively to our salaries from July 2021 and will be paid with our December salary slip. This will be on top of the general annual adjustment of +1.9% applicable in Brussels. The total increase is indicatively +2.4%.
Your R&D Ispra Team
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2021 annual update of remuneration :
R&D answers your questions
Many of you have asked us questions about the 2021 update of remuneration and how the Method is applied.
You have informed us of the growing confusion between the old and new methods, the taking into account of inflation and the evolution of GDP, the effects of the exception clause and the moderation clause, etc.
In keeping with its commitment to always listen to colleagues, R&D answers your questions and is at your disposal for any further clarification you may require.
The new “Method” in force since 2014
In order to respect the principle of parallelism in the purchasing power of European and national officials, the Staff Regulations provide for an annual update of remuneration method.
During the 2014 reform, a new method was defined to avoid the problems encountered in the past and in particular differences and discussions between the Member States and the institutions (see Annex XI).
On the basis of this new Method, the procedure for updating remuneration and pensions has thus become automatic and no longer involves arduous negotiations with the Council or the adoption of additional legal acts, as was previously the case, requiring each adjustment to be the subject of a Council Regulation.
Annual update of the remuneration
On the basis of the new Method’, the annual update of remuneration is calculated from two components:
1. 1)The cost of living (inflation) in Belgium and Luxembourg (Joint index ) calculated between June of the previous year and June of the current year according to the distribution of the staff serving in those Member States (see. Annex XI, Section 1, Article I (2))
And
2. 2)The evolution of the purchasing power of national civil servants in central governments (specific indicators) in a set of 10 EU countries accounting for 80 % of EU GDP. (see Annex XI, Section 1, Article (4))
Reminder of the results of the application of the Method in 2020
In 2020, the annual update of remuneration should have been 3.2%: 0.7 % inflation and 2.5 % increase in purchasing power.
Staff only received 0.7 % because of the application of the exception clause (see. Annex XI, Section 2, Chapter 5, Article 11) which was triggered by the 5.9 % fall in GDP.
The exception clause applies in the event of a fall in GDP.
However, unlike the method in force until 2014, which allowed the Council simply to invoke “a serious and sudden crisis” to definitively refuse any annual increase — as it would undoubtedly have been the case on this occasion of such a significant fall in GDP — due to the new exception clause, the increase is not definitively lost but postponed until GDP reaches its pre-crisis value. And the increase in inflation is paid for in all cases.
This has a significant positive impact on the calculation of our wages and pensions.
Thus, given the fall in GDP (-5.9 %), the part of the 2020 adjustment brought about by comparing the purchasing power of national civil servants in the EU (+ 2.5 %) was not paid in 2020 and was postponed until GDP returned to its initial value in 2019.
Application of the Method in 2021
Between July 2020 and July 2021, the cost of life was estimated at + 2.1 % (joint index), while the changes in the purchasing power of national civil servants in central governments is 0.2 % (specific indicators).
The sum of the two, i.e. 1.9 %, will be reflected in our December 2021 salary slip with retroactive effect from 1 July 2021.
Furthermore, the GDP of the 10 countries will only increase by 4.8 %, not reaching the pre-crisis value and not compensating for the decrease recorded in 2019 (-5.9 %).
The 2.5 % increase in 2020 will therefore be postponed until December 2022 in the absence of a new crisis.
There is also a moderation clause, which is implemented if the increase exceeds 2%. (see. Annex XI, Section 2, Chapter 5, Article 10).
This could be the case in December 2022 if the 2.5 % in 2020 is added to the (so far unknown) calculation of inflation and the evolution of purchasing power in 2022.
But again any increase above 2 % is not lost and is carried over the following year.
Conclusion
There will therefore be a positive adjustment in December 2021 but limited of 1.9% in December salary slip with retroactive effect from 1 July 2021.
Unfortunately, the increase in GDP in 2020 was not sufficient to recover its value in 2019 and the 2.5 % adjustment, which was not paid in 2020, is postponed until 2022.
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