KT-AC EN-C. HR Report European Commission Human Resources Report Human Resources and Security. Human Resources and Security

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1 KT-AC EN-C European Commission Human Resources Report 2013 HR Report 2013 Human Resources and Security Human Resources and Security

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4 Human Resources Report of the European Commission 2013 European Commission Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security 1049 Brussels Belgium Cover Illustration: HR.D3 May 2013 pp x 29.7 cm ISBN ISSN doi: /10900 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2013 European Union, 2013 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. For any use or reproduction of individual photos, permission must be sought directly from the copy right holders. Printed in Brussels

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6 FOREWORD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART I HR KEY FEATURES 1. ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN 5 2. POSTS AND JOBS 9 3. STAFF 13 PART II HR POLICIES 1. STEERING PROCESSES PERSONNEL POLICY METRICS AND REPORTING 20 2 CORE PROCESSES WORKFORCE PLANNING ORGANISATIONAL EFFICIENCY RECRUITMENT PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT CAREER MANAGEMENT Internal mobility Career guidance Job descriptions and ecv Promotion Certification and attestation End of service PAY AND COMPENSATION Salaries Pensions Administration and settlement of individual rights WORKING CONDITIONS Working patterns Real estate Security INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 58

7 2.10 HORIZONTAL PROCESSES Social rights and obligations Medical Service European Schools Nursery and after-school childcare facilities Equal opportunities, non-discrimination and anti-harassment Ethics, rights and obligations Administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings Eco-management and audit scheme 75 3 SUPPORT PROCESSES RESOURCE ALLOCATION TO THE HR COMMUNITY BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING HR PROFESSIONALISATION SOCIAL DIALOGUE RELATIONS WITH REGULATORY AGENCIES AND JOINT UNDERTAKINGS RELATIONS WITH PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS HR INFORMATION SYSTEMS EUROPEAN CIVIL SERVICE LAW PRE-LITIGATION AND CASE LAW 92 ANNEXES ANNEX 1 Establishment plan posts of the Commission per establishment plan ( ) 97 ANNEX 2 Jobs in administrative support and coordination functions ( ) 98 ANNEX 3 Jobs in operational and neutral functions ( ) 99 ANNEX 4 Staff typology 100 ANNEX 5 Acronyms 101 ANNEX 6 Who is who management team DG Human Resources and Security 103

8 We started 2012 in very difficult circumstances: confidence in the euro was declining; prospects for economic growth were non-existent; our citizens had major concerns about the scale of the crisis and doubts about the capacity of Europe to find solutions to it. Nevertheless, the Commission proved itself to be up to the challenge, in no small part due to the commitment and dedication of its human resources - the staff. The year was dominated by the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework, which proved to be as difficult as expected and will continue in The outcome of these discussions will set further challenges for our organisation, in terms of how we deliver our services, how we structure them, and how we undertake our everyday work. Our staff, our management and the wider HR community as a whole will be the key players in meeting these new challenges. Our organisation will inevitably have to change, but I am committed to making the European public administration an attractive work place for all staff by making the most of the opportunities that will arise as a result. Around 32,900 officials, temporary staff, contract staff, local staff, special advisers and agents under national law work for the Commission today. Our staff members dedicate their many competencies, their time and energy to delivering the agenda of the Commission. Located at more than 150 sites worldwide, they contribute to shaping and defending European interests every day. As in previous years, in 2012 our HR community delivered professional services to both the DGs and services of the Commission and other Institutions and bodies. DG HR, local HR departments in the DGs, the EU Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), the Paymaster's Office (PMO) and the Logistics Offices (OIB and OIL) not only ensured the day-to-day delivery of a professional HR management service but also managed to recruit, train, retain and allocate talent to our business areas as well as ensuring an appropriate working environment. To give you a few examples: DG HR staff significantly contributed to the ongoing negotiations over the proposed changes to the Staff Regulations in the context of the Multiannual Financial Framework discussions; successfully implemented the new appraisal and promotion system; took important initial steps towards talent management by piloting the electronic curriculum vitae in the Commission; and protected the Commission against regular cyber-attacks. I am proud of the performance of our HR community in Looking ahead, the current political and economic context remains a tremendous challenge and an important credibility test for the Commission and its staff, to which the management of HR and security will add significant value. In that context, the planned implementation of,2.5 billion of savings in administrative expenditure will not be an easy task. But this will underline the willingness of the Institutions, Agencies and other bodies of the European Union to contribute to the necessary savings efforts in Europe and to find additional

9 efficiency gains in line with the current evolutions in national administrations. The implementation of the planned changes to the Staff Regulations on the basis of simplified rules, regulations and guidelines will be a major challenge in the years to come. The priority must once again be to improve efficiency and streamline processes across the HR community, without forgetting the need to develop effective talent management for staff and middle and senior management, establish intelligent workforce planning and management in a changing environment and improve staff commitment. I am delighted to present this 2013 HR Report, which describes our main achievements in 2012 in the field of human resources. I wish you a thoughtprovoking read and look forward to building on our successes to better face the challenges to come. Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration

10 Staff members are at the heart of all projects and services delivered by the European Commission. The purpose of this HR Report is to show who they are and how they are managed. As in previous years, the Human Resources Report of the Commission contains a description of the main characteristics of the organisational design, posts and jobs and staff (Part I). It shows the diversity of staff origins, gender and age of our personnel and puts it in perspective over time; it describes the evolution in the number of posts they occupy, with a comparative perspective with other Institutions; and it highlights all Commission jobs, whether covered by a post in the establishment plan or managed by DGs on the basis of budgetary appropriations, as well as the functions executed by our staff members. The focus of the second part of the HR Report shifts to the management of our staff. It provides an overview of the aims, main developments and outlooks on the respective HR policies delivered for the whole Commission by DG HR and EPSO, PMO, OIB and OIL Offices. Part II is structured around 22 HR processes, grouped in three clusters: steering processes, core processes, and support processes. All chapters give an overview on policy aims, the main achievements in 2012, and an outlook on future challenges and activities. Management team DG Human Resources and Security (May 2013). For more information on who is who see annex 6. At the end of 2012, there were about 32,900 members of staff active in the Commission. After years of gradual growth in the context of new competencies granted by the Treaties and EU enlargements, the number of statutory staff has remained steady as from This is in line with the Commission's zerogrowth policy. A closer look at the characteristics of Commission staff shows that some trends over the past decade, continued in Compared to 2011 there are proportionally more administrators and fewer assistants; more women and fewer men - including in administrator non-management, middle management and senior management functions (as promoted by the equal opportunities policy) - more staff in the older age brackets and more staff with EU-12 nationalities. Workforce simulations reveal that these trends will continue until at least the end of 2014, the final year of the Barroso-II Commission. In terms of jobs, the screening exercise revealed that the proportion of administrative support and coordinating functions had declined for the sixth consecutive year to 26.0;% in January A broad array of services, delivered by the HR Community in the Commission, ensures the regular and successful day-to-day management of Commission personnel in compliance with the Staff Regulations. Among the HR processes, these services included the provision of guidance on dozens of reorganisations of DGs and Services; provision of access to the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) to 12 Institutions and bodies; continuous operation of the SysPer2 modules; the recruitment of hundreds of permanent and non-permanent staff members; the appointment and development of managers; the management of the yearly appraisal and promotion exercise with close to 23,000 appraisal reports; the organisation of around 15,500 training courses; the delivery of 359 central career guidance sessions; the handling of

11 more than 14,500 medical check-ups, controls, examinations and advice, and more than 4,800 vaccinations; the promotion of strict ethics vis-à-vis the management of disciplinary proceedings; the smooth and timely management of (pre-)litigation cases; the maintenance of an ongoing social dialogue; the delivery of some 90 HR Professionalization events; welcoming around 19,000 visitors per day on the Commission's intranet portal, My Intracomm; and numerous activities to protect Commission staff, property and information against security threats. In addition to this on-going work, the most important achievements in 2012, presented in the following chapters of this report, include: Proposed Changes to Staff Regulations and MFF negotiations: Following political consultations on the draft proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council by Vice-President Šefčovič, the College adopted a proposal on 13 December The ordinary legislative procedure began in early 2012 and discussions took place in the European Parliament and in the Council. DG HR defended before the two colegislators the lines of the Commission proposal and provided support to better understand the whereabouts of the Staff Regulations review. However, the discussions did not progress in the Council, because of the link created between the Commission proposal and the parallel discussions on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and its share of Heading V (administrative expenses). The discussions were not yet mature to start the 'trilogue' negotiations in 2012; Annual adjustment of the remuneration and pensions: In 2012, in line with the legally binding 'Method', the Commission proposed to adjust remuneration and pensions by +1.7%. At the end of December, the Council finally failed to adopt the Commission proposal. As in 2011, the Commission decided to invite the Council to and should this be necessary to bring a legal action before the Court of Justice of the European Union against the Council for failing to adopt the appropriate Council regulation. The Court cases regarding the 2011 annual adjustment are still pending; Appraisal and Promotion System: The 2012 appraisal and promotion exercise for officials was conducted according to the new rules adopted in November The number of officials and temporary staff who submitted an appeal against the appraisal report decreased significantly (0.9% comparing to 11,% in 2011 and 14,% in 2010). The new promotion system also proved much less controversial for staff (only 3.7,% of appeals against the non-proposal for promotion compared to 12.7,% in 2011). The considerable decrease of appeals led to a shorter procedure, easier to conduct for HR services, and to a smaller workload for the Joint Promotion Committees; Electronic CV: The Commission, and more particularly DG HR, undertook a major revamping exercise of job descriptions and the introduction of an electronic curriculum vitae (ecv), including related search tools in SysPer2. After a successful pilot phase in DG HR (80,% ecvs completed), the new tool has been rolled out to all DGs supported by a major corporate and local communication campaign in order to boost the Commission completion. At the end of 2012 around 32,% of Commission staff had completed their ecv; Cyber and IT security: The number of investigations by the Cyber Attack Response Team (CART) increased by 11,% as compared to In parallel, this team successfully increased its capacity for analysis and preventive protective measures;

12 Ethics: The Commission's policy on ethics is guided by the necessity to ensure that staff deliver a top quality service fully meeting the highest standards of professional behaviour and integrity. In 2012, guidelines for staff on gifts and hospitality were adopted by the Commission. The Ethics electronic workflow was further supported by the launch of a new submodule on the acceptance of gifts in the HR system SysPer2; Business Process Reengineering (BPR): After the launch and pilot of the Business Process Re-engineering activity in DG HR in 2011, a detailed BPR planning for the period from 2012 to 2014 was established. The plan provides for coverage of all processes in DG HR, either by a full BPR exercise (in-depth review of the existing workflows) or a lighter review using a BPR self-assessment tool kit. In 2012, the re-engineering activities covered several operational processes including selection of middle and senior managers, absence management and the Medical Service. The results highlighted opportunities for improvement of the value of HR services and significant saving possibilities. All these services and projects aim at providing the Commission with adequate resources and working conditions and motivating staff to dedicate their best efforts to the implementation of the Institutions' agenda.

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14 5 HR Report Part I 1 Organisational design Chart I.1 Directorate-General families Directorates-General and Services The European Commission is one of the main Institutions of the European Union. It represents and upholds the interests of the EU as a whole. It drafts proposals for new European laws. It manages the day-to-day business of implementing EU policies and spending EU funds. The 27 Commissioners, one from each EU country, provide the Commission s political leadership. The day-to-day running of the Commission is taken care of by the Commission s staff organised in 42 DGs and Offices, which are grouped into eight families. The biggest DG family Internal Policies is further grouped according to the nature of their mission, which focusses on policies, legislation and enforcement (Internal Policies I), policies, legislation, enforcement, programme management and research (Internal Policies II) or shared management policies, legislation and programme management (Internal Policies III). The organisation chart of the Commission had a total of 86 functions at Director General equivalent level (grade AD15/16) on 1 January Of these, 37 were Director General functions, 45 were Deputy Director General functions or equivalent, and 4 were Hors-Classe Adviser functions. The total number of Director or equivalent level functions (grade AD14/15) amounted to 305, of which 262 Director functions and 43 Principal Adviser functions. DG family Staff % Internal Policy I 4, ,% Internal Policy II 8, ,% Internal Policy III 2, ,% External Relations 6, ,% Central Services 4, ,% Multilingualism 3, ,% Administrative Offices 2, ,% Total 32, ,% Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.A. On 1 January 2013, 82 DG-level functions were occupied by either officials or temporary staff and 4 functions were vacant. Several senior advisory functions are merely created to allow for the secondment of senior officials or for their attachment to the Task Force for Greece. The Commission counts 248 directorates on 1 January This number has remained stable as of 1 January 2011, when the European External Action Service was created. However, the number of units slightly decreased over the past two years to 1,200 on 1 January The average staffing size of a unit in the Commission remained 21 as of begin HR service delivery HR management is decentralised within the Commission - like external communication, budget management, internal audit and IT - for more than a decade. The allocation of resources, authority and responsibilities to the HR departments in the respective DGs and Offices aims at improving performance, strengthening accountability and bringing service delivery closer to the point of delivery. In finding the appropriate balance between on the one hand decentralisation and efficiency on the other hand, the in 2010 newly created DGs MOVE and ENER, HOME and JUST as well as ENV and CLIMA are served by a shared resource directorate and a shared internal audit capability. Moreover, some bigger DGs deliver HR services to smaller entities through service level agreements. A dedicated unit in DG HR provides HR services to Cabinets and to EPSO and to the IAS. A memorandum of understanding was signed in 2012 between the Support Group for Portugal (SGPT) and DG HR on local support services, while the HR role of the Task Force for Greece (TFGR) was handed-over in April 2012 to DG ECFIN. DG DEVCO delivers services to the FPI since its creation in 2011.

15 Organisational design 6 Offices The Commission grouped the execution of certain tasks with a permanent nature in specialised Offices. These Offices are administrative entities providing support, other than the management of EU programmes, to the internal functioning of other Commission departments and other EU Institutions on the internal functioning of the Commission or inter-institutional activities. At present there are five Offices. The Publications Office of the European Union (OP) is an inter-institutional office whose task is to publish the publications of the Institutions of the European Union. The European Personnel Selection Office pools the resources of the different EU Institutions in order to ensure improved planning and organisation of the recruitment of EU staff. The Office for the Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements, or Paymaster's Office (PMO), is in charge of determining, calculating and paying out individual entitlements. The Offices for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) and in Luxembourg (OIL) are in charge of buildings policy, management of office space, housing of departments, technical maintenance and projects and internal logistics. Both OIB and OIL also deal with the social welfare infrastructure, including crèches and nurseries, canteens, restaurants and sports centres. Place of employment The Commission is multisited and located in more than 150 countries over the world. On 31 December 2012 the majority of staff was based in Brussels. Luxembourg is the place of employment within 18 DGs, of which OIL and ESTAT are exclusively based in Luxembourg, for 12,% of all Commission staff. At the end of the transition period in 2010 under the Polfer-Kinnock agreement 1, the Commission met its commitment to have at least 3,426 officials, temporary staff and contract staff on a permanent post in Luxembourg. In 2013, DG HR will discuss with the Luxembourg authorities the details of the continued presence of Commission services in Luxembourg. Staff can also be located outside Brussels and Luxembourg, mainly for the Joint Research Centre (in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany) or in Member State, of which the majority in EU Delegations for DG DEVCO and to a lesser extent for DG ECHO (field experts), TRADE and ELARG. DG HR played an important role in the adoption of a decision on the management of the Commission resources in Delegations. The objective was to align the regulations on resource allocation with the new institutional set-up and it was decided to establish an internal coordination committee for the management of Commission resources in Delegations (COMDEL), which is composed of eight standing members representing the External Relations DGs (FPI, DG TRADE, DG ELARG, DG DEVCO and DG ECHO), as well as the SG, DG BUDG and DG HR. Chart I.2 Place of employment (2012) Staff headcount Staff % BSL (Brussels) 21, ,% LUX (Luxembourg) 3, ,% EU except BSL & LUX 3, ,% Non-EU 3, ,% Total 32, ,% Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.A. Delegations, EEAS and other EU Institutions DG HR drafted the joint decision, of the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, which organises the consultation and cooperation mechanisms between the Commission and the EEAS. The decision includes the creation of a Steering Committee (EUDEL) which also acts as an advisory board issuing recommendations to the EEAS and the relevant Commission services. DG HR is represented in the EUDEL, together with the SG, DG BUDG, DG DEVCO and the EEAS. 1 Commission Decision C(2003) 540 on a Long Term Solution for the Luxembourg Site.

16 7 HR Report Part I.. Relations with the European External Action Service Since the creation of the EEAS on 1 January 2011, Delegations host both EEAS and Commission staff. Commission staff in Delegations is also under the overall authority of the Head of delegation, who is an EEAS staff member. However, the Commission is in charge of all career related decisions with respect to its staff in Delegations. To govern the services provided by DG HR to the EEAS, DG HR and the EEAS concluded a service level agreement (SLA) in the end of Under the SLA the Commission provides services to the EEAS like the recruitment of managers, engagements for contract, training courses, medical examinations, support for the social dialogue, replies to complaints and security services. The SLA is updated on an annual basis.... Next to the administrative Offices, mainly SCIC and DGT and to a lesser extent DG BUDG, IAS, COMM, DIGIT, HR and the SG provide services to other EU Institutions and Agencies to an equivalent of 1665 full time equivalents begin Table I.1 Commission services to Institutions and Agencies ( ) Commission services to other EU Institutions and Agencies 940 1,434 1,599 1,665 Source: Commission Services Working Paper: Planning and Optimising Commission Human Resources to Serve EU Priorities 2012', DG HR.A. Dates of reference are January Figures are in full time equivalents (FTEs) Note: The EEAS provides services to all staff working in EU Delegations. As a result, the Commission receives services from the EEAS equivalent to 278 FTEs. The increase in provided services between 2010 and 2011 is due to the creation of the EEAS, to which the Commission is offering services in several areas. Most services to other Institutions are covered by SLAs and are mostly provided in the areas of human resources management, translation, interpreting, IT, internal audit, accounting and document management. Executive agencies Executive agencies have to be located at the seat of the European Commission and are entrusted with certain tasks relating to the management of one or more Community programmes. These Agencies are set up for a fixed period and are legal entities in their own right. They are not included in the overviews given in this HR Report. To ensure that delegation is effective and that full benefit is drawn from the expertise which an Executive agency can offer, the Commission delegates to Executive agencies some or all of the implementing tasks for one or more EU programmes, except for those requiring discretionary powers in translating political choices into action. Tasks that may be delegated include managing projects, executing the budget, gathering and processing information to be forwarded to the Commission and preparing recommendations for the Commission. At present there are six Executive agencies: the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) as of 2004, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) as of 2005, the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC) as of 2005, the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) as of 2006, the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA) as of 2007 and the Research Executive Agency (REA) as of The Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014 to 2020 foresees that a substantial part of the new financial perspectives will be dedicated to research and

17 Organisational design 8 innovation strategies, company competitiveness, education and training programmes, and the financing of up-to-date and efficient infrastructures interconnecting Europe, in particular in the fields of transport, energy, and information and communication technology. As from 2014, these programmes will be gradually implemented and the Commission has proposed to delegate several tasks to the Executive Agencies. To that end, preparations have started and different scenarios have been envisaged. The development of the scenarios was based upon issues such as potential synergy effects, economies of scale and reduction in risks of delegation. The final result of the cost and benefit analyses are expected to be submitted in Decentralised EU Agencies There are more than 30 Agencies in different EU countries. They have an important role in implementing EU policies, especially tasks of a technical, scientific, operational or regulatory nature. This frees up the EU institutions, especially the Commission, to concentrate on policy-making. They also support cooperation between the EU and national governments in important policy areas, by pooling technical and specialist expertise from both the EU Institutions and national authorities. The decentralised Agencies are legal entities independent of the EU Institutions and are not presented in this HR Report... A common approach The Agencies were set up on a case-by-case basis over the years, to respond to emerging individual policy needs, and they have been operating in quite diverse conditions. In 2012 the EU rectified this by adopting a comprehensive set of guiding principles a 'common approach' to make the Agencies more coherent, effective and accountable. This new framework was the result of analysis by an EU working group of the Agencies' governance, functioning and oversight, based on a number of reports and studies, including a comprehensive external evaluation....

18 9 HR Report Part I 2 Posts and jobs Table I.2 Establishment plan posts of the EU Institutions ( ) For the Commission, like all the other EU Institutions, the staffing process starts with the allocation of resources by the Budgetary Authority via the establishment plan and employment credits. The 2013 establishment plan for the Commission 2 has 24,944 posts for officials and temporary staff. The posting of other staff members is planned via employment credits, which amount to,545.9 million (equal to 8,878 full-time equivalents). The Commission allocates the establishment plan posts and employment credits (in the form of a lump sum budget) to the Directorates-General according to its priorities. The Directorates-General translate the employment credit budget into postings for staff other than official and temporary staff. The establishment plan posts are allocated in the form of basic job quota within their directorates and units, which can subsequently be filled by officials or temporary staff. change European Commission 1 16,193 21,537 23,841 26,179 25,061 25,065 24, ,% European Parliament 3,405 4,120 5,597 6,135 6,537 6,655 6, ,% Council of the European Union 2,165 2,659 3,280 3,572 3,173 3,153 3, ,% Court of Justice 682 1,010 1,717 1,927 1,954 1,952 2, ,% European External Action Service 1,643 1,670 1, ,% European Court of Auditors ,% European Economic and Social Committee ,% Committee of the Regions ,% European Ombudsman ,% European Data Protection Supervisor ,% Total 23,316 30,653 36,446 40,410 41,006 41,159 40, ,% Source: Resource allocation, DG HR.A. Note: The number of EU Member States increased from 12 in 1990 to 28 as from 1 July Note 1: Without the Executive agencies. As from 2007, zero growth became the main driver for the allocation of human resources within the Commission. With an exception for the enlargement rounds for the EU-10 and EU-2 Member States, the Commission did not request any new posts until As of 2013, the Commission has been seeking ways to get the best with less. In the budget for 2013, the Commission translated its proposal to reduce staff by 5,% over five years into concrete terms. The establishment plan will reduce with 1,%, which equals to 250 posts, per year during the period from 2013 to Without prejudice to a limited request for additional posts, 114 in 2013, to cope with the expected accession of Croatia as of 1 st July 2013, all new activities will be covered through efficiency gains and redeployment. The increase in the budget for employment credits will be limited as from 2013 until Corrected for inflation, this equals to a smaller budget in real terms and a projected reduction of about 160 full time equivalents in The Commission kept the increase in posts small in the past years, even during the EU-10 and EU-2 enlargements. From 2004 to 2010, several new enlarge- 2 Annex 1 gives an overview of the respective establishment plans in the Commission.

19 Posts and jobs 10 ment posts were covered by internal redeployment: about 350 posts needed for enlargement were internal redeployments. As a result, during the period the Commission had the smallest increase in posts of all Institutions. In 2013 the Institutions together have as many posts as in However, the Commission is the only Institution with fewer posts for the third year in a row. Chart I.3 Screening categories ( ) In 2012 the Commission reallocated 255 job quotas, 1,% of all basic job quotas, with the aim to meet emerging needs in a rapidly changing environment. Quotas were reallocated in two rounds, May 2012 and January 2013, between the directorates-general, chiefly to DG ECFIN (32 job quotas) and DG MARKT (15 job quotas). Moreover, the EU Delegations, with reporting lines to several DGs, received 7 job quotas to further stimulate the external projection of EU internal policies. The remaining 144 job quotas were reallocated to several DGs to reinforce many priority areas. To underline the concern of the Commission for flexibility and being prepared for changing priorities, 112 out of the 255 job quotas granted to the DGs were allocated on a temporary basis. On top of these additionally allocated resources, 93 job quotas temporarily allocated to DG ECFIN were transformed into permanent ones to cater for financial crisis management and monitoring of Member States. Another 24 temporary job quotas were upgraded into permanent ones in the Permanent Representations in the Member States to support DG COMM, SG and DG ECFIN in the economic analysis per country. An important effort was also registered as regards EU Delegations, with the creation of 7 mixed (with reporting lines to more than one DG) posts to cater for enhanced external projections of EU internal policies. On 19 December 2012, the Commission adopted its decision on the allocation of resources for The announced 1,% staff cut, first instalment of the 5,% reduction objective, was confirmed and only reinforcements (114 posts) related to the accession of Croatia to the European Union have been granted. The number of vacant job quota has come down from more than 2,000 in January 2006 to around 1,500 vacant job quota, which is equal to 6,% of all job quota, from end 2008 to end End 2012, the vacancy rate has further decreased to 5.4,% (1,395 vacant job quota). Administrative support and coordination functions The screening of all Commission jobs started in It aims at reducing the number of administrative support (for example HR, document management, IT jobs to the benefit of operational activities that directly serve EU citizens and Member States. The sixth annual follow-up to the 2007 screening report was based on a snapshot, taken on 18 January 2013, of the organisational entities and job descriptions. To ensure continuity and comparability of data, the same approach and methodology was applied as in previous years. All Commission jobs are categorised into four main groups: Operational functions covering policy making, programme management and implementation, law making and monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment; Administrative support functions covering HR management, IT, document management, logistics, security, budget and accounting and internal audit; Coordination functions covering communication, publication, interinstitutional relations and activity based management; Neutral functions covering language services, local finance and anti-fraud. Operational Neutral Administrative support and coordination Net contributions Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.A. Date of reference January Note: Screening categories concern jobs in % of all Commission jobs. Note: All jobs exclude the jobs of service providers and trainees and include the net service contributions from the Commission to other EU Institutions and Agencies (in FTEs), except for Note: Due to rounding the total of the percentages do not always sum up to 100.0,%.

20 11 HR Report Part I.. Mini-screening 2012 Mid-2012, all DGs were asked to update their screening values during a miniscreening exercise. This proved to be very useful to prepare for the budgetary hearings on resource allocation and DGs received a second opportunity to get a better understanding of their overhead structures.... In January 2013, 26.6,% of all jobs are dedicated to administrative support and coordination functions. The downward trend as of 2007 continued in If the jobs occupied by trainees and service providers are excluded, the percentage of administrative support and coordination functions fell from 25.2,% in January 2012 to 24.3,% in January Excluding the Commission jobs that serve other Institutions and Agencies, the share of administrative support and coordination functions in the Commission fell further from 23.4,% in January 2012 to 22.5,% in January 2013 (see also annex 2). The share of administrative support and coordination function corrected for jobs serving other Institutions or occupied by trainees and service providers is considered to be the most meaningful overall steering indicator for the Commission s rationalisation efforts. Corporate and local administrative support and coordination The continued downward trend has been confirmed at local level by a decrease from 9.2,% (2012) to 8.8,% in 2013 (all staff types included). The percentage at corporate level has also decreased from 18.2,% (in 2012) to 17.8,% (with the share of services provided to other EU Institutions however growing). Within administrative support and coordination functions, the largest communities (taking corporate and local levels together) are logistics, HR, IT and communication. Chart I.4 Corporate and local jobs (January 2013) Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.A The job figures for administrative support and coordination functions must be seen in perspective and the Commission s working conditions need to be kept in mind, in particular its multisite presence, its multilingual environment, the importance of inter-institutional relations and the wide-ranging services provided by the Commission to other Institutions and Agencies. The Screening exercise provides transparency about the distribution of jobs in administrative support and coordination at corporate and local levels, serving also as input for strategic HR decision making on future delivery models (e.g. shared services, centralisation versus decentralisation and SLAs between DGs and other Institutions).

21 Posts and jobs 12 Operational, linguistic and financial management functions Commission jobs allocated to operational activities now account for 52.9,% (52.1,% in 2012) of all jobs performed on Commission premises. Excluding jobs for trainees and service providers as well as jobs serving other Institutions and Agencies, the percentage of jobs in operational activities increases to 53.9,% (compared to 53.2,% last year). The screening update allows operational and neutral jobs to be split into more detailed work profiles, as shown in annex 3. Chart I.5 Screening categories (2013).. Projections on the room for manoeuvre Officials holding an administrative support and coordination job are older than those occupying an operational or neutral job. Workforce projections reveal that around 7,% of all administrative support and coordination jobs held by officials tral and operational screening categories, it is projected that around 5,% will leave the Commission in the two years which lie ahead.... In the operational category most jobs are allocated to programme management and implementation (24.3,%) and policy making (16.2,%). Compared to 2012, an increase in the operational activity of policy making can be observed. This correlates with the reduction of posts in local overhead activities. In the neutral category, jobs in local financial management and control account for 11.8,%, anti-fraud activities for 1.1,% and translation and interpreting functions for 7.3,%. The activities of staff engaged in jobs classified in the local finance and control category range from financial management and accounting to internal control, risk management and on-the spot audit activities in Member States and non-member countries. To a very great extent they go hand-in-hand with programme management and implementation activities and are often embedded in operational organisational structures. Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.A. Note: Due to rounding, percentages do not sum up to 100.0,%... Screening in other EU Institutions Recently, article 50(2) of the Financial Regulation set a third precondition for modifying all Institution's establishment plans. It requires a benchmarking exercise with other Institutions and bodies of the EU. As a result the interest of the other Institutions for transfer of knowledge about the screening exercise done by the Commission has increased. The Commission has set up working meetings beginning 2013 to start this knowledge transfer process.... A more global view of related activity clusters shows that over two thirds of all Commission jobs are linked to core activities (operational and financial management, law and policy making), less than one quarter to administrative support and coordination and the rest to linguistic tasks.

22 13 HR Report Part I 3 Staff The Commission's most important asset is its staff. On 31 December 2012, there were 32,904 members of staff active at the Commission. Around two thirds of all staff is appointed with the status of officials and one third is hired as temporary staff, contract staff, local staff, special adviser or as agent under national law. Table.I.3 Commission staff ( ) headcounts % Statutory staff: Officials 17,,720 20,,902 23,435 22,674 22, % Other servants: Temporary staff 2,,420 1,,578 1,,687 1,304 1, % Contract staff 1,577 4,198 5,,977 5,975 5,, % Local staff 1 3,,108 2,023 1, % Special advisers % Other staff: Agents under national law , % Total Commission staff 21, , ,308 33,100 32, % Source: SysPer2, DG HR.A. Note 1: Local staff was managed in separate local systems before Since 2008, all local staff is referenced in SysPer2. Commission staff for the years 2000 and 2005 excludes local staff. In addition to officials and other servants, the Commission employs staff on the basis of national law. The agents under national law have been recruited to meet specific needs of Directorates-General such as JRC, ECHO, OIB, OIL, HR and DEVCO (Delegations).. The European Commissioners The twenty-seven European Commissioners are appointed by the European Council and they hold an office in the Commission. The Commission is - from a legal point of view - not the employer and the European Commissioners are not represented as Commission staff. Persons other than staff members can be associated with the Commission through their professional activity. They collaborate with the Commission without being appointed under the Staff Regulations, do not occupy establishment plan posts, do not have an individual employment contract with the Commission and are not counted as Commission staff (see also annex 4).... Over the past decades, Commission staff numbers have grown steadily to cater for the consecutive enlargements of the European Union and new responsibilities under the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon. However, this trend did not continue beyond As of begin 2011, the number of statutory staff members remained stable. This trend break is notably the result of the policy of zero growth (with the exception of enlargement needs) for the period from 2009 to To ensure the effective implementation of policies in an enlarged European Union, 2009 was the last year the Commission received additional posts. Hence, the period from 2010 to 2012 saw zero growth without additional posts for enlargement.

23 Staff 14 The decrease in the number of temporary staff is the result of successful efforts to retain EU-10 and EU-2 temporary staff who passed a competition and were appointed as an official. The significant growth in the number of contract staff in and after 2005 was due to the phasing-out of auxiliary staff contracts. This trend levelled off in 2007 and 2008 and as of 2009 the number of contract staff has remained relatively stable. Chart I.6 Officials by gender, nationality and age ( ) Source: SysPer2, DG HR.A. Note: Non-EU nationals, mainly local staff and agents under national law, are not included in the charts on nationality. In 2013 the Commission will implement savings, which will lead to fewer officials and temporary staff and possibly also to fewer contract staff, local staff and agents under national law. Function groups For officials and temporary staff, the administrators (AD) outnumber assistants (AST) since August Also in 2012 the balance continued to further tip on the side of administrators. This development is chiefly the result of swaps of AST posts into AD posts within the annual human resource allocation cycle. The year 2012 saw an increase in the number of contract staff in function groups I (technical profile) and II (secretarial profile). On the contrary, the number of contract agents in function group III (assistant profile) and IV (administrator profile) fell, which is in line with a trend that started in Gender In 2012, as has consistently been the case since at least 1996, relative proportions have continued to shift in favour of women at a steady pace. As a result, almost 55,% of Commission staff were female by the end of A closer look at the respective staff types reveals that female officials, temporary staff, contract staff and local staff are in the majority, whereas most agents under national law and special advisers are men. Women are not overrepresented in all function groups. Men outnumber women in the administrator function group (officials and temporary staff), and in function group IV (contract staff). Overall, the gap between men and women in the administrator function group has again narrowed in 2012 as a result of gender equality policies. This is also valid for function types such as middle management and senior management. An overview of women's representation in man-

24 15 HR Report Part I agement functions and a description of the policy on equal opportunities can be found in Part II, chapter Projections on gender Workforce simulations reveal that at the end of 2014, the last year of the Barroso-II Commission, the representation of female officials is projected to increase from almost 52,% in 2012 to almost 53,% in This projection is based on the prudent assumption of gender-neutral future recruitments, i.e. the proportion of women in future recruitments is supposed to be equal to the proportion of women in activity on 1 January However, should the trend that has been observed since 2004, of women being overrepresented in the recruitments, continue in the future, then the proportion of female officials may exceed 53,% at the end of Nationality In compliance with the Staff Regulations, the Commission does not apply quotas or recruitment policies based on nationality, except for the transition periods for the recruitment of staff from new Member States. The transition period for the EU-10 recruitment policy was successfully completed in The year 2011 was the last year of the successfully concluded transition period for EU-2 recruitments. In preparation of Croatia becoming the 28 th EU Member State on 1 July 2013, the number of Croatians increased to about 50 members of staff, chiefly local staff and contract staff. Regular reporting on geographical balance in recruitment is subject of discussion in the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework A proportionally higher number of officials come from Member States where the sites of the Commission are located, such as Belgium, Luxembourg and to a lesser extent Italy. These Member States were not underrepresented among officials both in management as non-management functions at the end of The number of Danish and Luxembourgish nationals has slowly and steadily decreased since at least the year The same goes for the other former EU-15 Member States as of the year 2004, the year of accession of the EU-10 Member States, most notably for British nationals... Projections on nationality Due to differences in the age of officials and their distribution over the function groups of assistants, non-management administrators, middle management and senior management, the forecasts for the future geographical balance vary by nationality. Workforce simulations show that at the end of 2014 the number of Belgian, Italian, British, Greek, Dutch, Danish and Luxembourgish officials is likely to be further reduced, due to overrepresentation of these nationalities among the older aged officials. On the contrary, for German, Swedish, Finnish and Irish nationals, moderate growth is projected and geographically neutral recruitments are assumed, while there is also an anticipated increase in the number of former EU-10 and EU-2 nationals until the end of Finally, in 2013 and 2014 the first officials with Croatian (HR) nationality are expected to be appointed. Compared to other staff types, the proportion of officials is high among Austrian, German, Danish, Finnish, British, Irish, Luxembourgish, Dutch and Swedish nationals. The high number of contract staff with (in descending order) Belgian, Italian, French or Spanish nationality can be partly (for Belgians and Italians)

25 Staff 16 explained by the size of the sites of the Commission located in these Member States. Numbers of staff other than officials from countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg diminished markedly in the period from 2000 to However, the number of EU-2, former EU-10, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Portuguese temporary staff, contract staff, local staff and agents under national law grew. Age Civil services everywhere are ageing, and the Commission is not an exception. The number of officials in the higher age brackets, mainly the one from 50 to 65 years of age, has grown relatively more than in the other age brackets over the period The majority of officials are over 45 years old, 38,% are 50 or older and more than 1,400 officials are 60 or older. Senior managers and, to a lesser extent, middle managers are predictably among the oldest staff members. About one third of all senior managers and more than one sixth of all middle managers are over 60 years of age. The age pyramids of staff types other than special advisers and officials show that contract staff mainly have a young age pyramid. The majority of them are younger than 37. This is also true of temporary staff and agents under national law, whose age pyramids start shifting inwards from the age of years. Chart I.7 Other servants and other staff by gender, nationality and age ( ) The size and shape of the lower, younger parts of the age structure are almost exclusively determined by the recruitments. The past two enlargement waves, from 2004 to 2011 during which thousands of mainly young female staff were recruited, contributed to a balanced and symmetric age structure. With the EU-2 enlargement being completed in 2011, the future recruitment of young personnel will be mainly governed by the need to replace staff who have left the Commission, the enlargement for Croatia and the staff savings from 2013 to As a result, the basis of the age pyramid will gradually become smaller in the years ahead.

26 17 HR Report Part I Graph I.8 Education of staff (2012) Education The track record of staff changing jobs in the Commission provides a good understanding of the experience staff gained in their respective postings. However, thanks to the introduction of an electronic curriculum vitae (ecv) in 2012, there now is more information available about the potential of staff. It concerns education and training, languages, knowledge, competencies and includes also professional experience gained outside the Commission. The ecv module in SysPer2 is based on revamped underlying libraries. These libraries help staff to fill in their ecv and to present their skills and qualifications in a simple and user-friendly manner. To keep control of who can see their ecv, staff can select different access settings. Managers will have a fuller view of the competencies of Commission staff notably when filling vacancies or identifying learning and development needs. ecv allows for sophisticated information sampling across (groups of) members of staff. Moreover, the libraries match with those used to describe and encode a job in the Commission. The combination of ecvs and job descriptions, via various search tools, is a powerful planning tool both for staff and the service. Source: SysPer2, DG HR.A. The launch of ecv was accompanied by corporate and local communication campaigns to illustrate its usefulness and to invite all staff to fill their ecv in. At the end of 2012, four months after the launch of the ecv, over 7,000 job holders have filled in their ecv. In April 2013 this number has grown to more than 9,000 job holders. Keeping in mind that staff in certain DGs have been more ambitious in filling in a fully-fledged and up to date ecv than staff from other DGs, a first preliminary overview of the education of staff can be presented.

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28 19 HR Report Part II 1 Steering processes 1.1 Personnel policy Policy aim The ultimate goal of professional HR processes is to attract, develop and retain highly qualified staff, to put in place optimal organisational structures and to promote a safe working environment, in which staff can give their best to achieve the Commission political and operational objectives. The personnel policy influences the way, in which these HR processes are defined and executed in order to best support the achievement of the objectives of the European Commission. The personnel policy is one of the two main steering processes in an integrated model of human resources management. Its ultimate objective is attracting, developing and retaining highly qualified staff. These guiding principles are taken up by all HR management policies and processes from workforce planning, organisational structures, recruitment, performance- and career management, learning and development, through working condition, salaries and internal communication to the horizontal support processes. Rules and procedures in the European Commission follow the general principles of legality, non-discrimination and the promotion of public interest. In addition, the principles of efficiency, results orientation and cost consciousness continue to play an important role and highly influence the human resources management, which aims to be aligned to the strategic objectives of the Commission. The personnel policy of the European Commission is defined and executed at three levels: on inter-institutional level, on central level for the Commission and on local level in each Directorate-General. In areas with high potential of economies of scale and a necessary harmonised approach for all EU Institutions, the Commission promotes the definition of inter-institutional policies, rules and procedures (e.g. recruitment of new staff via open competitions). HR policies and implementing rules for the Commission are developed and managed on central level, by DG HR with the involvement of local HR expertise, in order to ensure an overall coherence. The implementation of these HR policies and development of necessary local HR rules and procedures takes place on DG level. In an Institution as large as the Commission with about 32,900 staff in 42 DGs and Services and present in more than 150 locations worldwide and in a rapidly changing and challenging working environment, it is a constant challenge for the Commissions' HR functions to define, adapt and use all levers of the personnel policy in a coherent and complementary manner. Main developments Concrete changes have been proposed in the context of the business-process reengineering of a number of HR processes and the development of easy to implement policies and procedures have again been guiding principles for DG HR. In this same context, DG HR has advanced in its effort to increase customer orientation in the HR service delivery and started an internal pilot project. The personnel policy as such did not and should not change significantly in short term. Nevertheless, the Commission has seen its HR priorities and guiding principles influenced by a number of events and trends during the year The proposal from the Commission for the review of the Staff Regulations has been linked in 2012 to the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014 to The resulting negotiations on the budget for administrative expenditure have influenced the reflections on all HR policies and will continue to do so. The proposed changes of the Staff Regulation aim to find a good balance between a significant reduction of administrative expenditure and the necessity to keep the EU Institutions an attractive workplace for current and future staff. The measures proposed by the Commission could not be implemented due to the ongoing negotiations, but their implementation has been prepared in many areas in 2012.

29 Metrics and reporting 20 Independent of the outcome of the negotiations on the proposed Staff Regulations changes, the European Institutions have committed to a cut in their staff of 5,% in the period from 2013 to This ongoing pressure on resources continues to influence the allocation of staff and related reorganisations in a number of DGs. DG HR monitored the implementation of staff reduction in the Commission. The DGs role in the resource allocation process of the Commission continues to be strengthened through regular participation in the budgetary procedures. The general importance of efficiency and cost-orientation has been confirmed in 2012, which translates in an increased focus on lean rules and procedures. Public administrations continue to be monitored in a critical way by political observers and professional standards are fundamental to meet the requirements of an excellent public administration and to protect the image of the EU Institutions. Guidelines for staff on gifts and hospitality have were adopted by the Commission and work continues on communication and other measures to ensure consistent implementation of existing rules on ethics. Defending Commission data and systems has become increasingly important and a strong focus lay on investigation and defence against cyber-attacks. Outlook The overall context of austerity will continue to put pressure on an efficient allocation of resources. With this in mind, the reengineering of an increasing number of HR business processes will be a main priority for the coming year. The results of the business process reengineering will give an important input to the broader discussion on the general delivery model for HR services. A priority in 2013 will be to define the future HR delivery model based on the objectives of most efficient resource allocation and of professional, modern HR management on local and central level. All EU Institutions face the increasingly difficult challenge to stay an attractive workplace for current and for future staff. Demographic changes like trends in retirements, age development and geographical balance need to be taken into consideration while defining HR policies. At the same time, objectives of the Institutions as employers and expectation of existing and future generations of staff related to like internal and external mobility of staff, career development, working methods, efficient use of office space and communication channels will influence HR policies in these areas. 1.2 Metrics and reporting Policy aim The notion of HR metrics refers to the collection, monitoring and analysis of facts and figures in the domain of HR management. As well as analysing the underlying reasons for developments detected, HR metrics provide the building blocks for the production of feedback on the performance of the HR function. Moreover, reporting is a way of maintaining objective and transparent communication with members of staff, external stakeholders and all those interested in HR management.

30 21 HR Report Part II DG HR is also seeking to improve the reporting process itself. Counts and indicators should be produced more quickly at central level to serve local HR departments in the respective DGs. A more powerful data warehouse and standardised, ready-to-use statistical reports are necessary to extend the scope of reports and improve their reliability. Consistent and commonly-used definitions enable the HR community to speak with one voice, both internally and externally. Alongside, DG HR has carried out evaluations and surveys in the field of Human Resources to help design or re-design key HR strategies and policies. Main developments In June 2012, in the preparation of the next Multiannual Financial Framework, Vice-President Šefčovič shared with each Commissioner some information and observations on HR management and organisational efficiency of their services. He considered that there is room for improvement, notably in the area of use of job quotas and rationalizing the administrative support activities. The opportunities for increasing further the effectiveness and efficiency was highlighted. In this regard, in order to ensure high workforce performance and thus attract and retain essential skills, the key consists in monitoring the existing workforce, effective identification of talents from within and outside the DGs and a high utilisation of available posts. A summary of the staffing and organisational situation, together with annexes giving more detailed information on indicators and benchmarks was communicated to the respective Commissioners. The Director General of DG HR, Irene Souka, communicated these observations to the respective Directors General for further discussion and action. Paper copies of the HR Key Figures Card 2012 were distributed to all managers, new recruits and other interested staff members in the Commission, as well as to our counterparts in the other EU Institutions. HR figures were also published on the internet, via the EU Permanent Representations and on EU Open Doors day. The HR Key Figures Card for 2012 and the monthly Statistical Bulletins provide a quick overview of figures relating to staff, posts and jobs. Five editions of the bimonthly DG Scorecard were produced and sent to Heads of unit in the respective DGs together with three editions of Key Observations, a summary of the most relevant key performance indicators, to the respective Resource Directors. The DG Scorecard will be discontinued and replaced by HR dashboards in HR reporting continued to be the priority in the IT domain for DG HR. As a result, DG HR s metrics-driven approach is now expressed in visually compelling dashboards, a more effective way of providing insight into the essential metrics used by the HR community. These dashboards benefitted from a set of detailed definitions, which were published on the Sharepoint HR Definitions. DG HR staff had access to this Sharepoint at the end of In 2013, access will be widened to the HR community. Also, a great deal of progress was made in the four main areas selected for 2012: The HR Data Warehouse was further developed to cater for new needs and reporting requests. Data from sources other than SysPer2 have also been integrated. HR reporting capabilities were further enhanced in areas like full-time equivalent analysis, career and mobility, evaluation and promotion, equal opportunities. Enhancing rationalisation and user services allowed targeted absorption of locally redundant systems and complex reports; HR reporting visualisation and online-analytical-processing. A successful proof of concept was delivered on interactive data visualisation and a working dashboard prototype is being extended into a pilot project as from 2013, first in DG HR and then in several DGs. These one-click-away dashboards will be useful not only for monitoring by senior management but also for data analysis by HR practitioners in DGs; There is now a fully-fledged workforce simulator system to back up scenario analysis and strategic workforce planning. The tool is used for validating business assumptions, analysing the potential longer-term impact of policy options.

31 Metrics and reporting 22 Evaluation of HR processes In addition to these general metrics and reporting efforts, there were some more specific evaluations. There was a major project on the evaluation of the language training provided in Brussels by DG HR. This study proposed three improvements: language course objectives should be more focused on professional needs; management and staff should be more involved in the formulation of targeted learning objectives; and the different learning styles of participants should be taken into account in the language offer. The second major project was the evaluation of flexible working arrangements. The analysis was based on a survey among the Commission's line managers and on focus groups composed of line managers and Heads of HR units. Flexible working arrangements are widely practised and highly appreciated within the Commission. During the workshops managers agreed on the need for a more strategic use of flexible working arrangements. The staff opinion survey conducted in 2011 revealed that 50% of the 7600 respondents to the survey were satisfied with services of the administrative Offices OIB, OIL and PMO. Other targeted satisfaction surveys completed in 2012 included the crèches and afterschool services managed by OIB, the satisfaction of OIL staff, and the services provided by the joint sickness insurance scheme to non-commission staff. Outlook In the period from 2013 to 2014, reporting and analytical facilities in the HRM area will remain a priority for the Commission. Emphasis will continue to be laid on further consolidating the HR data warehouse and a gradual enhancement of the services offered jointly with DIGIT. The expected outcome for 2013 to 2014 will be better and more responsive HR reporting services which are delivered at corporate level and which support improved Commission-wide HR decision making. This will continue to be achieved by rationalising the way HR reports are produced, reviewing the HR reporting security model and introducing dissemination, online analytics and visualisation tools. More specifically, by the end of 2013 HR data will already be accessed through more flexible, automated reporting. An essential set of automated reports responding to 80,% of the needs of HR managers and practitioners will be accessed directly from within SysPer2, reducing the need for local developments or customisations. Simulation results will feed into dashboards to support policy decisions and workforce planning. Reporting services to process owners and DGs will deliver advanced statistics to policy analysts and will help business intelligence systems to evolve. There will be significant improvements in reporting capabilities, the quality and performance of the data warehouse architecture, and the business intelligence tools. While DG HR will consolidate the foundations of our processes and methods, engaging fully with its clients and stakeholders in data management, based on the most appropriate methods to deliver these changes. They will improve usability and absorb several redundant local systems and reporting initiatives. In 2013, evaluations of HR policies will concentrate on staff opinion surveys relating to the Commission as a workplace and the services provided by the administrative Offices PMO, OIB, and OIL. In addition, more than 10 satisfaction surveys, including focus groups, on DG HR s customer approach are scheduled.

32 23 HR Report Part II 2 Core processes 2.1 Workforce planning Policy aim Good workforce planning is vital to maintain a representative workforce of appropriate size. The process is meant to identify the Commission s quantitative and qualitative human resource requirements (competencies, qualifications and profiles). Once future needs have been identified, an HR Plan should be drawn up to meet these needs and bridge the gap in relation to the current situation. Against a background of savings and the forthcoming Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014 to 2020, a central HR Plan will help to coordinate efforts across Services and DGs in the relevant domains of recruitment, internal and external mobility and learning and development. Main developments The number of retiring officials has increased in recent years. Against the background of an ageing population of officials, this trend will continue in the future. A workforce simulator provides an assessment of the volume and profiles of officials leaving the Commission in the coming years. This is based on a detailed analysis of the movements of all Commission officials during the period , capturing the most relevant features of retirements, dismissals, resignations, death, long-term personal leave, long-term secondments on request and transfers to other EU Institutions... An accurate workforce simulator Three rounds of the HR Planning training course took place in Participants learned how to use workforce simulations for strategic decision making. Syslog is open to enrol for the training courses in Workforce projections are regularly compared with actual realisations. Comparisons for the years 2010 and 2011 have confirmed the accuracy of the workforce simulator. The difference between projection and realisation in the total number of departures was less than 2,%. However, in 2012 several officials retired earlier than expected. Retirement patterns in 2013 will be closely monitored to assess whether 2012 was an exception to the rule because of an ad hoc event or a new trend. Simulations for some groups of officials, for example senior managers, have to be handled carefully. The same goes for periods of time of less than one year. Retirements show a cyclical pattern within a year and peak, for example, in January.... In 2012, workforce simulations were used to assess future promotions, pensions, training courses, the capacity of European Schools and childcare facilities, swaps between AST posts and contract staff appropriations, upgrades of posts from the AST to the AD function group and cuts in the number of administrative support and coordination functions. The main focus of activities backed up with workforce projections was better assessment of recruitment needs. Following the decision to introduce in 2010 multiannual planning of recruitment competitions as part of the EPSO Develop-

33 Workforce planning 24 ment Programme, workforce simulations could be fed into the Commission s request for EPSO s competitions to be organised in the period from 2013 to The results, in terms of the number of officials to be recruited from outside the EU Institutions, are presented in Table II.1. Generally speaking, the impact on the recruitment needs of the projected increase in administrators and assistants leaving the Commission is counterbalanced by staff savings and swaps between AST and AD posts. Table II.1 Projected recruitment needs for officials and temporary staff ( ) AD AST AD AST AD AST Recruitment needs due to staff moves Officials leaving the Commission Transfers and reinstatements Internal appointments Recruitment needs due to changes in posts Savings Enlargement Croatia Swaps Total Source: Workforce Simulator , DG HR.A. Note: The projections include adopted policies only. Note: The projections, based on past performance and best information available, are no guarantee of future results. Note: Includes departures of officials who will be appointed as of 1 January Note: Based on Budget 2013 and draft Budget Note 1: Retirements, dismissals, resignations, death, transfers from the Commission to other EU Institutions, staff going on invalidity or long-term personal leave and secondments on request. Note 2: Transfers from other EU Institutions to the Commission and reinstatements after invalidity, long-term personal leave or secondment on request. Note 3: Certifications appointed to AD posts and temporary staff replaced by officials. Note 4: Swaps between AST posts and AD posts as well as posts and employment credits. In 2012, substantial progress was made in translating projected recruitment needs into EPSO profiles, thanks to the crucial information on functions, domains and standardised job titles available in the completed update of the Job Information System. As a result, together with the local HR departments in the respective DGs, the future impact of Commission priorities was assessed and translated into numbers and profiles of specialist competitions to be organised in the years 2013 to Multiannual Financial Framework In the context of the Multiannual Financial Framework for the period from 2014 to 2020, the Commission carried out simulations and projections in order to assess the financial impact of the 5,% staff cut and the entry into force of the revised Staff Regulations. In order to have an accurate estimate of the potential savings, the simulations were made on the basis of the whole active population working in the EU Institutions and Agencies as well as the pensioners. Integral planning approach (HR plans) In addition to assessing recruitment needs, efforts were made to coordinate and synchronise and further HR planning across all Commission DGs. HR plans should be well integrated into the strategic planning and programming cycle, for example with the DGs Management Plans, which are now considered as multiannual and will also be used in assessments with a view to deciding on the budgetary resource allocation. An HR plan encapsulates a strategic plan which aligns HR with the activities based on the mission and goals of the DG and which covers a rolling three-

34 25 HR Report Part II year period. Next, the HR plan contains an operational section which presents the state of play, the challenges ahead and the practical steps to be taken to bridge the gap mainly in terms of recruitment, career management and learning and development. Lastly, an HR plan is complemented by a graphic in which its main aspects can be captured at a glance. The HR plan is meant to help HR departments in the DGs to determine the key contributions of HR to the agenda and core deliverables of the DG. There will be targeted support from DG HR in terms of strategic consultations, offers of hands-on training and user-friendly data provisions and a shared HR planning site. Bilateral meetings have taken place between DG HR and ten volunteer DGs to customise both the content and the process of adjusting the HR Plan to the situation and needs of these DGs. Workforce planning tool in DG Scorecard In 2012, each local HR department received every two months an overview of forthcoming events related to workforce planning: end of probationary period, end of contract, staff reaching their compulsory mobility threshold or the age of 65 years, expiry of temporarily allocated posts, secondment on request or personal leave and requests for reinstatement after invalidity and long-term personal leave. Outlook One of DG HR s priorities for the coming year is to improve the application of HR planning to strategic decisions, meeting the requirements of the Commission. Four main activities are planned for Firstly, the scope of the workforce simulator will be extended from officials to temporary staff and, in a subsequent phase, to contract staff as well. Secondly, the application in which the workforce simulations are carried out will be upgraded and will phase in projections on promotions and labour costs. Thirdly, the pilot phase of the HR Plans, in close cooperation with the Secretary-General and DG Budget on the one hand and the respective local HR departments on the other hand, will be completed in Fourthly, the assessment of recruitment needs, in terms of both volume and profiles, will be further customised by exploring the possibilities of combining workforce simulation outcomes with patterns in staff mobility between job families and DGs and with information on competencies and skills from job descriptions and ecv. 2.2 Organisational efficiency Policy aim Organisational structures At any given time, organisational structures must reflect the Commission s political and operational priorities. To be efficient, the Commission as a whole, as well as individual DGs, must be capable to adapt their organisational structures and management to the changing political priorities. It may be necessary to revise the organisation chart to adapt to changes in the priorities set by the Commission for any DG when it becomes obvious that its mission cannot be best achieved with the existing structures or to improve the efficiency of the of a DG's structural set-up once it has been shown that main-

35 Organisational efficiency 26 taining the organisation chart as it stands would not be the best way of supporting its mission. Another key policy instrument in this field is the use of staffing benchmarks for determining the number of management functions per DG. The benchmarks set the average and minimum workforce by unit and directorate are determined as follows: The minimum number of total statutory and external staff is set for each individual entity (including sectors within units); Average staffing is calculated by dividing the total number of job quotas in a given DG (as recorded in SysPer2) by the total number of directorates or units in that DG... Benchmarks Benchmarks are set for each DG family to reflect the specificity and complexity of the matters dealt with by the DGs in that DG family. The span of control, the number of subordinates directly supervised, depends on the nature of the activities carried out by the subordinates. The more complex and dissimilar the task, the smaller a manager s span of control has to be. Units responsible for shaping policies tend to have a smaller workforce than units of a more administrative nature. Policy DGs will have relatively more management posts than DGs or Services which mainly have support functions.... DGs are encouraged to plan ahead for changes in their organisation chart and related decisions on management mobility, departures and enlargement-related recruitments. The Commission policy is to group all significant changes to organisation charts together into three packages (Spring, Summer and Autumn). Resource allocation The authorised number of establishment plan posts (for officials and temporary staff) per grade and function group are specified, in compliance with article 6 of the Staff Regulations, in an establishment plan of the budget. Annual Commission decisions allocating human resources translate the establishment plans, within determined limits, into job quotas distributed among Commission DGs and Services, in line with the political priorities. These Commission decisions are directly linked to the annual budgetary procedure and also cover appropriations for external staff and other decentralised appropriations. They are normally adopted by the end of each year in order to be implemented as of 1 January of the following year. Several posts are allocated on a temporary basis. Where appropriate, the Commission may also decide to keep some posts in reserve in order to be able to address new needs that may arise in the course of the year. Complementary allocations allow for flexibility in the allocation of posts from the Commission's redeployment pool. Main developments Organisational structures The Commission faced major challenges in 2012, most importantly the continuing financial crisis with consequences for many DGs, but especially for DG ECFIN and the Task Force for Greece. Many DGs have anticipated future staff savings and have reviewed their structure accordingly by decreasing the number of management functions or entities. The following DGs underwent significant reorganisations in 2012: AGRI, DGT, DEVCO, EAC, ECFIN, EMPL, ENTR, OLAF, OP, REGIO and last but not least INFSO, which was renamed CNECT. Apart from the financial crisis, the main reasons for these reorganisations were efficiency im-

36 27 HR Report Part II provements. In addition, many smaller organisational changes or changes to individual management and advisory functions took place. Since the communication on organisation charts in 2007, staffing benchmarks per entity defined per DG family are used. Evaluating all requests for the net creation of entities on the basis of these staffing benchmarks has allowed the Commission to adopt a more coherent, transparent and strategic approach to the creation of new management functions where necessary. The 2012 results were satisfactory, since most DGs not only observed the average staffing benchmark per unit, thus preventing unbalanced increases in the number of management posts in the DGs, but also reviewed their structure on the basis of staff savings to be made in the near future. DG HR systematically gave advice to DGs on their draft reorganisation plans and provided advice on best practices and the most appropriate ways of improving their effectiveness. Table II.2 Organisational entities and staffing ( ) Directorate entities Unit entities Average unit staffing 1 January , January , January , January , January , Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.A. Note: Delegations, representations and task forces are counted as units regardless of the level of their Heads. On 1 January 2013, the Commission had a total of 86 functions at Director General equivalent level (grade AD15/16 including Deputy Director General and Hors-Classe Adviser functions), of which 4 were vacant. In all, there were 305 Director or equivalent level functions (grade AD14/15 including Principal Adviser functions). The Commission complies scrupulously with the limits set in its establishment plan. Monitoring the number of Advisers per DG is also part of the organisation chart policy. Advisers' duties include the coordination or supervision of specific activities for which their technical experience and seniority qualifies them. Each DG has a specific Adviser quota which takes into account the specific occupational needs of that DG. Part of the quota is based on structural needs and remains stable from one year to the next, while the other is based on temporary needs and those non-structural quotas vary from one year to the next. In total, the Adviser quota within the Commission grew slightly from 213 at the end of 2011 to 217 at the end of Resource allocation The 2012 and 2013 allocations are ruled by the 5,% staff savings for the period from 2013 to Only in the framework of the Croatia enlargement few additional posts will arrive in 2013 and On top of the 5,% staff savings, the Commission introduced a levy of 1,% per year to internally reallocate posts to priority areas. When adopting the 2012 allocation, the Commission established a mechanism to reallocate posts in line with its priorities. This mechanism is based on a linear 1,% levy on all basic job quotas. It concerns 255 job quotas, of which 217 on the operating budget and 38 on the research budget. Out of the 255 job quotas, 100 were kept in reserve for distribution in The reallocation of 155 job quotas was conducted in May This reallocation aimed at enhancing the

37 Organisational efficiency 28 activities for the new European economic governance through better analysis and knowledge of the Member States, unleashing the potential of the single market, stabilising and securing the financial system, ensuring an area of security and justice, and improving the access of EU products abroad. The decision on the allocation of human resources for 2013 was adopted on 19 December The main elements were the allocation of 114 new posts to cater for the accession of Croatia on 1st July 2013, and the allocation of the 100 job quotas which were kept in reserve in The reallocation focussed on the response to the economic crisis, the economic and fiscal governance, and the projection of internal policies outside the European Union. Next to the reallocation of posts, 149 posts already allocated temporarily for the management of the economic crisis and the economic analysis of Member States became permanent to seal this priority for the longer term. Temporarily allocated posts, 283 in the allocation for 2013, remain an important instrument to be flexible and to accommodate for changes in the priority setting. Screening exercise The screening exercise of Commission frontline and administrative support and coordination jobs has become a key element in the decision making process. DGs performing in line with or better than their benchmark have better chances to receive approval for allocation of the resources asked for. The embedding of the outcomes of the screening exercise in the resource allocation process will continue to raise awareness of the need to slim overhead functions to the benefit of frontline activities. Rebalancing the delegations network The European Union delegations network is adapting to the evolution of the international scene. On 19 December 2012, at the request of the EEAS, the Commission agreed on the opening of two Union Delegations in the United Arab Emirates and in Myanmar, together with the closure of the delegation in Surinam... Service provision to the European External Action Service The cooperation between DG HR and the EEAS under the service level agreement (SLA) worked well in DG HR and the EEAS agreed on a revised SLA for This SLA includes an update of the IT systems, to support the management of the dual role of Commission staff in delegations, and more detailed specifications on the reimbursement of costs. In the SLA for 2013, the responsibility for certain arrangements were swapped between the EEAS and DG HR. For example, the evaluation of the Health Environment-parameter (used in the calculation of the remuneration of staff serving in third countries) moved from DG HR to the EEAS. The responsibility for the annual adjustment of Living Cost-weightings applicable to the remuneration of staff serving in third countries, was transferred from the EEAS to DG HR.... In 2012, DG HR also worked in close cooperation with the External Relations DGs on the endorsement by the College in July 2012 of the roadmap 3 for the implementation of the workload assessment report of Commission resources in delegations. The report proposed to rebalance Commission resources through 3 Roadmap for the Implementation of the WLAD Report, (SEC(2012) 461 of 11 July 2012.

38 29 HR Report Part II the delegations network, as well as the creation of four regional hubs for budget support and thematic expertise. On the IT side a solution, to simplify the workflows in SysPer2 whilst respecting ownership of the Commission over its jobs as well as the EEAS competencies regarding the organisation chart of the delegations, was approved by the EEAS. Outlook The first 1,% instalment, of the 5,% reduction in posts from 2013 to 2017, is implemented in the 2013 budget. The corresponding posts will have to be made available by 1 July 2013 and all DGs and Services have started preparing. Moreover, further externalisation of some management programmes to Executive agencies will affect certain DG families. Additionally, the commitment to staff cuts will lead to a limited growth of the overall amount of appropriations for external personnel, irrespective of their source of financing, which will after correction for inflation lead to a reduction of around 1,% in the number of jobs. In 2013, DG HR will continue participating on the improvement of certain rules and procedures, notably on the mobility of Commission staff, including contract staff, between delegations and headquarters. Moreover, DG HR will look forward to the conclusions of the review of the organisation and functioning of the EEAS which will be provided by the High Representative in On top of the annual update of the general screening exercise, more targeted screening activities may be required: ad hoc screenings of individual DGs, thematic across-the-board screenings in frontline domains, or screenings in relation to individual overhead domains. Such ad hoc screenings should offer organisational development consultancy to the DGs concerned, and therefore not only lead to rationalisations but also enable DGs to use resources in the best possible way to meet their business objectives. Transfer of knowledge about the screening methodology to other Institutions has started. 2.3 Recruitment Policy aim Recruitment policy is the primary means of ensuring excellence in the European civil service. To ensure that the right candidate is recruited for the right job at the right time, the recruitment process encapsulates the identification of candidates via open competitions, the selection of suitable candidates from the reserve lists and the appointment by the Appointing Authority. The Commission's recruitment policy intends to secure for the Institution the services of officials of the highest standard of ability, efficiency and integrity, recruited on the broadest possible geographical basis from among nationals of Member States. Recruitment competitions for officials and selection procedures for temporary and contract staff are organised by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) at inter-institutional level, following the procedures laid down in Annex III to the Staff Regulations. These competitions, which are held on a regular basis, take the Institutions' needs into account in terms of job profiles, grades and the number of successful candidates on the reserve lists. Once the reserve lists have been drawn up, each DG identifies the most suitable candidate, provided that the condition laid down in article 29 of the Staff Regulations is met, namely that no internal candidate has been identified for the job. Finally, the file is sent to the central Appointing Authority for recruitment. The

39 Recruitment 30 Appointing Authority verifies the eligibility of the candidate, in terms of both individual requirements and the specifications of the competition, and determines the entry grade and step and issues the offer letter and contract. Main developments Quick and efficient recruitment procedures are essential to make the best use of limited resources, also when it comes to emergency situations. In 2012, DG HR thus used the derogation granted by the Commission to accelerate recruitments by DG ECFIN and the Task Force for Greece on posts related to the management of the financial crisis. Access to vacancies became fully operational in 2012 for successful candidates, who can now directly express their interest in a published vacancy within the Commission and the other EU Institutions. Since 2012, EPSO systematically requests information from successful candidates on their preferences for specific posts, areas of interest and Institutions. This information is subsequently made available to all Institutions. DG HR has also improved the management of reserve lists and has closely monitored recruitment requests from DGs with a view to making better use of the pool of potential recruits. In 2012, EPSO closed 45 reserve lists involving 248 successful applicants from old competitions, following the same reasoning as in 2011, according to which the chances of recruiting people still on the lists were very low. EPSO continued to build on the EU careers brand and the positive image of the EU Institutions, gaining recognition in 2012 in a number of prestigious national and pan-european employer listings. Through more cost-effective and innovative communication tools, including a social media presence, virtual careers fairs, targeted publicity and the EU Careers Ambassadors Programme, EPSO is more able to attract highly-qualified and hard-to-reach talent pools. More than 67,000 candidates sat a computer-based test in 2012, which demonstrates that the Institutions are still considered to be attractive places to work. In 2012, around 1,200 successful candidates were placed on 74 reserve lists, for all Institutions. The Welcome Office helps staff integrating after recruitment. DG HR offers Commission staff and staff of certain other Institutions and bodies general information, legal advice and liaison with the Belgian or Luxembourg authorities on administrative procedures. It enables newly-recruited staff to focus quicker on their new tasks. The main goal of the recruitment business process reengineering project is to reduce the length of the recruitment process from two months to two weeks. In 2012 it entered into the implementation phase. Two measures have already been taken. Firstly, the automatic transfer of data from EPSO's data base to SysPer2. Secondly, the streamlining of the checking of eligibility criteria giving the candidate access to the relevant competition. A third measure is the creation of a new SysPer2 module (e-workflow). This will automate the recruitment process starting with the request by the DG up to the confirmation of the offer to the candidate. This SysPer2 module is ready and will go into production in early Officials and temporary staff In 2012, the Commission recruited 1,220 persons (895 officials, 173 temporary staff and 152 officials from the other Institutions). This consolidates the trend towards a reduction in recruitment which had already been recorded in 2011, following the phasing-out of the transition period for the EU-10 and EU-2. In 2013, given the intention to reduce the number of posts, only some retiring staff will be replaced, which is expected to lead to a further reduction in the number of recruitments.

40 31 HR Report Part II The recruitment of temporary staff in specialised areas (TA 2a) is still crucial for attracting experts for a limited period of time to perform very specific tasks in different fields, such as public health, fisheries, research and space activities. The Commission's policy is to limit specialised competitions to areas where it is not possible to find suitable candidates on the reserve lists for generalists. In 2012, the Commission completed 23 selection procedures for temporary staff (TA 2a and TA 2b). Table II.3 Newly recruited officials and newly contracted temporary staff ( ) AD AST Total 01/05/ /12/ , , , ,193 1,111 2, , , , , ,220 Source: SysPer2, DG HR.B. An assessment of recruitment needs was launched in November 2012, on the basis of a three-year rolling plan. In line with a recommendation of the Court of the Auditors, the Commission also analyses recruitment prospects in the medium term (five years). Alongside the competitions for generalists - in the fields of law, audit, communication and European public administration - several competitions for specialists were launched in 2012 for example for conference technicians and scientists. Generally speaking, the reserve lists are well exploited. For example, by the end of 2012 the Commission had recruited almost 95,% of the successful candidates retained in the latest AD generalist competition and even more for some specialist competitions. This is a result of the new type of competition, which is better aligned to the Commission s needs with smaller reserve lists valid for one year only (or three years for specialised profiles). The total number of successful candidates retained on the reserve lists by EPSO was sufficient to meet the Commission s needs. Nevertheless, the relative shortage of successful candidates in a number of key areas (i.e. interpreters or English-speaking secretaries) must be monitored carefully in a situation where the Commission is obliged to do more with fewer resources. Senior management Most senior management functions are filled through selection procedures which are published internally (or both internally and inter-institutionally) and to which only officials of the Commission (or other EU Institutions) may apply. However, the Commission can also decide to open senior management functions to candidates who are external to the Institutions of the EU (see article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations). In 2012, four senior management posts were published externally (one at the level of Deputy Director General and three at the level of Director). On average, each of these vacancies attracted 120 candidates, around of whom were invited for a pre-selection interview. Each selection procedure was productive and resulted in recruitment.

41 Recruitment 32 Enlargement Croatia To ensure sufficient representation of Croats, the Commission set itself an indicative recruitment target on 12 July During the five years transition period, which ends on 30 June 2018, the Commission will recruit 249 officials and temporary staff with a Croatian nationality. It concerns 149 administrators - of which 1 Director General level function, 3 Director level functions and 13 middle manager functions - and 100 assistants. In a Commission decision of 27 March 2013, the targets for assistants and non-management administrators have been further distributed per Directorate-General. The target for middle managers has been distributed per DG family. First preparatory measures for Croatia's accession have been successfully concluded in several areas: the organisation of AD and AST competitions for generalist and specialist profiles, stipulation of rights and obligations for staff from Croatia, selection of staff in the Transition Team and the Commission Representation, preparation of integration services for Croatian staff, arrangements for real estate (infrastructure in Zagreb and arrangements for the Cabinet and future Croatian staff), libraries, European Schools and childcare facilities, adaptation of information and communication technology to an additional language as well as the publication of information in Croatian. On 1 July 2013, subject to ratification of the Accession Treaty by all Member States, the EU will welcome Croatia as its 28th Member State. To prepare smoothly for the enlargement, the Commission started administrative preparations in Contract staff The total number of contract staff recruited in 2012 was stable compared to In 2012, EPSO finalised CAST (fixed-term contract) procedures for the following specialist profiles: translators, building specialists, childcare staff and regional security officers, in accordance with the new provisions for contract staff. In parallel, the Commission started to organise ad hoc selections for specialist profiles as provided for in the contract staff rules. These selections are organised by the DGs with the assistance of DG HR and EPSO. For example, DG Communication launched the first ad hoc selection for a driver profile (function group I) to fill two positions in the Commission Representations. These selection procedures are more flexible, to the extent that they allow DGs to meet urgent and very specific needs in an autonomous way. Another step towards greater flexibility has been the opening up of CAST lists to all DGs, Institutions and Agencies without profile restrictions. Table II.4 New contracts for contract staff ( ) Function group IV Function group I, II, III All function groups ,799 2, ,174 1,682 2, ,178 1, ,731 2, ,593 2, , ,329 Source: SysPer2, DG HR.B. Note1: As from 1 May To a smooth transition in Croatia, where the EU Delegation is due to change its status to Representation (meaning the end of local staff contracts), the Commission has adopted a decision allowing Croatian contract staff 3a to be recruited without a CAST for a limited period of time.

42 33 HR Report Part II Outlook The staff savings in 2013 and beyond will have a significant impact on recruitment and not all retiring staff will be replaced. It will also require further finetuning of the EPSO competition system, in terms of both numbers and content. The number of successful candidates is bound to decrease, but their profiles will probably be better adapted to specific needs. DG HR plans to improve selection and recruitment processes by further simplifying procedures (such as the division of responsibilities and control between DG HR and EPSO in the recruitment process, and the renewal of interim staff) and by ensuring gender-balanced recruitment, in line with the targets set out in the equal opportunities policy from 2010 to In 2013, the next steps in the recruitment business process re-engineering exercise, involving EPSO and the Medical Service, should continue to make the recruitment process more efficient and cost-effective. The use of electronic files for candidates during a competition, and a different way of handling medical checks (locating them closer to assessment centres) will allow the recruitment time in DG HR to be further reduced. DGs will be able to introduce their requests directly into SysPer2 and follow their progress online. For contract staff, further simplification of selection procedures, and changes to the procedures for evaluation and reclassification will be considered, in line with the changes introduced in 2011 for officials. In 2013, new targeted selections are planned for educational and research profiles in function group IV. Selections for generalist profiles should be organised in the second quarter of In this connection, EPSO is developing a new permanent testing system which should be set up in The report to the Council on the use of contract staff will provide an opportunity to analyse future prospects for this category of staff. In conclusion, DG HR will continue to adapt and improve its methods and organisational effectiveness, in particular by pursuing on measures already taken in Additional options to increase the cost-effectiveness, efficiency and speed of recruitment processes will be explored. Commission services carry on preparing, according to the adopted work programme, for Croatia's accession. On 30 June 2013, the eve of accession, the EU Delegation to Croatia will cease its functions. The following day, the Commission Representation in Croatia will open its doors. A transition team will stay in place for a maximum period of 18 months following Croatia's accession to phase out pre-accession instrument assistance. A first review of the progress in recruitment of Croatian nationals is scheduled for the summer of Performance management Policy aim The aim of performance management is to improve the effectiveness of the organisation. Managers are responsible for organising the entities under their responsibility and for managing, supporting and guiding their staff. In this way they contribute to performance management on a daily basis. From a wider perspective, the main HR tool at their disposal is the appraisal exercise that

43 Performance management 34 takes place every year for officials, temporary staffs and contract staff with contracts of indefinite duration. Main developments The 2012 appraisal exercise for officials was conducted according to the new rules adopted in November Appraisal has been separated from promotion. Middle management is now responsible for the assessment of merit in the appraisal reports, and senior management for the comparison of merit within each grade for the purposes of promotion. The new appraisal system is similar to the previous one in that it contains an annual exercise with a self-assessment, a dialogue, objectives and a written report. The report is entirely qualitative and should reflect the dialogue with the reporting officer without taking promotion into account, and without making comparisons with other staff members. Reporting officers are responsible for appraisals. Directors are responsible for supporting their advisers of unit. There is no formal role for a countersigning officer. Directors decide on any appeals made by job holders in their directorates. This new appraisal procedure did not raise any particular problems when it was implemented and was well received by staff and management (see number of appeals below). The exercise is quicker, more effective and easier to manage for HR services. As in previous years, reports were produced for all members of staff. In all, reports were completed. In 2012, there was a significant fall in the number of officials and temporary staff submitting an appeal against the appraisal report (0.85,% compared to 11,% in 2011 and 14,% in 2010). An appraisal exercise was conducted in 2012 for nearly 3,000 contract staff with contracts of indefinite duration. It was based on an appraisal leading to the attribution of a performance level and points. Senior managers Senior managers are appraised on a yearly basis. In addition to the appraisal, a 360 feedback mechanism is used. The aim of the appraisal, including the 360 feedback, is to allow the official and the reporting officer to decide on further development prospects. This appraisal exercise was launched in March The total population appraised in 2012 (for the reporting year 2011) involved 321 senior officials, of whom 71 were Director General or equivalent, 245 were at a level equivalent to Director and 5 were senior managers (temporary staff) working in a cabinet. To simplify the appraisal process, a number of changes were introduced: jobholders whose duties or staff had not changed significantly could request a carry-over of the 360 feedback. Almost 50,% of all senior officials took advantage of this possibility (153 carry-overs took place). In addition, when the official and Reporting Officer agreed to carry over the appraisal, the official concerned was no longer obliged to fill out his self-assessment. Finally, the carry-over report was simplified as well. Outlook A revision of the current appraisal-reclassification rules for contract staff is planned for 2013 to bring them into line with the new system for officials. The appraisal exercise for senior officials is expected to be further reviewed so as to

44 35 HR Report Part II streamline the process for senior managers and link it even more closely to career and management development. 2.5 Learning and development Policy aim A long-term investment Commission officials often remain in the Institution for 30 years. During that time, they need to be constantly updating their knowledge and skills to be able to respond to the increasing complexity in the world and the EU. The current EU situation requires staff to come up with innovative solutions and to have strong consensus-building. Staff also need to keep up with technological change and show adaptability and flexibility against a background of budgetary constraints and savings. Short-term staff, most of whom stay with the Institution for a couple of years, need to be operational as quickly as possible. The role of learning and development is therefore to support the Commission in becoming more effective in this increasingly changing and complex environment. Support for learning is therefore an essential investment by the Commission in its staff. Main developments An inter-institutional service The Commission's corporate learning and development departments (HR, DIGIT, BUDG and SG) deliver a wide range of training for staff. They also provide services to Agencies and other Institutions. The European School of Administration covers some of the training needs common to all these bodies. Most training is delivered by external trainers under contract to the Commission, thus ensuring that staff keep in touch with the latest thinking and research. Training on internal procedures is more often given by internal trainers. The Commission s learning and development budget for 2012 amounted to a total of,21 million, of which,3.5 million was for language training and,3.5 million for IT training. The European School of Administration's total inter-institutional budget for training was,2.5 million. Developing professional skills Centrally provided training courses help staff to develop their skills and knowledge in the following areas: Analysis and problem-solving, communication, delivering quality and results, learning and development, prioritising and organising, resilience, working with others and leadership (all based on the Commission's competency framework); Professional skills, including professional communication, negotiation, internal audit, HR management and project management, for which a new learning path was developed in 2012; Financial management, decision-making and internal procedures; Career management and management training (mainly provided by the European School of Administration); Language training and IT training (provided by DG DIGIT).

45 Learning and development 36 A priority for managers In 2012, as in previous years, DG HR arranged for 34 Commission managers to attend a one-week management course at one of the world's leading business schools. The European School of Administration's new generation of management training programmes, designed in close cooperation with all the Institutions, were rolled out progressively as planned during the course of the year. The School continues to target key steps in the development of managerial careers from team leadership to senior management. Further synergies were achieved as a result of the School's decision to offer a number of one-day workshops for managers on an inter-institutional basis. This enabled the Commission to drop some similar activities from its own offer. Languages for communication Language training fulfils three purposes. It ensures effective daily work inside the Commission, in English and French. It enables staff to communicate with Member States' authorities and their citizens in their native languages and it facilitates communication with countries outside the EU. Standard and specialised courses at various levels are offered in 29 languages. New framework contracts with language learning providers were signed in 2012, following a call for tender. In 2012, 15,500 training courses were organised by the Commission, of which 8,800 were organised locally in DGs. The European School of Administration ran 359 courses with 5,957 participants, 69,% of whom were from the Commission. End-of-course evaluation data show a slight increase in the level of satisfaction. Decentralised training In addition to courses organised centrally, about one third of the Commission's training budget is decentralised to DGs, who use it to finance training in their specific policy areas (competition law, financial markets), to pay for external training in specialised areas and to support strategy-making and team-building. In 2012 the Commission also supported 188 staff who enrolled for education or training in their own time, which has a potential benefit for the Institution, reimbursing part of course fees (to a maximum of,770) and providing study leave where relevant and justified. Beyond classroom training The length of classroom courses has been reduced and the learning offer diversified by introducing shorter and more targeted training modules. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the availability of e-learning modules for Commission. DG HR has produced a number of e-learning modules and has provided advice for developing others. In all, 7,000 staff enrolled for an e-learning activity in In 2012, e-learning courses were offered in French, English, Spanish, German and Italian... Strategic consultancy A team of internal and external consultants provide support to DGs to help develop strategies in their policy areas, especially in a participative way, thus promoting the commitment of staff and stakeholders.... Learning in and out of the office DG HR also runs two learning centres, one in Brussels and one in Luxembourg. They offer a wide range of resources (for example books, DVDs and CDs) which staff from all Institutions can consult on the spot or borrow for a limited time. Reaching out to Member States and the world The Member States Information Programme enabled 140 Commission staff to learn more about the economy, governance and culture of 9 Member States to The learning centres organised conversation tables and learning events, such as the 'Are we clear?' day aimed at promoting clear writing, clear speaking and clear thinking.

46 37 HR Report Part II help the Commission make policy proposals based on a sound understanding of the context. Specific Visitor Programmes helped to prepare future EU Presidencies (Ireland and Lithuania). Under the Fellowship Programme, nine officials were sent for one year as Fellows to North American, Asian, Australian and European universities, to work on research projects of EU interest and help explain the EU in the university and country they go to. At the request of DG HR, the European School of Administration continued to organise the Erasmus for Public Administration Programme. This offers young civil servants from Member States dealing with EU affairs a two-week training programme in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. The aim is to strengthen their knowledge of the Institutions and establish mutually useful contacts through the job shadowing part of the programme. Outlook Over the last ten years the Commission has greatly expanded the training available to help adapt to the changing needs of the organisation. Research suggests that we learn most of what we need for our jobs from experience (70,%), supplemented by on-the-job feedback from managers and colleagues (20,%) and training (10,%). This means we have to devise a new strategy that supports all our learning, beyond training. The new learning and development strategy in the Commission will also take into account the need for efficient use of resources. Reduction in the resources available for training, the increasing range of possibilities offered by the rapid development of technology to support learning (such as e-learning, virtual classrooms, collaboration tools including Sharepoint and Yammer, interactive websites, podcasts, videos and mobile learning) and the recommendations by the Court of Audit which confirmed the need for a new strategy. The future strategy needs to find ways of responding to these challenges and make informal learning (learning outside formal training courses) more effective. In addition to the use of technology, some other methods might be helpful. It concerns just-in-time learning material available instantly on the intranet, testing and certification of competence, with or without training, knowledgesharing, mentoring, communities of practice, support for managers to make feedback more effective (including an 360 evaluation for managers), shortterm secondments and exchanges and career development: new assignments teach new skills and knowledge. Where appropriate, the European School of Administration will pursue its policy of providing shorter courses, although it will continue to favour the classroom model. This is meant to safeguard the biggest advantage of the School's interinstitutional mission, that of bringing people from different Institutions together to share experience and good practice and build professional networks.

47 Internal mobility Career management A career is the succession of jobs held by a Commission staff member throughout his or her professional life. It comprises two dimensions: first, changing jobs, acquiring work experience and developing competencies; and second, being promoted and appointed to posts with more responsibility. Career management aims to find the optimal match between the needs of the individual and those of the Commission to enable staff to reach their maximum potential over time, in the interests of the organisation. Individuals expect to have opportunities to maximise their skills and to develop and progress within the Institution. It is also in the Commission s interests to ensure that the right people are in the right jobs at the right time. Staff can perform better if they are guided throughout their careers and can develop their competencies in a working environment that recognises their potential, gives them responsibility and rewards their contribution. To that end the Commission supports internal mobility, provides career guidance, revamped the job information system, introduced ecv, facilitates promotion and applies attestation and certification procedures. Optimal career management should enable each official to perform at their best throughout their careers, which may cover 30 to 40 years Internal mobility Policy aim In the current political context and in view of the budgetary constraints, internal mobility is one way of ensuring that staff with the most appropriate profiles can be appointed to the right jobs. Main developments From 2005, there was a decline in the number of vacancies published each year. This could be explained by enlargement recruitment, as a number of those posts were not designed for publication. However, this trend has reversed in recent years and the number of vacancies published has been growing since Chart II.1 Published job quotas for officials and temporary staff ( ) Source: SysPer2, DG HR.B. Note: Re-published job quotas are counted once. Senior managers In 2012, the Commission published a total of 29 internal (or internal and interinstitutional) senior management vacancies, comprising two functions at the

48 39 HR Report Part II level of Deputy Director General, 25 at the level of Director/Principal Adviser and 3 functions of Director of an Executive agency. Selection procedures for senior managers require considerable input and effort from all stakeholders: the recruiting DG of course, but also Members of the Commission, cabinets, DG HR and the Consultative Committee on Appointments (CCA). To ensure an efficient and cost-effective selection process, the recruiting DG is responsible for pre-selecting candidates. For Director functions, there was an average of 7 candidates per vacancy notice. The average number of candidates for Deputy Director General functions was around 2 candidates. The CCA acts as an interviewing board assessing the general management skills of candidates. It provides the Members of the Commission with a shortlist of the most suitable candidates for the vacant position who have the potential for a long-term senior management career in the Commission. In 2012, the CCA held 28 meetings and interviewed more than 115 candidates. And slightly over 50,% was shortlisted and subsequently interviewed by the Commissioner(s).. Career development for senior managers An assessment center is part of the selection process for senior managers. To build on this assessment centre and to offer a more systematic support to officials recently appointed to a senior management function, DG HR has developed a Senior Management Development Programme. This programme assists the recently appointed manager during his first years at senior level. It provides participants with extensive feedback from human resources experts on their management skills and with a tailor-made personal development programme and individual follow-up. It is envisaged that the Senior Management Development Programme will also include participants who are at other stages of their career.... Senior officials remain, on average, between two and five years in a particular function. In order to create as little disruption as possible to the functioning of a DG, decisions on transfers in the interests of the service under Article 7 of the Staff Regulations were implemented in phases throughout 2012, thus implementing mobility gradually and regularly. During the year, a total of 34 senior managers moved to another function within their DG or in another DG. This included 2 officials at Director General level, 3 officials at Deputy Director General level and 29 Directors or Principal Advisers. Middle managers In 2012, the Commission published 148 middle management positions, the majority of which at AD9-14 level and 4,% at AD13-14 level. 114 Heads of unit at AD9-14 level took function following article 29 procedure during the year while 10 appointments were decided on functions of AD13-14 level (including 6 promotions). The most common entry grade for AD9-14 Head of unit functions remained AD12 (42.5,% of all appointments), followed by grades AD10 (18,%), AD13 (18,%), AD11 (11.5,%), AD9 (9,%) and one appointment at the grade of AD14. On average the number of applications to a published job remained 10 at AD9- AD14 level and 5 at AD13-14 level in The middle management selection procedures usually involve a two-stage process with a pre-selection phase and final selection interviews which is handled by local HR units. DG HR ensures the

49 Career guidance 40 consistency and regularity of the procedures. No major problem was encountered among the procedures organised in About 80,% of all middle managers appointed following a publication, both at the grade AD9-AD14 and AD13-14 level, originate from the appointing Directorate-General. The vacancy rate for middle management functions remained at a rather low level in 2012 (6,% on average) and 1.5,% of the 1,225 existing Head of unit jobs remained vacant longer than 6 months. Middle management functions were filled in almost equal proportion by transfer in the interest of the service and by publication of vacant posts. Transfers under article 7 of the Staff Regulations are chiefly used to either proceed with overall mobility exercises of middle managers or reorganisations and, to a more limited extent, to fill individual posts which have become vacant following departure of a Head of unit. Due to constraints related to mobility or reorganisation, some Heads of unit exit their middle management function. In 2012, 23 Heads of unit were transferred to an advisory functions and 14 voluntarily took over non-managerial functions. As a result of reorganisations decided in 2012, 17 transfers to an Adviser post will occur in the first months of Heads of unit should serve a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years in a function. This period may be extended with two years. In exceptional cases, an official may stay on the same middle management post beyond seven years... The selection and appointment of Advisers In 2012, 8 vacant functions of Advisers were published. 7 officials were appointed on such functions over this 12 month period, including 2 legal Advisers of AD13-14 level. Two positions were filled with temporary staff. A majority of the vacant advisory functions were filled by transfers in the interest of the service (23), mainly in the context of compulsory mobility of middle management or a reorganisation. In a limited number (5) of Heads of unit took advisory functions following a voluntary opt out.... Outlook In the context of a reduction in the number of staff, internal mobility will be a way of ensuring the best possible use of human resources. In order to manage internal mobility, Commission HR staff will have to make sure that there is a match between the competencies of its staff and the organisational needs as reflected in individual job descriptions. In order for internal mobility to bring the expected added value, DGs will need to support their HRM planning and resource decisions with more in-depth analysis of staff profiles against the vacant jobs and organisational objectives. Tools such as the recently revised Job Descriptions module and ecv module (including search tools) will support this analysis and decision-making Career guidance Policy aim The Commission s Central Career Guidance Service in DG HR provides advice and support to staff and HR units on career management. It also wants staff to contribute to their own career development on an ongoing basis. Voluntary career guidance is provided by the Central Service and local career guidance officers in DGs.

50 41 HR Report Part II Main developments In addition to its traditional services, the Central Career Guidance Service has increased its support for staff in special situations, such as those being reinstated after unpaid leave or invalidity, and those that have had performance problems. Although these special situations are not high in number they represent a considerable workload due to the frequent complexity of the issues. The solutions do not depend only on the Central Service but come about as a result of good cooperation between it and the local HR units. Reorganisations have often brought new motivation, which reflected in the slight downward trend in the number of individual clients looking for career guidance. Local career guidance officers dealt with numerous reorganisations in DGs that took place in These reorganisations have brought change to thousands of careers in the Commission and reduced the pressure on individual staff members to seek change. The central service has existed for over 10 years now. It has built up a deep understanding of the organisation which is increasingly used in the development of HR policies. Unique at the time of its creation, it has managed to extend its approach to other EU Institutions and international organisations, which regularly ask it for advice. As the work context has changed over these years, the need for specific professional competencies has increased, putting more pressure on the advisers to undertake continuous professional development. Chart II.2 New clients of the Central Career Guidance Service ( ) Source: SysPer2, DG HR.B Outlook Decisions concerning staffing and the allocation of resources in the Commission will have a significant impact on the delivery of the career guidance service and its role in managing careers. Career guidance plays an important role in talent management. The professional competencies of the advisers at central and local level are continuously re-assessed and appropriate measures taken to ensure a high level of service which takes into account the needs of both the individual and the organisation. Policy aim Job descriptions and electronic CV The objective of the new job descriptions and the electronic curriculum vitae (ecv) is to make the Commission's internal job market more effective. New job descriptions and ecv will allow a better picture of what we do at job level

51 Job descriptions and electronic CV 42 across our DGs and Services and which staff competencies are available to the Institution. Staff is invited to promote their skills and talents and to take more responsibility for their careers. ecv enables them to present their skills and qualifications in a simple and user-friendly manner. Managers will have a better view of the competencies of Commission staff notably when filling vacancies or identifying learning and development needs. Main developments In 2012, the substantially revised structure and contents of job descriptions were completed by a revamped ecv. Both ecv and job descriptions are based on a common set of elements, namely domain, function and position. The domain represents the larger context in which a job is situated. It represents the joint mission or business of the workplace. The function is how the job holder contributes to the mission of his domain. The position shows the level of responsibility of a job. Revamping the job descriptions and creating ecv on the basis of the same structure led to a more sophisticated knowledge management base. The introduction of a search tool supports the search for suitable candidates across the Commission. The ecv search tool is available to Commission managers and the HR function. The vacancy and job description search tools have also been modernised and aligned to help staff identify the jobs that interest them throughout the Commission. In autumn 2012, a communication campaign encouraged Commission staff to fill in their ecv. The launch of the new tools has been accompanied by corporate and local communication campaigns in order to pass the message to users about the usefulness of the tools and in order to boost the Commission fill-in-rate. The fill-in-rate of the relevant population increased from 20,% in September 2012 to 26,% in December 2012 and 32,% in April Outlook The revised job descriptions and ecv have been designed with the objective to improving workforce planning capabilities of the Commission. ecv and its related search tool will allow DGs to take stock of their internal talent pool when faced with new challenges. To realise the added value to workforce planning and other HR processes, further efforts are needed to increase the ecv fill-in rate. Policy aim Promotion Promotion is an HR process based on Article 45 of the Staff Regulations. It means the appointment of an official to the next higher grade in the function group to which he or she belongs. In most cases it entails salary increases and, in some cases, access to functions with greater responsibility, which are both a reward for merit and recognition of the official s potential to progress in the organisation. It is therefore an important component of talent, performance and

52 43 HR Report Part II career management. Temporary and contract staff are not eligible for promotion but can be appointed to a higher grade. Main developments Promotion of officials (excluding senior managers) The 2012 promotion exercise was conducted according to the new rules adopted in November Middle management was responsible for the assessment of merit in appraisal reports and senior management for the comparison of merit within each grade for the purposes of promotion. During the transition year 2011, the system put in place aimed at ensuring staff who were close to the promotion thresholds under the previous system did not lose out. The promotion exercise started in May once the appraisal exercise, including appeals, had finished. In June, each DG chose whom to promote in each grade from among those eligible for promotion, on the basis of the criteria of appraisal reports, languages and responsibilities. A list of proposed promotions was drawn up at a senior management meeting, after consulting reporting officers. Staff representatives were consulted on the list before it was transmitted to a Joint Promotion Committee at Commission level, which addressed its recommendations to the Appointing Authority in DG HR for the final decision on promotions. Staff members were promoted, on average, at the speeds derived from Annex IB of the Staff Regulations. Table II.5 Average number of years in the grade before promotion ( ) Function group Grade AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AD AST AST AST AST AST 1-11 AST AST AST AST AST AST AST AST AST 1-7 (ex C) AST AST AST AST1 2.0 AST AST 1-5 (ex D) AST AST Source: SysPer2, DG HR.B. Note: Figures show the average number of years spent in the grade for officials promoted in the year mentioned in the column heading. Staff who changed status from temporary staff to official while remaining in the same grade are excluded. Seniority as a temporary staff is excluded and only seniority as an official is included. The new promotion system proved much less controversial for staff (3.7,% of appeals against non-proposal for promotion, compared to 12.7,% in 2011). The

53 Certification and attestation 44 considerable reduction in appeals led to a shorter procedure that was much easier for HR services to carry out, and to a smaller workload for the Joint Promotion Committees. The list of promoted staff was published in October and the promotions were reflected in the November payslips. Promotion of senior managers The 2012 promotion exercise for senior managers was launched in October The College decided on a promotion rate of up to 15,% of the 115 eligible senior officials. At the level equivalent to Director General 36 officials were eligible for promotion from grade AD15 to grade AD16. At the level equivalent to Director 79 officials were eligible for promotion from grade AD14 to grade AD15. Reclassification of contract staff The 2012 reclassification exercise was based on the general implementing provisions adopted in March In total, 373 contract staff reached or passed the reclassification thresholds and met the eligibility criteria for reclassification. This corresponds to a reclassification rate of 13.4,% (11.6,% in 2011 and 10.9,% in 2010). Outlook The current reclassification rules for contract staff will be revised in 2013 in order to bring them into line with the new system for officials. The alignment will lead to more consistency for staff and HR services and to a simpler and faster procedure. Policy aim Certification and attestation Certification The certification procedure allows officials from the assistant (AST) function group to become members of the AD function group. It was put in place in This is an important process for career management whose ultimate objective is to offer further professional development to AST staff who have the highest potential. Intensive training organised by the European School of Administration brings added value to the process and helps candidates to take the step towards AD functions Attestation Under the Staff Regulations in force since 1 May 2004, officials previously in categories B, C and D all became part of one assistant AST function group. However, different career paths apply to assistants: careers spanning grades AST,1 to AST,11 (the former category B), AST,1 to AST,7 (the former category C) and AST,1 to AST,5 (the former category D). The attestation procedure was designed as a transitional measure to enable officials in the career path AST,1 to AST,5 or AST,1 to AST,7, who had been in service before 1 May 2004 to gain access to an unrestricted career path. In November 2012, the eighth certification exercise was launched. Due to staffing constraint, fewer candidates were admitted to the training programme.

54 45 HR Report Part II Main developments Certification The certification exercise is run on an annual basis. Candidates are admitted to the exercise on the basis of their appraisal reports (which should include an assessment of their potential to carry out AD-level functions or duties), seniority, level of education and the needs of the service. They then have to follow a mandatory inter-institutional training programme to help them further develop the necessary competencies. If they succeed in the end-of-programme exams, they are certified and are thus authorised to apply for AD posts that correspond to their grade. In 2012, the selection phase of the 2011 certification exercise was completed and 94 Commission officials were invited to follow the seventh Training Programme organised by the European School of Administration. The pass rate in the final exams was around 68,%. In 2011 it had been around 43,%, which confirms how selective the process is. Candidates who fail any of the exam(s) have two further opportunities to re-sit them during the following sessions, if they so wish. As a result of the eight certification exercises and training programmes conducted so far, 773 officials have been certified, of whom 419 have been appointed to the AD function group (until 31 December 2012). Table II.6 Certification procedure ( ) Total Eligible population 1 3,570 3,580 3,671 3,663 3,729 3,974 4,345 4,244 Candidates 1, Candidates admitted to the certification exercise Candidates admitted to the training programme Newly certified officials Certified officials appointed as administrator Source: DG HR.B. Note 1: All AST officials in the career path with no restriction and in grade AST5 or higher. Note 2: Attributed to the year in which the officials started the certification exercise. Note 3: Attributed to the year in which the officials were appointed. Attestation The seventh and last call for applications for attestation took place in It resulted in 396 additional attestable officials, who are authorised to apply for posts at the level of administrative assistant. On 31 December 2012, after seven rounds of the attestation exercise, 3,453 officials had been declared attestable of whom 2,431 have been appointed to a post at administrative assistant level. At the end of 2012, about 1,000 officials remained attestable and can be appointed to a post at administrative assistant level after Table II.7 Attestation procedure ( ) Candidates Officials declared attestable Officials attested Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.B. Note 1: The last call for application took place in 2011 and no new candidates were admitted in Note 2: Attested officials are appointed to a job at the level of administrative assistant.

55 End of service 46 Outlook Certification is intended to be a permanent HR process. The number of candidates admitted to the training programme will most likely have to be reduced further over time to take into account lower recruitment numbers. The number of certified officials appointed as ADs each year may not exceed 20,% of the number of ADs appointed by competition. New general implementing provisions are planned for 2013 to take into account the new appraisal system adopted in November 2011, and to simplify the selection procedure End of service Policy aim Staff leave the Commission s service by retiring, resigning, transferring to another Institution, being dismissed, or (in the case of temporary and contract staff) because their contract ends. The policy related to end of service ensures the respect of law and procedures. The end of service may give the departing official rights to departure allowances, unemployment benefits, or (transfer of) pension rights. The normal minimum retirement age is 60, and the maximum age is 65, unless the Appointing Authority decides to extend it up to 67 in exceptional cases, if requested by a staff member and in the interests of the service. Staff can also retire from the age of 55 with a reduction of their pension rights, unless they are selected by the Institution for retirement without a reduction of their rights. A transfer takes place when an official leaves the Commission for another Institution. Temporary staff and contract staff cannot be transferred but have to resign and to sign a new contract with the other Institution. Transfers are managed on a case-by-case basis and have to be agreed by the two Institutions concerned. Dismissals may be decided on at the end of a probationary period if the performance has not been satisfactory, and after consulting the Joint Committee which examines the case or in specific circumstances. Contracts can also be terminated if the tasks performed by the agent are no longer needed, if mutual trust has been broken or if the staff member provided false information on entry into service. Main developments Pensions The demography of Commission staff shows an increase in their average age. Around 650 staff members retired in 2012, compared to 500 in staff members availed of the possibility to take early retirement without a reduction of pension rights, which equalled 7,% of all retirements in Transfers to other EU Institutions Inter-institutional mobility enables officials to develop their careers in other Institutions and is considered beneficial to the European public service as a whole. In 2012, 277 officials were transferred from the Commission to other Institutions, including the EEAS.

56 47 HR Report Part II Table II.8 Negative probation reports ( ) Appraisal of staff on probation On entering the service, staff members have to complete a probationary period before being confirmed in their functions. In 2012, 49 members of staff received a negative probationary report, which led to eight dismissals and several prolongations of the probationary period. This figure remains low when compared to the total number of staff recruited and reflects the quality of the selection processes that led to their recruitment. Extended probation Negative probation Dismissals periods reports total Officials Temporary staff Contract staff Auxiliary contract staff Total Source: Census, DG HR.B. Outlook In view of the expected budgetary tightening, it becomes even more imperative to optimise the way in which we forecast future needs in terms of profiles and functions, in line with the Commission s priorities. Increasing the retirement age and limiting the early retirement scheme without a reduction of pension rights are among the options being discussed in the context of the proposals for the revision of the Staff Regulations. Policy aim 2.7 Pay and compensation Salaries The legal basis for the annual adjustment of the remuneration and pensions of EU officials is Article 64(2) and Article 65(3) of the Staff Regulations (SR). The Method laid down in Annex XI to the SR is followed. It takes into account economic developments in the Member States as captured by two indicators: the cost of living in Brussels and the evolution of the purchasing power of officials in a sample of eight central Member State administrations. The 2012 annual adjustment is the last adjustment according to the Method adopted by the Council in Although Annex XI and the special levy expired on 31 December 2012, Articles 64(2) and 65(3) of the SR remain in force. Main developments Annual adjustment Between 2004 and 2012, EU staff experienced a total cumulative loss in purchasing power of 10.2,%. In 2012, in line with the legally binding Method, the Commission proposed to adjust remuneration and pensions by increasing them

57 Salaries 48 by 1.7,%. At the end of December, the Council finally failed to adopt the Commission proposal. As in 2011, the Commission decided to invite the Council to act by a letter to the President of the Council. If it is necessary, the Commission can bring a legal action before the Court of Justice of the European Union against the Council for failing to adopt the appropriate Council Regulation. The Court cases regarding the 2011 annual adjustment are still pending. Table II.9 Purchasing power EU-officials ( ) Purchasing power officials Member States Cumulative purchasing power officials Member States Purchasing power EU-officials Cumulative purchasing power EU officials ,% -1.2,% -1.5,% -1.5,% ,% -1.2,% -0.5,% -2.0,% ,% -1.0,% 0.0,% -2.0,% ,% -1.0,% -0.2,% -2.2,% ,% -2.3,% -1.8,% -3.9,% ,% 0.4,% 2.3,% -1.7,% ,% -1.8,% -2.5,% -4.2,% ,% -3.6,% -1.8,% -5.9,% ,% -3.6,% -3.6,% 1-7.6,% ,% -4.6,% -2.8,% -10.2,% 2 Source: Eurostat and DG HR.D. Note: Purchasing power includes the pension contributions and the special levy. Note 1: (Cumulative) Purchasing power of EU officials in 2011 without the adjustment of +1.7,%, which was not adopted by the Council. Note 2: Cumulative purchasing power percentages are based on compound sums of annual purchasing power percentages. Exception clause On 31 August 2012, at the request of the Council, the Commission adopted a first report on the exception clause. In this report, the Commission clearly stated that the exception clause is not an economic cycle clause; that it is to be applied in the event of extreme developments in the EU and only if the Method is not able to capture them, but that it is not to be applied when the EU is in a downward phase of the economic cycle. In making these statements, the Commission followed the interpretation of a judgment on the issue given by the Court of Justice in In preparing the report, the Commission used 15 indicators to assess whether it was necessary to apply the exception clause in In response to the Council s request, it also looked at the number of Member States under the Excessive Deficit Procedure. The report concluded that there had been no serious and sudden deterioration in the economic and social situation within the Union during the reference period of 1 July 2011 to mid-may 2012, and that it was not appropriate to submit a proposal under Article 10 of Annex XI to the Staff Regulations to apply the exception clause. This conclusion was confirmed by updated economic data from the DG ECFIN 2012 Autumn Economic Forecast. These data were presented in the Commission staff working document on the exception clause that accompanied the Commission proposal on the 2012 annual adjustment. It follows from that document that, in 2012, the conditions for triggering the exception clause were not met.

58 49 HR Report Part II Outlook As the Method for adjusting remuneration and pensions expired at the end of 2012, the Commission submitted a proposal for modifying the Staff Regulations, including a revised method, on 13 December The revised method would take into account the salary changes of national civil servants in all 27 Member States and would apply for ten years. The Commission proposal is currently subject to the ordinary legislative procedure under Article 336 of the TFEU Pensions Policy aim The Pension Scheme of Officials and Other Servants of the European Union (PSEO) is governed by Articles 77 to 84 of the Staff Regulations. Detailed rules on keeping the pension scheme in balance are laid down in Annex XII. Officials contribute one third of the cost of the pension rights acquired during the valuation year. The contribution rate is adapted annually to ensure the actuarial balance of the scheme. To calculate the contribution rate for officials, Eurostat applies a Notional Fund-approach in accordance with the Staff Regulations, although there is no real pension fund as such for EU officials. Instead, and according to the Staff Regulations, the pension contributions of EU officials are not cumulated in a fund, but are paid, as revenue, into the annual budget of the European Union. It is important to note that no explicit financial provision is made for the remaining two thirds of the cost of the pension scheme (which would correspond, by analogy, to the employer's contribution), as Member States have committed to paying future pensions in their entirety out of the EU budget. The total value of the notional fund is reflected as a pension liability. Main developments The measures contained in the Commission's proposal to amend the Staff Regulations, whilst preserving acquired rights and if adopted by the Council and the Parliament would significantly reduce long-term pension costs. On 5 December 2012, the Commission submitted a proposal to adjust the pension contribution rate. This proposal was based on an actuarial assessment carried out by Eurostat, which showed that the contribution rate required to maintain the actuarial balance of the pension scheme is 9.9,% of basic salary. Under the Staff Regulations, however, the adjustment cannot lead to a contribution that is more than one percentage point above or below the valid rate of the previous year (11.6,%). The Commission therefore proposed to apply a contribution rate of 10.6,% in order to maintain the pension scheme in actuarial balance. That is one percentage points lower than the rate in force. The Council's decision on this issue is pending. As a reminder there is an ongoing case before the Court of Justice on the 2011 pension contribution rate. Outlook DG HR will follow regarding the situation of the pension contribution rate very carefully and will take the appropriate action.

59 Administration and settlement of individual rights Administration and settlement of individual rights Policy aim The Office for the Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements (PMO) manages, determines and pays individual entitlements and reimburses the expenses of active and retired staff. It aims to provide a high quality and userfriendly service by determining rights and making payments promptly and accurately, providing clear and relevant information and carrying out efficient and effective checks. Chart II.3 Evolution of reimbursement deadlines for medical claims ( ) Three specific operational objectives encompass all PMO's operations, namely to establish and manage entitlements and pay salaries and pensions fairly, accurately and promptly. Secondly, to reimburse expenses accurately and promptly and manage funds and implementing rules in an optimal fashion and finally to provide good quality information and client services. Main developments Introduction of a new module for declaring births online, without the need for the official to visit the PMO at a busy time to provide an original birth certificate; Introduction of a new travel cost module, so that in future all annual travel costs can be calculated automatically; First phase in the indexation of Belgian allowances has been finalised. The indexation of allowances of all other Member States need to follow over the next two years; The implementation of a strategy for the prioritisation and treatment of pending requests for inward and outward transfers of individuals' pension rights is bearing fruit and the backlog has been significantly reduced; An inter-dg working group continues to monitor and analyse the financial balance of the Joint Sickness and Insurance Scheme with a view to preparing forecasts for the next five years and making appropriate proposals. In 2012, the number of medical claims received increased by 7,%. In spite of this increase in volume, the PMO was able to reimburse the large majority of the claims (79,%) within a reasonable timeframe. IT also signed a contract with Marsh International, representing Allianz, to provide coverage to the spouses and children of officials and agents posted outside the Union against risks of accidents, pursuant to Annex X of the Staff Regulations. Less than 16 days In between 16 and 30 days More than 30 days Source: PMO The service also made further progress in meeting its objectives with regard to missions. In 2012, 95,% of mission expenses were reimbursed within the target period of 15 days. The overall number of mission expense claims reimbursed was 103,100, 5.5,% less than in The PMO continued to improve communication with its clients. Three PMO Info Tours were organised in Brussels and Luxembourg to present the PMO s services and answer questions from its clients. Most of the PMO's administrative tasks continued to increase in volume in 2012.

60 51 HR Report Part II Table II.11 Number of PMO activities ( ) Activity ) Creation and modification of individual rights 98, ,537 no figures available 2) Calculation, payment and bookings of salaries per month 34,061 35,355 38,928 39,613 3) Calculation, payment and bookings of pensions per month 17,023 17,721 18,532 19,326 4) Closed transfers of pension rights files 2,128 1,462 1,857 3,007 5a) Management and payment of severance grants and transfers out, b) Management and payment of unemployment allowances 1,862 1,928 1,953 2,277 6) Reimbursing medical costs 426, , , ,960 7) Reimbursing costs related to accidents 1,747 1,878 1,823 1,916 8) Management and payment of mission expenses 118, , , ,111 9) Management and payment of experts' costs 72,251 68,259 70,557 67,956 10) Management and payment of seconded national experts 1,429 1,597 1,486 1,914 11) Management of requests for visas 4,967 5,559 4,375 4,551 Source: PMO Outlook Chart II.4 Evolution of reimbursement deadlines for mission expenses ( ) In 2013, the PMO will remain focused on the twin challenge of improving the quality of its service and investing in employee commitment and motivation. The aim is to deepen and consolidate the PMO's service culture and develop committed, cohesive and high-performing teams dedicated to providing a high quality service, in particular through: Improved levels of service and communication with customers, including by launching a new PMO contact portal; Reinforced communication and team development within the PMO to strengthen its service culture and ethical awareness, boost employee commitment and motivation and encourage internal mobility; Continued simplification and streamlining of procedures while preparing for new challenges, such as future changes to the Staff Regulations; Rationalisation in the system of experts' expenses and the development of IT systems that are user-oriented, that enhance productivity and performance, and that staff can easily work with. Policy aim 2.8 Working conditions Working patterns Less than 16 days In between 16 and 30 days More than 30 days Source PMO Flexible working arrangements have been gradually introduced. Such arrangements help meet the objective of better management of talent, performance and careers. Staff members expectations, aspirations and needs concerning work vary widely from one person to another. They are influenced by each individual s own specific situation, perhaps involving parental obligations, preparation for retirement or disabilities and can be best addressed by making it easier for staff to work in a way that reconciles private considerations with professional obligations when this is compatible with the interests of the service.

61 Working patterns 52 Moreover, most staff members are knowledge workers. A number of tasks such as planning, analysing, conceptualising and devising strategies can, to a large extent, be carried out independent of location and time. This means that they do not need to be done at the office or during fixed hours. Flexible working (part-time work, parental and family leave, telework and flexitime) offers staff an increased sense of autonomy and control, and hence increases their job satisfaction. As set out in the Staff Regulations, the Commission provides for a right to part-time work under specific conditions including family reasons, or immediately prior to retirement. It also offers parental and family leave within certain time limits, telework and flexitime (introduced in their current form in 2007). Main developments Working patterns The table below shows that there is a high level of interest in the different flexible working arrangements available in the Commission part-time work, parental leave and family leave. This is most pronounced among female staff. The 2012 figures show that the number of eligible staff seeking to work part-time increased very slightly. Table II.11 Persons using part-time work, family leave or parental leave ( ) Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Part-time 2, ,451 2, ,491 2, ,762 2, ,812 2, ,833 Family leave Parental leave 1, ,845 1, ,191 1, ,448 1, ,517 2, ,675 Total 3, ,759 3, ,087 3, ,526 3, ,674 3, ,828 Source: SysPer2 and DG HR.B. Note: The figures concern officials, temporary staff and contract staff. Note: One person may apply more than one working pattern. Overall, the amount of family leave taken by staff members remains very low and concerns mainly female staff. The number of staff members taking parental leave remained stable from 2011 to in Flexitime and telework In 2012, the majority of officials, temporary staff, contract staff and seconded national experts participated in the flexitime regime. Their participation rate increased slightly compared to Table II.12 Use of flexitime ( ) Reference population 31,320 32,081 32,383 31,082 31,014 Participation rate 47.7,% 50.7,% 54.3,% 55.7,% 56.7,% Source: SysPer2, DG HR.B. Note: The reference population encompasses officials, temporary staff, contract staff and seconded national experts. Outlook The Commission is facing cuts in resources, while pressure to deliver effective results is increasing. It will be essential to communicate more clearly on the business rationale of flexible working. Telework is an arrangement whereby staff can perform duties of the Commission's premises. Early 2012 a new online application process for structural telework was developed in SysPer2. Most DGs continue investing in their own IT resources to make flexible work more widely available in their services.

62 53 HR Report Part II In 2013, therefore, DG HR's priorities as regards a flexible working environment will be to: Continue to support managers by means of ad hoc guidance, the organisation of a master class on flexible working and the development of lunchtime training sessions on how to manage remote workers; Reinforce communication to staff so that flexible working arrangements are implemented in a consistent and coherent manner across Commission services, and in line with their inherent purpose; Propose adjustments to the Guide to flexitime to simplify, streamline and clarify the existing rules and their purpose, taking into account the possible future changes to the Staff Regulations; Update the TIM module on flexitime to align it with any changes to provisions of the Staff Regulations' provisions; Facilitate the administration of telework by continuing to monitor, in close cooperation with DIGIT, the capacity of the terminal server infrastructure to cope with the additional workload that a steady increase in flexible environment may bring. Policy aim Real estate The Commission's real estate policy aims to ensure a functional, safe and comfortable workplace for all those working for the Commission, and to provide good quality support and well-being services in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way. The communication in 2007 on its real estate policy focused on the following main aspects: Definition of a long-term strategic plan for space requirements; Continued work to streamline the current property portfolio, notably by concentrating the Commission in fewer, larger buildings. This will enable space to be used more efficiently in modern, fit-for-purpose buildings; The responsibility for the operational management of the buildings and supporting infrastructure such as catering, mobility, and childcare facilities in Brussels and Luxembourg lies with the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) and with the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Luxembourg (OIL). Identification of criteria to select buildings hosting Commission services: good access, good connection to public transport, a secure environment, high architectural and technical standards, good integration into urban space and a safe and healthy work environment, and with these criteria in mind, good value for money. In Brussels, the Commission owns (or has in leasehold with an option to buy) 28 office buildings and seven specific buildings (such as conference centres, nursery schools and historical archives). It has three office buildings in leasehold and rents seven office buildings and three specific buildings. It also uses 17 office buildings and one specific building through a usufruct contract. In total it has 54 office buildings and 10 specific buildings at its disposal in Brussels. In Luxembourg, the Commission occupies five office buildings under rental agreements and one under leasehold with an option to buy. The buildings are grouped in two sites: the centrally located Kirchberg (the Jean Monnet and Bech buildings) and Gasperich (Euroforum, Hitec and Drosbach), situated in the southern part of the city of Luxembourg.

63 Real estate 54 Main developments The Commission requirements of office space will remain stable and even decrease - over the coming years. However, the Commission will engage in several real estate projects to replace buildings whose rental contract will expire. Brussels Several projects were undertaken in response to contracts that will expire by 2013 and to address difficulties in finding the necessary space. Contracts were signed for the COVE and ORBAN buildings and negotiations were carried out for the L15 building. In 2012, the EEAS moved its own quarters in the Capital building. OIB organised the move of EEAS staff and, subsequently, of some Commission staff (to redistribute staff within the space left after the EEAS's departure). The efficient management of the existing portfolio of office space continued to be enforced, requiring DGs to take appropriate measures to reduce possible over-allocation during the reorganisations. With a view to keeping office buildings in a good state of repair, OIB carried out maintenance work in several buildings, in line with the established renovation programme. Rebuilding work to host a visitors centre for DG COMM and the Emergency Response Centre for DG ECHO was started in In order to improve accessibility for people with reduced mobility, OIB carried out work in around 40 buildings. Furthermore, a study was launched to identify further possible improvements. All buildings comply with the relevant legislation on building accessibility. Luxembourg OIL's main building project is Jean Monnet 2 (JMO2) which will replace the existing Jean Monnet building. In 2012, an inter-service consultation on the selected project took place, which resulted in the file being submitted to the Budgetary Authority. Both branches of the Budgetary Authority and the College approved the file, which allows proceeding with the next steps in Outlook In 2013, the preparation of two developments will continue, one on the redesign of the European quarter, the other on an additional location to accommodate Commission services outside the European quarter. For the first, OIB will continue to cooperate with local authorities after new urban plans have been adopted. This is a key element of future projects. For the latter, a new tender procedure will be organised to find and develop a new location outside the European quarter within the Brussels capital area and outside its boundaries. Cooperation with internal and external partners will therefore continue. The relocation of services will continue. In 2013, approximately 4,300 staff will move. To the extent possible, OIB intends to house the DGs concerned in a single building (or in adjacent buildings). The Commission will sign an agreement with the Luxembourg authorities on the construction of the JMO2 building. OIL steers the planning phase of this project with the Luxembourg State and the architect. Given the extended occupation of the JMO1 building, and given the overall state of the building, OIL will focus much of its attention on the implications in the areas of health and safety and maintenance of the technical installations, in order to ensure acceptable working conditions for staff housed in the JMO1.

64 55 HR Report Part II Security Policy aim The Commission s internal safety and security policy seeks to ensure that, in all its places of activity, people, assets and information are adequately protected against risks to their security and that the Commission's health and safety rules are complied with. An effective safety and security policy is essential for the proper functioning of the Institution, as it ensures that the Commission and its staff can work in safe and secure conditions. It supports the Commission in executing its mandate and meeting its institutional and legal obligations, including its duty of care towards staff. It also contributes to business continuity. Main developments As one of the Directorates of the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security, the Security Directorate helps implement DG HR s management plan, through a wide variety of activities, some of which are high-profile, while many others are routine, but nevertheless essential in delivering safety and security. The main achievements in 2012 are highlighted below. Concerning Business Continuity, systematic briefings for staff carrying out critical functions were provided. In addition, the Security Directorate was involved in preparing, conducting and evaluating the Commission s corporate business continuity exercise. It also revamped the Commission s back-up facilities. The Commission-wide poster campaign was well-received. It rose awareness amongst staff, including senior and middle managers, on how to better protect sensitive non-classified information. In the field of counter-terrorism, there were a number of major challenges for the Commission s security interests in This concerned in particular threats linked to (1) continuing security challenges following political unrest and uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, including recent conflicts in Syria and Mali; (2) the growing intensity of Islamic militant activity, in particular a surge in the kidnapping of western aid workers in the Sahel region and notably in northern Mali; (3) the continuing deterioration of security conditions in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq; (4) extreme left-wing activism in some Member States, against the background of a growing sense of hostility towards the EU, in particular in countries most hit by austerity. In order to ensure the safety and security of Commission staff working in Union Delegations, negotiations concerning a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance security cooperation with the European External Action Service (EEAS) were initiated. As regards counter-intelligence (CI), particular attention was given to improving CI analysis and threat assessments for the riskiest geographical zones. Consequently, an increased number of security briefings were delivered to the most targeted services in the Commission. The implementation of the CI strategy has continued. Its key objectives are to protect classified and sensitive information from unauthorised disclosure and to maintain a high level of professionalism dealing with intelligence threats. With regard to physical security, the services continued to roll out the 'Projet de Sécurisation Globale' (PSG) and Berlaymont Securisation Project (BERSEP). The MO34/SC11 building complex was fully equipped with the new access control system. Preparations were commenced for installing PSG equipment in the

65 Security 56 Charlemagne building (including the future Commission visitor's centre which is to be opened in 2013). Other measures were taken to improve the security of the Charlemagne building, building on the measures taken to ensure that the Berlaymont building is better protected. As regards cyber and IT security, the main achievements relate to the further development of the Commission's cyber response capabilities. In 2012, the cyber-attack response team (CART) investigated 227 cyber security incidents, an increase of 11,% from Other activities in the area of IT security included support and advice to other Commission services. In at least two cases, this advice related to major EU projects, namely: Emissions Trading System (ETS): CART supported to DG CLIMA in developing business impact analysis, reviewing the incident management procedures, and upgraded the ETS authentication mechanism; European citizens initiative (ECI): CART provided advice to the SG and DIGIT on the hosting by DIGIT of an initial batch of European Citizens Initiatives using the online collection system (OCS), especially the OCS business impact assessment and risk assessment. CART handled more cyber-attacks in 2012 than in It concerns suspicious s, phishing, scams, and malicious code ware. CART has succeeded in making better malware analyses and used its new penetration testing skills to check website vulnerabilities. In the field of security policy, a corporate video surveillance policy has been developed, and some of the security notices have been updated, in particular as regards the marking of certain types of sensitive non-classified information. The Security Directorate continued to provide safety and security services to other EU bodies, in particular to the EEAS under a Service-Level Agreement. In 2012, it helped the EEAS to set up its new headquarters in Brussels. Similarly, a wide variety of safety and security services were provided to executive and decentralised Agencies and to Joint Undertakings. As regards health and safety, the information campaign addressing all staff was continued together with more specific actions targeting specific audiences. The main initiatives included producing a brochure and a set of safety cards for senior and middle management, providing training sessions for hierarchy, managing dangerous products and Fire Pickets. Other key actions in this field included three major health and safety audits covering sites in Brussels and Luxembourg. These related to childcare facilities, the management of asbestos inventories and fire prevention. Follow-up audits were also carried out. The fourth Annual Health and Safety Report clearly demonstrated the firm commitment of those Commission services that have a specific responsibility for health and safety at work. As regards the security of staff outside the premises of the Commission, a security brochure was published in close cooperation with the other EU Institutions and the Belgian and Brussels police authorities, as part of the activities of the EU/Belgian Task Force. This brochure includes practical information for EU staff working in Brussels when faced with security incidents in particular in the EU quarter. Furthermore, in response to a recent staff security survey, a new Streetwise-training course was introduced, in close cooperation with the Belgian police authorities, which aims to raise awareness among Commission staff on how to prevent or react to security incidents outside Commission premises. The 7th annual European Commission security symposium featured prominent international speakers and was attended by 260 participants. Twice a year a local security officer's conference is organised to strengthen the ties with this community. Facts and figures In 2012, the Security Directorate's Duty Office received more than 50,000 calls. Over 200 demonstrations in the vicinity of Commission buildings were man-

66 57 HR Report Part II aged. Around 400 VIP visits in Brussels and mission, including the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, were conducted... Threat assessments Almost 300 assessment were produced in 2012 on (a) travel advice reports (including some 160 reports for missions of staff to third countries; (b) threat assessments (26 on Union Delegations, 7 on Commission Representations, 21 on specific threats or incidents, and 21 on specific security issues); (c) DS Monthly Bulletin (11), each issue containing a review and assessment of the most significant terrorist incidents worldwide as well as a specific newsworthy topic.. As to security training, 149 conferences, courses and briefings were organised involving more than 4,300 staff. Increased attention was paid to Commission interns, 750 of whom received training through the Welcome Days and Lunchtime Conferences. The Security Directorate s inspection team conducted 38 security inspections of Union delegations (4), Representations (6), ECHO offices (3), and headquarters and JRC sites (5). In the field of IT security, advice was provided on a total of 170 subjects to 21 DGs and five other EU Institutions. In the context of the 348 security conventions concluded over the past year, a total of 355 authorisations for interconnections between Commission and external networks were granted, an increase of almost 10,% from As regards the RUE system, which is used to handle EU Restricted-classified information, there were 5,450, an increase of nearly 10,% from There were 19,307 RUE transactions. The Security Directorate s inquiry team conducted 2,282 security inquiries. As part of DG HR s customer-oriented approach, the Security Directorate s helpdesk, acting as a single entry point for security requests, handled 1,030 requests in Security training is one of the key priorities of Vice-President Šefčovič and the focus on raising security awareness amongst staff was maintained. Outlook In its continued efforts to help achieve the priorities set out in DG HR s management plan, the focus will be on the following actions in 2013: Security policy: adopting the new rules for the security of people, assets and information; Cyber security: developing a new internal cyber security strategy and a concept for an IT environment which effectively protects sensitive information; Physical security and access control: further roll-out of PSG and BERSEP projects; Customer-oriented approach: increase satisfaction among Duty Office customers; Support for other EU bodies: contribute to a common approach for decentralised Agencies.

67 Internal communication Internal communication Policy aim The primary purpose of internal communication is to ensure that every person working in the Commission understands its mission and strategy, their role and what they need to do to contribute personally to the organisation's success. Effective internal communication is also the key driver of employee commitment, creating a common purpose and enabling the organisation to maximise staff productivity, unlock staff potential and contribute to well-being at work. Thus, internal communication is a precondition for maximising organisational performance, which is of paramount importance in a period of zero growth and a potential reduction in human resources. The framework for internal communication within the Commission is the Commission s internal communication and staff engagement strategy, adopted by the College on 4 July The goals are to: Strengthen the motivation and commitment of staff and boost team spirit through improved internal communication; Mobilise staff to communicate more effectively with citizens and stakeholders and strengthen the Commission s image; Maximise efficiency and effectiveness by supporting the achievement of objectives at central and DG level and encouraging inter-service cooperation. The actions of the Internal Communication Strategy are grouped under five thematic headings, namely a communicating management, linking external and internal communication, staff as ambassadors, improving flows of information and monitoring and evaluation of internal communication. Within this framework, DG HR coordinates and implements various internal communication activities at central level. It works closely with individual DGs, mainly by means of the Internal Communication Network in which all DGs internal communication staff are represented. Main developments My Intracomm In 2012, we continued to develop the corporate portal My Intracomm, which offers direct access via a single screen to personalised information on relevant administrative, HR and EU-related matters, together with a range of online services useful to staff. It also facilitates teamwork and knowledge-sharing across the organisation through the use of its collaborative sites. It is currently accessible for staff working in the Commission, other Institutions and Agencies, as well as to retired staff (around 60,000 users in total). As of the end of 2012, the average number of visitors per day was around 19,000. The process of migrating local DG intranets into the corporate portal continues, in line with the rationalisation of internal websites. Twelve local intranets and five corporate sites have been integrated into My Intracomm, using an empty shell template to ease and speed up the migration process. A number of My Intracomm sub-sites were revamped, including a newly designed HR & Administration site, which includes a new search function and also now offers a number of new functionalities, including the opportunity to run polls, host a forum, and gather customer feedback. Following the readership survey launched at the end of 2011, work started on a revamp of the weekly journal Commission en Direct. In the meantime, production of Commission en Direct continued with the distribution of some 52,000 copies weekly to both active and retired staff across the Institutions. The new format, a monthly magazine version, was launched in February 2013, with digital and tablet versions to follow later in the year. Other significant developments included the introduction of a new homepage for the Staff Reform website, which hosted a number of Live Chat sessions

68 59 HR Report Part II between Vice-President Šefčovič and Commission staff; the development and launch of a website for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize; and the development and launch of an electronic newsletter News & Views, together with a dedicated web page, designed to provide staff with a line to take on the Commission's priority work areas. Social media Several workshops and coaching sessions were run with interested DGs and individuals, and the Live Chat sessions held by Vice-President Šefčovič on proposed changes to the Staff Regulations were also held on Yammer. Towards the end of the year, discussions started with the aim of integrating the Yammer tool into the My Intracomm platform. The internal social media platform Yammer was introduced and has now over 7,000 users across the organisation. It is well used to share knowledge, ideas and good practice across the organisation. The Internal Communication Network The Internal Communication Network continues to be the forum where colleagues from all DGs get together to exchange good practices and find solutions to common problems, such as how internal communication can better support the achievement of the Commission's and DGs' objectives. Work continued in 2012 to further professionalise this network through a series of master classes, participation in external conferences and sponsored membership of professional bodies. Internal good practice was recognised through the Internal Communication Awards, in which 24 departments from across the Commission competed in seven communication areas. Continuing development of audio-visual tools Video continued to be a popular communication medium with the continuing development of HR TV, in particular the HR Insights series. Video is a powerful medium that everyone is familiar with, and one that both connects with and inspires staff and helps to make senior managers more visible. Training and support for managers Together with the central Learning and Development Unit of DG HR, a range of courses and master classes were organised to support line managers as key actors in the communication process. Outlook The Commission's approach to internal communication and staff commitment will continue to be developed in 2013 to ensure that human resources and internal communication policies are closely aligned to support and improve staff commitment. This will involve the following specific actions: the launch of a Commission-wide staff survey, as a benchmark for further work on staff commitment, including the revamp of the current Internal Communication and Staff Engagement Strategy, which dates from 2007; the development of an Internal Communication Strategy for DG HR, in conjunction with the local HR Units; the development of a mobile version of the My Intracomm platform, in order to enable remote access, with particular emphasis on crisis management situations; the revamp of the monthly newsletter Management Matters and the redesign of the accompanying website; the launch of a new external website for HR on the Europa website;

69 Social rights and obligations 60 the development, together with DIGIT and a select number of DGs, of a collaboration strategy for the Commission, including the identification of an appropriate IT support tool; the alignment of the current internal communication tools (My Intracomm, Commission en Direct, News & Views, Management Matters) to ensure an appropriate media mix Horizontal processes Social rights and obligations Policy aim The Commission's social and health policy continues to focus on measures to create and maintain the most appropriate working conditions conducive to promoting a healthy and productive work environment, and on providing safety net support for individual staff, pensioners and their families at times of particular difficulty. In the current context, where all staff face the challenge of delivering increasing workloads with the same or fewer resources, social policy is paramount. The Commission's social policy has two main aims: to promote and support good working conditions for a healthy and productive work environment; to provide safety net support for individual staff and their families at times of particular difficulty. The most important aspects of this policy are health and safety at work, the promotion of a healthy working environment and a balance between professional and private life as well as support to integrate expatriate staff and their families, including access for their children to appropriate education and nursery schools. Retired staff and other pensioners also have access to a limited range of social provisions, including social and financial assistance. The Commission runs specific projects aimed at improving relations between the Commission and retired staff. Main developments DG HR promotes a network of local HR contacts to facilitate the exchange of best practice regarding social policy measures in the workplace. This network met in 2012 to discuss the staff engagement strategy and good practices in the DGs. Integrated HR policy on absence management Managing employee absence is a major challenge for the Commission today given its impact on overall performance and productivity. Research and practice in the field of sickness absence management clearly show that a proactive and preventive approach where the line managers play a leading role is the most effective way to reduce and prevent some cases of sickness absence. The new policy on sickness absence management will build on current provisions, which

70 61 HR Report Part II tend to centre mainly on the medical service, and bring in new measures to strengthen and improve aspects of absence management. Valorisation The Commission has developed an initiative to enable it to draw on the wealth of experience and expertise which former officials have accumulated over their careers. Under this initiative, former officials will be able to contribute to a range of different activities within the services on a voluntary basis. A draft decision has been drawn up proposing to consolidate provisions in this area and measures to alert DGs to the rich source of expertise held by retired staff. Following Cabinet-level approval in January 2013, the decision will be presented for adoption and implementation in Communication with the pensioners DG HR led a discussion in 2012 with PMO, OIB and AIACE to identify the most suitable means of communicating with pensioned staff, mindful of the specific needs of the pensioner population and the Commission's budgetary constraints and IT security issues. Leisure clubs, volunteers and recognition of service As part of its social policy, the Commission supported its staff's cultural, sports and social activities. Its aim is to help staff integrate into a multinational environment and to promote a healthy work-life balance. They were made up of, and largely managed by, volunteers from the Commission. The annual budget for support is,50,000. As part of the Commission's commitment to corporate social responsibility, staff were encouraged to take part in volunteering activities in their free time... Recognition of services delivered by staff 20-year service medals were awarded to staff in recognition of their dedication to the European civil service. Medals are presented by the home Commissioner and Brussels and Luxemburg staff were invited to a reception hosted by the President and Vice-President of the Commission. 465 medals were awarded in 2012; A new retirement gift for staff leaving on retirement was chosen in 2012, the book 'The European Commission Memories of an Institution'. 1,080 retirement gifts were given in 2012; In 2012, 16 three-day seminars were given to retirees and their partners, in French and English to help them make the transition.... Social assistance DG HR provides a range of complementary social measures to support staff and pensioners, for example to facilitate the integration of staff and their families in expatriate situations and to help pensioners in very difficult situations. Individual social assistance is available for the Commission's 13,817 pensioners. It is provided by social assistants based in Brussels, Luxembourg, Ispra, Karlsruhe, Geel, Petten and Seville. Requests from pensioners include: information about health insurance, organising home help and palliative care in the home, organising the transition from home to retirement residence, psycho-social help in difficult family situations related to - for example - divorce or death and psycho-social help in situations of severe psychiatric illness and drug addiction.

71 Social rights and obligations 62 In 2012, a guide for HR units on how to deal with the death of an active member of staff was prepared. The paper notices were replaced by the new website In Memoriam. Social workers dealt with the deaths of 27 active officials and gave intensive assistance to their next-of-kin. Financial aid Articles 76 and 76a of the Staff Regulations provide for complimentary aid to support staff and their family members who face specific problems, such as unexpected events and difficult circumstances. The number of potential beneficiaries was around 140,000 persons (active and retired staff and their dependents), with an annual increase of around 10,%. In 2012, the types of financial aid with the highest number of beneficiaries were: Assistance with help in the home and care for sick children: expenses for non-medical help in the home are reimbursed on the basis of an allinclusive amount. This aid amounted to,835,000 in 2012 and is granted to active or retired staff and their families. Social assistance for dependents with a disability or severe learning difficulty: these are non-medical expenses amounting to,2,442,000, in 2012 related to recognised disabilities and severe learning difficulties. They are reimbursed on the basis of the current guidelines. Repayment of exceptional education costs: schooling fees can be reimbursed for children who have been excluded from a European School for serious educational reasons. This aid amounted to,47,000 in 2012 and is managed by the Commission. It can be granted to active or retired staff of all EU Institutions. Social assistance for pensioners: exceptional aid up to a maximum of,6,000 can be granted to retired officials of a EU Institution who find themselves in an exceptionally difficult situation due to serious circumstances. In 2012,,12,000 in social assistance was paid. Financial aid to supplement the pension of a surviving spouse:,12,480 was paid in 2012 to supplement widow's pension. This can be granted if the person is affected by a disability or a serious illness. The aid is managed by the Commission to support surviving spouses of all EU Institutions. Outlook In 2013, three key projects should be adopted and progress made in the implementation phase. Sickness absence management: on the basis of the pilots and the findings of the BPR study, a new policy will be adopted and new measures implemented; Lifestyle-related risks: Detailed guidelines will be drawn up for the Commission, addressing in particular alcohol at the workplace; Valorisation of the expertise of former officials: once adopted, the initiative will be implemented across the DGs. There will be a communication campaign and a cross-dg working group will look at practical implementation details. AIACE will be closely involved with this work. Work will also continue to improve communication with pensioners, drawing maximum benefit from PMO's IT applications in development. An evaluation of

72 63 HR Report Part II the 'Espace Seniors' pilot will assess the justification for extending the space available. The bi-annual survey to identify Commission pensioners in situations of particular difficulty will be run during the second quarter of New guidelines for the family help grants will need to be adopted early in 2013 to align them to the almost 50,% reduction in the budget for these grants from The revised guidelines will seek to target the available funds to those eligible recipients who are most in need due to low family incomes and difficult social and medical situations. The service will also need to cope with reductions in staff numbers accompanied by an increase in the number of potential clients. Work processes must be streamlined and resources prioritised in 2013 and beyond to ensure that the Commission can continue to provide social support to current and former staff Medical Service Policy aim The Commission s medical service is located in Brussels, Luxembourg and Ispra. In Brussels, the medical service is open to Commission staff and has servicelevel agreements with a range of Agencies, Institutions and international organisations. In Luxembourg, it also provides services to staff of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Geel, Petten and Karlsruhe, the Translation Centre and certain Agencies. The medical service in Ispra provides services to the JRC, the OIB and the PMO located in Ispra and Seville. The services provided follow the requirements of Article 1e of the Staff Regulations 4 and include: All officials have to undergo an annual preventive medical check-up, in compliance with Article 59(6) of the Staff Regulations Pre-recruitment medical examinations: Article 33 of the Staff Regulations states that successful candidates for a post must be examined by a medical officer of the Commission before appointment in order to confirm that they fulfil the requirements of Article 28e of the Staff Regulations; Occupational medicine: to monitor, promote and maintain the health of staff, prevent and detect occupational diseases and conditions linked to work, detect infectious illnesses, ensure adequacy between a work post and the jobholder s abilities, avoid allocating staff to duties if they are not capable of coping with the associated risks, inform workers of the risks related to their job and give advice to employers on well-being at work; Psycho-social support: psychological risks, such as family problems, burnout, stress and health issues, are considered to be the greatest risks that accompany change in the business world over the last decade. Specific sectors in each of the medical services aim to counsel and guide active staff in difficult situations and to help them regain balance and autonomy; Support to delegations and for travel: this service is provided mainly by the medical service in Brussels. It includes a specific medical fitness examination before leaving for a delegation, a check-up on return and health evacuations of staff and their family members in delegations; 4 Article 1e of the Staff Regulations provides that '[ ] 2. Officials in active employment shall be accorded working conditions complying with appropriate health and safety standards [...].'

73 Medical Service 64 Sick leave absence medical checks: the medical services work to ensure the efficient management of staff medical certificates and medical checks on staff who are ill for a long period. They also examine requests for special and family leave on the basis of Article 60 of the Staff Regulations; Emergency interventions: the medical services provide first aid and specialist medical assistance during working hours in the event of occupational accidents. In addition, the medical services provide services specific to the working environment in the research institutes of JRC at its different sites: Medical radio protection: specific examinations are carried out for nuclear inspectors and radiation workers in Luxembourg, Geel, Petten and Karlsruhe and the medical service in Ispra provides regular medical surveillance and specific laboratory tests for staff and radiation workers involved in nuclear activities in Ispra. The Ispra medical service also provides decontamination facilities in the event of accidental exposures; Inspections: the medical service in Ispra provides specialist advice relating to all audits and approval procedures to verify compliance of construction works and facilities with the Italian legislation on health and safety at work. Main developments The fall in pre-recruitment examinations compared to the previous year confirm a steady decline in recent years, which corresponds to the Commission s recruitment policy. Table II.13 Main activities of medical service ( ) Pre-recruitment medical examinations 3,839 2,704 2,856 2,783 Preventive annual medical visits 11,379 10,350 10,150 9,381 Medical control visits 1,923 1,835 1,861 2,437 Source: DG HR.C. The number of requests for preventive annual medical checks fell slightly in In general, staff were encouraged to opt for their medical check to be carried out by their general practitioner. In 2012, 1,116 staff did so. The 2012 vaccination campaign offered free vaccinations against the seasonal flu attracted 4,845 people, essentially the same as in The medical service in Brussels carried out a successful awareness-raising campaign on melanoma prevention in June This featured a lunchtime conference, which was web-streamed to Luxembourg and Ispra, a web page on MyIntraComm and a dedicated article in Commission en Direct. A Commission-wide course for all Heads of unit on what to do if faced with cardiac arrest at work entitled Five Steps To Save a Life trained over 600 Head of units across 19 DGs with an overall satisfaction rate of 86,%. A video clip on this course was produced and a website created. Two modules of a new IT application for the medical services are fully operational (vaccination and prescriptions for specific examinations). A new module for checks and for special holidays has been developed and is currently being tested. A module which manages agendas (ehealth calendar) is currently being developed. As part of the BPR exercise in DG HR the medical service in Brussels gave a substantial contribution to a detailed evaluation of two of its main processes: annual medical checks and absence management.

74 65 HR Report Part II In Ispra, two preventive campaigns were run on an annual basis. For the prevention and control of diabetes, 60 colleagues were followed up after their annual check. On cardio vascular disease prevention, staff at risk were invited for a check. The psycho-social support teams dealt with 815 colleagues in Numbers kept falling slightly, except in Ispra. The medical service in Brussels also provided line management support to 35 Heads of unit and HR managers on matters relating to staff in difficult situations. 19 presentations on psycho-social issues such as stress/burn-out and integration were given, as well as input to support for new staff (the group How to Become a Happy Expat in 6 Easy Steps, and the Health for Newcomers module). At the request of DGs or at the initiative of the medical service, more than 2,000 absences for medical reasons are checked every year. The number of medical checks carried out in Brussels increased substantially due to reinforcements in the sector for medical checks. Regarding the European External Action Service, 96 pre-recruitment medical visits, 285 preventive annual medical visits and 73 visits at the psychosocial team took place in 2012, within the framework of the SLA between the EEAS and the Commission. In 2012, a total of 185 health evacuations were carried out, of which 184 were level two evacuations (regular flights) and 1 was a Level One evacuation (planes with health equipment). The number of health evacuations was marginally higher than in 2011 (178 cases). In 2012, the medical service in Ispra achieved certification under ISO standard 9001 and continued to provide services which are specifically adapted to the local work environment. The number of radio-toxicological analyses increased from 1,949 in 2011 to 2,276 in 2012 and is expected to increase again substantially in the coming years as a consequence of the ongoing nuclear decommissioning programme. In accordance with Italian law, the medical service in Ispra provides on-site intervention for accidents at work. The number of accidents fell to a low of 39 in 2012 compared to 62 in 2011 and 51 in In 22 cases, medical service staff accompanied victims on the way to hospital. The number of these interventions has remained constant over the past years. Other types of medical checks specific to Ispra concern consultations in the event of changes of workplace or risk environment, requests by emergency doctors in the event of accidents, individual requests by staff and medical checks on re-entry into service carried out after prolonged sick leave or accident in order to confirm suitability for a workplace with a specific risk. Outlook In 2013, the medical services will continue to shift towards providing an e- medical service, which will apply a more targeted approach to preventive medicine. This will include: implementing the outcome of the BPR exercise of two of the main processes of the medical service, a substantial task for the years to come, starting in 2013; launching a common health promotion campaign on alcohol in the work place by the medical services;

75 European Schools 66 making the new IT system fully operational in 2013 and used by all medical staff; bringing in the medical certificate, firstly as a pilot project and then making it compulsory by the end of 2014; completing the digitalisation of all medical files should see the implementation of an e-medical service; focusing the annual health campaign of the medical service in 2013 on alcohol prevention, in line with the new policy on lifestyle-related risks. A folder for management on how to address the situation is under preparation; certification under ISO of the radio-toxicological laboratory in Ispra. Policy aim European Schools The European Schools aim primarily to provide schooling for children of staff of the Institutions in their mother tongue, with some European themes and languages also central to the education. The Schools facilitate recruitment for staff in the Institutions and Agencies in different geographical locations and they foster a European spirit for the pupils. The European Schools system is governed by intergovernmental cooperation between the 27 Member States and the Commission (representing the EU Institutions), as established in the Convention defining the statute of the European Schools. The system is administrated by a General Secretary. The structure of the funding of the system is as follows: the host country is responsible for providing the infrastructure for the Schools; the Member States second teachers and pay their national salaries. The EU budget then covers the remaining part of the overall budget of the Schools, the biggest part being salaries, since seconded teachers get a 'European' salary which is in general higher than their national salary. The EU financial contribution covers the remaining costs corresponding to 58,% of the budget. Decisions are taken in the Board of Governors where all Member States and the Commission are represented with one vote each. Main developments The overall School population continued to increase in 2012, and with a 2.1,% increase it reached 23,869 pupils. The structural problem of the lack of seconded teachers became even more severe in 2012 with 105 unfilled posts (of which 47 Anglophone posts, 18 Francophone posts and 17 German speaking posts) leading to an increase of the EU financial contribution by around,4.4 million. This was caused in particular by the UK s decision to neither second any new teachers nor to replace those who leave in function of the percentage of UK pupils, and puts the European Schools system in an extremely difficult situation. A debate on the revision of the costsharing arrangements between the Member States, within the Board of Governors, is ongoing and has yet to lead to tangible results. Two large Schools opened in September 2012 on their permanent sites: Brussels IV in Laeken and Luxembourg II in Mamer. In addition, two new accredited Schools opened in September 2012: one in The Hague (the Netherlands) and one in Bad Vilbel (Germany).

76 67 HR Report Part II At the meeting of the Board of Governors in December 2012, a decision was taken to increase fees for Category III pupils 5. As of the school year 2013/2014, School fees will be increased for all new children by 25,% (plus or minus 5,% according to the decision of the Administrative Board of each School). Moreover, there will be less of a reduction of fees for siblings for all new children. Outlook A proposal to revise the organisation of studies in the secondary cycle will be tabled for decision to the Board of Governors in April 2013 in order to lower costs and make the system more efficient. The Commission will also continue to work towards achieving tangible results in revising the sharing of costs for seconded teachers between the Member States. Given the persistent problem of overpopulation in the European Schools in Brussels, the Commission will persevere in its discussions with the Belgian authorities to secure a proposal on the future fifth School Nursery and after-school childcare facilities Policy aim The Commission runs nursery and after-school childcare facilities for children of staff of the EU Institutions, aged from three months to 12 years in Brussels and up to 14 years in Luxembourg. In Brussels, the OIB runs five nurseries (Beaulieu, Clovis, Cornet-Leman, Palmerston, and Genève) and ten after-school childcare facilities (Beaulieu, Wilson, Genève, Ixelles, Berkendael, Uccle, Woluwé, Van Maerlant, and Cornet-Leman, plus the outdoor childcare facilities held each year in Overijse). In Luxembourg, the OIL runs two after-school childcare facilities: the 'Garderie' and the Study Centre 6. The nursery in Luxembourg is run by the European Parliament. These facilities are partially financed out of contributions of members of staff with children in the centres. For nurseries, contributions range from 5,% to 9,% of the total revenue of the household, depending on the number of dependent children, with a maximum of 2.85 times the allowance for a dependent child. The contribution to after-school childcare is also based on revenues and household structure. Main developments Brussels Total nursery capacity stands at 1,268. At the end of 2012, the deficit in places stood at just over 700 (i.e. 250 higher than the previous year). After-school childcare capacity increased by 10,% in 2012 with a new site open at the Laeken School and the site at Berkendael maintained for the current 5 Category III pupils are pupils whose parents are required to pay school fees. 6 In the morning, the 'Garderie' welcomes three- and four-year-olds who do not attend school. In the afternoon, it also welcomes children who attend the 'Maternelle' (nursery school). The Study Centre welcomes children aged between 6 and 14.

77 Equal opportunities, non-discrimination and anti-harassment 68 school year. Capacity currently stands at 1,450 places max. There is currently no waiting list. Luxembourg In the 'Garderie' and the Study Centre, the two after-school childcare facilities in Luxembourg run by the Commission, almost 1,500 children were enrolled at the beginning of September Due to high demand, priority is given to single parents and parents working full time. Results of the 2011 inter-institutional satisfaction survey were published in early 2012 and show a high degree of satisfaction with the quality of our childcare services. Outlook Brussels For the nursery, the objective in Brussels is to reduce the waiting list. The Commission has begun preparations for a new nursery in Brussels (Wagon-Lits), due to open in 2014, which will replace the Palmerston nursery, which has become obsolete. Plans to contract more places in private nursery schools are also underway. With regard to after-school childcare, the objective in Brussels is to ensure that all requests for childcare places continue to be accommodated with any waiting lists quickly absorbed. Since demand for this service has increased steadily over the last 10 years and the trend is expected to continue, the Commission will seek to step up cooperation with the European Schools with a view to securing more childcare places on School premises. Construction works for the new 'Centre Polyvalent de l'enfance' (CPE) V building in Bertrange/Mamer, carried out within budget and delivered on time. Since the opening of the CPE V in September 2012, childcare facilities have been running on 2 sites, Kirchberg and Bertrange/Mamer. The CPE IV building has been taken out of use. Luxembourg In 2013, operational processes will be assessed and adapted to ensure the childcare services function efficiently on both sites. The costs of running childcare services on two sites will be evaluated in the latter half of OIL will propose a review of parental contributions in light of the outcome of the evaluation. A new inter-institutional CPE satisfaction survey is planned for Policy aim Equal opportunities, nondiscrimination and antiharassment Equal opportunities On 17 December 2010, the European Commission adopted its Strategy on Equal Opportunities (EO) for the period to Its overall ambition is to draw strength from our talents and to create a working environment where staff can do their best and be the most productive. Anti-harassment The overall aim is to ensure a respectful working environment for all staff which allows them to use their talents freely and without fear of harassment. Since 2006, the Commission applies a comprehensive anti-harassment policy to its staff. The Commission Decision on protecting the dignity of the person and pre-

78 69 HR Report Part II venting psychological and sexual harassment covers both psychological 7 and sexual harassment 8. It aims to provide a work environment that is free from harassment, where everyone in the workplace is treated with respect and dignity. If in need, Commission staff can use two procedures to deal with cases of harassment. A network of confidential counsellors, coordinated by DG HR, helps staff find amicable solutions whenever possible (informal procedure). Under the formal procedure (request for assistance under Article 24 of the Staff Regulations), evidence is collected, formal inquiries are carried out and, depending on the outcome, disciplinary measures can be taken. Main developments Equal opportunities Overall, the Commission is on track to meet its gender representation targets that it adopted in its Equal Opportunities (EO) Strategy in December As far as management positions are concerned, the targets were exceeded in 2012, quite significantly for senior management positions. Currently almost one third of our Directors are women. Table II.14 Female representation rates against target (2012) Female representation rates end 2012 Indicative targets end 2012 Targets end 2014 Senior managers 28.1,% 24.8,% 25.0,% Middle managers 28.7,% 27.7,% 30.0,% Administrators non-management 42.6,% 42.7,% 43.0,% Source: SysPer2. DG.HR.B. The number of women in management positions and category AD nonmanagers has continued to increase. The targets for senior managers and the administrators non-management apply to the Commission. However, the female representation targets for middle managers are DG specific. At the end of 2012, 22 DGs have met or even exceeded their respective 2012 indicative targets. Chart II.5 Evolution of female representation rates ( ) Source: SysPer2. DG.HR.B 7 Any improper conduct that takes place over a period, is repetitive or systematic and involves physical behaviour, spoken or written language, gestures or other acts that are intentional and that may undermine the personality, dignity or physical or psychological integrity of any person. 8 Any conduct relating to sex which is unwanted by the person to whom it is directed and which has the purpose or effect of offending that person or creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive or disturbing environment.

79 Equal opportunities, non-discrimination and anti-harassment 70 On 19 December 2012, the Commission adopted its mid-term report on implementation of the Strategy. The report takes stock of the progress made since the strategy was adopted, provides a reference point regarding the degree of integration of equal opportunities issues in HR policies, procedures and practices at local level, draws initial conclusions and sets out recommendations. In 2012, bilateral meetings were held with all DGs. The aim was to deepen and/or provide clarifications relevant for the DG HR analysis on how each DG integrates equal opportunities issues in their human resources policies. This analysis then became the basis for practical recommendations sent to DGs to improve their performance. It was based on a thorough and comprehensive methodology that had previously been discussed and agreed with the DGs. According to the 2012 equal opportunities correspondents latest survey, more than 65,% of respondents considered that the conclusions reflected the real situation in their own DG and 82,% said that the recommendations issued were useful from a practical point of view. 56,% of respondents underlined the importance of this analysis in terms of awareness raising, notably among their senior managers. Increasing DGs ownership and accountability means that they must be able to measure and report on the progress achieved. For that purpose, updated individual DG performance sheets were shared with the DGs to help them benchmark their performance against their gender equality targets, and the Commission average. The results of the first calculations of the equal opportunities index were also shared with each DG, and compared to the Commission average, and to their DG family. This composite index, once updated in 2013, should provide the basis for selecting which DGs will be awarded the equal opportunities label. Persons with disabilities The United Nations (UN) convention on the rights of persons with disabilities sets out a number of obligations, including notably the obligation to report, in 2013, to the UN on implementing the convention. The Commission, together with representatives of other Institutions in the 'Comité de Préparation pour les Affaires Sociales', therefore examined the current legislation and practice regarding disability in the EU Institutions. DG HR reflected on the policy regarding staff with disabilities within the Commission. Together with EPSO, the Medical Service, OIB and DIGIT it was reviewed how the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities is met during recruitment, selection and the rest of their career. Anti-harassment Twenty-five new confidential counsellors appointed at the beginning of 2012 were successfully integrated into the network of confidential counsellors, which provides assistance to all staff who feel they are the victim of psychological or sexual harassment. This strengthened the team and improved the geographical coverage in the Commission s various sites. Table II.15 Activities of confidential counsellors ( ) Persons who contacted a confidential counselor Requests for assistance Source: DG HR.B. Note 1: introduced under Article 24. Since 2009, the number of cases handled by the network has steadily fallen. The number of cases rose in 2012, including both formal and informal procedures, compared to This may be linked to the more targeted information campaigns on harassment among staff, or to the increased pressure in the working environment to deliver more with fewer resources.

80 71 HR Report Part II DG HR has continued to support the confidential counsellors by providing them with training. The meeting format of the network of confidential counsellors was changed. Meetings were organised with the security service, and the psycho-social interventions sector of the medical service. An analysis of case studies made during these meetings fed into a discussion of the practical aspects of cooperation between the network and these services and the provision of more specific guidance on how best to approach complicated cases. Cooperation between DG HR and the Commission's mediation service focused on the approaches and methods used during the informal procedure, in order to create greater synergies and provide a better service to clients. Information collected via a new feedback tool reveals that staff is highly satisfied with the confidential counselling services. DG HR continued to inform and train staff and managers on the Commission's policy, and their roles and responsibilities in promoting a respectful working environment. Therefore, a pilot workshop on dysfunctional communication, conflict and harassment was organised by DG HR in cooperation with DG ESTAT. The feedback from DG ESTAT was very positive. DG HR also provided advice to Agencies and other EU bodies on prevention of harassment (notably the European Network and Information Security Agency, and the Fusion for Energy Agency). Outlook Equal opportunities The main priority for 2013 will be to heighten each DG s sense of their equal opportunities (EO) responsibilities. DG HR will continue its quarterly monitoring of gender representation at both central and local level. DG HR will ensure that DG HR EO's reporting tool is used by all DGs as the only reporting tool. DG HR will offer assistance to targeted DGs that lag behind their EO objectives. Two specific peer reviews will be organised on how to ensure that senior management values and promotes equal opportunities and on how to increase the proportion of women applying for middle management positions. The best EOperforming DGs will be awarded a label. Communication campaigns will be put in place to ensure that the subject of equal opportunities gets good coverage as a business and management issue. In March, DG HR will organise an equal opportunities campaign. The main objective will be to publicise our achievements on EO, and help align organisational practice to the Commission s strategy. DG HR will also develop and deliver guidance and training to managers so that they can better understand and exercise their roles and responsibilities regarding equal opportunities. Persons with disabilities The aim for 2013 is to identify responsibilities more clearly, and to provide guidance and training to all staff involved in disability management in the Commission. This should lead to a more effective and efficient service to our disabled colleagues. Anti-harassment An analysis of the degree of integration of equal opportunities issues in the DGs human resources management identified the need to better communicate what it means to have a respectful workplace, what kind of monitoring and preventive measures should be put in place, and the roles and responsibilities that managers should have.

81 Ethics, rights and obligations 72 Based on the positive experience and achievements of its anti-harassment policy, DG HR will focus on stepping up cooperation with operational DGs (including their local HR function). The aim is to provide guidance to HR managers on how to promote a respectful workplace, to better define the roles and responsibilities of managers, and to offer new training to managers on how to prevent situations of conflict and harassment Ethics, rights and obligations Policy aim The Commission s policy on ethics is guided by the need to ensure that staff provide a top quality service that meets the highest standards of professional behaviour and integrity. This should help boost citizens trust in the Commission. The legal basis of the Commission's ethics policy, primarily stemming from the rights and obligations of officials contained in Title II of the Staff Regulations, seeks to protect the credibility, legitimacy and good image of the Commission. A key aspect of ethics policy is to ensure that staff are fully aware of the ethical standards of behaviour in their professional life. This can only be done by regularly raising the awareness of staff of their obligations under the Staff Regulations and other related provisions. Another key component is to give advice to colleagues, with zero tolerance for unethical behaviour. Main developments The Commission adopted guidelines for staff on gifts and hospitality in the first part of the year. Accompanying this, a new sub-module on accepting gifts was launched in SysPer2, which further develops the ethics one-stop-shop electronic approval system. Table II.16 Ethics-related queries ( )) Outside activities during service ,078 Publications and speeches Outside activities during personal leave Gifts and favours Post service activities Permissions to give evidence in legal proceedings Conflict of interests Standing, being elected or appointed for public office Decorations Total 2,095 2,566 2,665 2,775 2,651 2,918 Source: DG HR.B. Note 1: Opinions (favourable, refusal, favourable with restrictions) issued on compatibility of activity during personal leave before decision of the Appointing Authority. Some ethics-related queries were dealt with directly by the DG as the Appointing Authority (for instance, requests for outside activities during active service or requests to accept gifts). In other cases, DG HR was the Appointing Authority (for instance, declarations of occupational activities after leaving the service). Compared to previous years, the overall number is tending to increase. This may

82 73 HR Report Part II be due to communication and awareness-raising campaigns on ethics throughout the year and to the new electronic approval system (for outside activities during active service, during leave on personal grounds and for gifts). A list of study cases with practical examples of conflicts of interest was published on the website. Progress was made in preparing new guidelines on outside activities and on a new overall approach to ethics, but this work was not finalised as changes may be made to the Staff Regulations in this field. In 2012, the network of ethics correspondents in each DG continued its work with regular meetings and exchanges to promote ethics policies. Outlook The communication actions to promote ethics progressed during the year with a master class by a French expert and magistrate and over 40 visits to the DGs to highlight the new guidelines. It also constituted an opportunity to discuss other ethics issues arising in the specific domains of activity of the DGs will be dedicated to further awareness-raising campaigns. The focus will be on improving organisation and exchanges of information in the ethics correspondents network through a shared electronic workspace and a mentoring system for new correspondents. In anticipation of a conclusion to the Staff Regulations reform process, the outside activities draft may be finalised in Work will continue on the onestop-shop ethics module in SysPer2. The next sub-module on spouse employment is scheduled to be launched in 2013 and will be accompanied by a major communication strategy. Other issues, such as requests for authorisation for publications, post-service activity requests and conflict of interests declarations will follow in future years. As professional ethics is constantly evolving, discussions on the new overall approach to ethics will continue in line with progress on the revision of the Staff Regulations. Policy aim Administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings The Commission s Investigation and Disciplinary Office (IDOC) plays a major role in enforcing the Staff Regulations and ensuring that all Commission staff complies with the high ethical standards required. IDOC is responsible for conducting administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings. All information referred to IDOC is first given a preliminary assessment, which may lead to the conclusion that no follow-up is warranted. This may happen, for example, when the information provided is clearly incorrect or unverifiable, does not indicate a breach of the rules, or concerns a person unknown to the Commission. Inquiries are opened in order to establish the facts and to verify whether any rules have been breached, and if so, by whom. If a staff member is suspected of having broken the rules, he or she is given the opportunity to comment on the evidence and to explain all circumstances that he or she considers relevant to the decision on whether a disciplinary procedure should be opened. The decision is taken by the competent authority, in most cases the Director-General of HR and Security.

83 Administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings 74 IDOC conducts disciplinary procedures on behalf of the competent authority. Each case is judged on its own merits and in full respect of the rights of defence of the person concerned. Alternative procedures are also available in the event of serious wrongdoings by non-permanent staff. The rules do not set penalties for specific wrongdoings. The competent authority has a wide margin of discretion in determining the level of penalty to impose. In doing so, it considers the circumstances of individual cases. The competent authority also pays particular attention to the seriousness of wrongdoings in the context of the core values and obligations on staff enshrined in the rules, notably the duty of loyalty to the Institution and respect of its image and reputation. Chart II.6 Cases handled by IDOC (2012) Main developments There were 100 cases where information relating to potential wrongdoing was referred to IDOC in 2012, which is comparable to the number of cases in Services now regularly seek the assistance of IDOC in dealing with alleged breaches of the Staff Regulations. In addition to handling each case separately, the incoming information is analysed more generally to identify trends. These trends may identify a lack of clarity in the rules that needs to be addressed. An example is the rules on the use of ICT equipment, which are silent on downloading, and are currently being updated. Trend analyses have also identified issues that are best addressed in awareness-raising campaigns and ethics training courses that IDOC is involved in, such as breaches of the rules on the protection of personal data. Cases are brought to the attention of IDOC from various sources: OLAF reports, individual complaints or requests for assistance, audits, complaints from Commission DGs, Offices and Services, and referrals by local HR units or resource directorates. The PMO is an important source, as it systematically refers cases to IDOC where there is a suspicion that a staff member deliberately provided incorrect or incomplete information in order to obtain an undue allowance, or an undue reimbursement of medical or other costs. In 2012, IDOC received five mandates from the Appointing Authority to conduct an administrative inquiry, and 35 mandates to hold a pre-disciplinary hearing. 36 penalties were imposed for a variety of infringements. This included 19 disciplinary penalties, 14 non-disciplinary warnings, a formal reprimand to an SNE, and 2 cases where contracts were terminated with notice for serious wrongdoings under an alternative procedure. Chart II gives an overview of the penalties imposed. One staff member was suspended, in parallel to having disciplinary proceedings opened against him, due to the gravity of the alleged misconduct, with his salary reduced to the subsistence minimum. In 2012, IDOC continued to conduct procedures on behalf of the European External Action Service (EEAS), on the basis of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) concluded between the EEAS and DG HR. DG HR is currently dealing with 18 cases for the EEAS. In the past two years, DG HR has also signed SLAs with the Executive agencies. On the basis of these SLAs, IDOC is currently handling 3 cases jointly with these Agencies. Source: IDOC Case Management Chart II.7 Disciplinary measures (2012) ( ) Source: IDOC Case Management In 2012 IDOC prepared guidelines on whistleblowing in order to explain to all members of staff when and how to report facts that undercover serious wrongdoings. These guidelines help staff and highlight the protection given to staff members who report such wrongdoings in good faith.

84 75 HR Report Part II Outlook In 2013, IDOC plans to produce a practical guide on administrative inquiries and disciplinary procedures, in order to give members of staff practical information on how these administrative inquiries and disciplinary proceedings work in practice. In addition, drawing on past experience, IDOC will produce guidance for staff on disciplinary policy, outlining the main principles followed by the Appointing Authority in imposing disciplinary penalties. In 2013, the rules on the use of ICT equipment will be finalised. They will be brought up-to-date to include provisions on downloading material and possibly security issues. IDOC s annual activity reports, which include summaries of the decisions taken by the Appointing Authority, are part of the Commission s prevention policy regarding ethics. They are published widely within the Commission, to inform staff of its activities, and also to alert staff to the fact that wrongdoing can have serious consequences. IDOC will continue to be involved in awareness-raising campaigns on ethics, and will give presentations to individual DGs and Services, selected on the basis of a risk assessment. It will specifically target DGs that handle large funds in direct expenditure or which maintain, by the nature of their work, intensive contacts with outside stakeholders Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Policy aim Through the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) the Commission seeks to reduce the environmental impact of its daily work and to continuously improve its environmental performance. EMAS is a management system based on a plan-do-check-act cycle. This cycle includes an internal audit and an external verification. The first assesses the system itself and the second verifies the results. A successful external verification is mandatory to obtain registration for the Commission. EMAS was first implemented in the Commission in 2001 as a pilot project. In December 2005, four DGs (ADMIN, SG, ENV and OIB) and eight buildings became the first to be registered under the scheme. The pilot DGs continued EMAS and other buildings are added to EMAS on an annual basis. Over the years a further buildings have been included in the scope of the Commission's Environmental Management System. Given the successful outcome of the pilot scheme, the Commission decided in 2009 to extend EMAS to all its services in Brussels and Luxembourg. Since 1 January 2010, the EMAS coordination team in DG HR has endeavoured to support all services involved in EMAS. Main developments The external verification was carried out in June 2012 by the accredited verifier, AENOR International. The scope covered the actions and results of 2010 for the sites of Brussels and Luxembourg. Following the verification, it was decided to

85 Eco-Management and Audit Scheme 76 submit for registration all the services in Brussels (48 buildings) and in Luxembourg (2 buildings). In 2012, preparatory work to extend the EMAS scope to JRC Research Centres started and the EMAS internal audit was done for the Research Centres located in Petten (The Netherlands) and Geel (Belgium). On 9 January 2013, the EMAS Steering Committee recommended extending the EMAS scope and adopted the EMAS Action Programme 2013 for the Commission, in line with EMAS policy. Outlook With EMAS extended to all Commission services in Brussels and Luxembourg since 2010, two major issues should be tackled in 2013: first the College should decide whether to extend the scope of EMAS to the sites of the Joint Research Centre and the premises of the Commission located in Grange (Ireland). Second, the case for involving the Executive agencies located in Brussels and Luxembourg in the Commission s EMAS should be examined. The Commission obtained fairly good environmental results in 2011 compared with For example, energy consumption fell by 14.3,% kwh/m², gas and fuel fell by 25.2,% kwh/m², waste fell by 0.8,% kg/staff/year and paper/staff/day fell by 4.0,%.

86 77 HR Report Part II 3 Support processes Policy aim 3.1 Resource allocation to the HR community Chart II.8 Composition of the local and corporate HR community (2013) The efficiency, effectiveness and added value of the HR function in the Commission benefits from having the right number of HR staff with the right competencies in the right place. With pressure on resources, the HR function must give the best possible service to clients, while decreasing its own staffing levels. Combining performance, compliance and innovation, the HR function will have to take on new responsibilities and to meet the growing expectations of clients and stakeholders. Main developments The HR community in the Commission comprises 2,125 jobs, which equals to 5.3,% of all jobs in the Commission in January These jobs are distributed across different HR processes in different DGs and have either a local or corporate role. HR jobs as share of the Commission's total number of jobs are decreasing since Chart II.9 Size of the HR community ( ) Source: Commission Services Working Paper 'Planning and Optimising Commission Human Resources to Serve EU Priorities 2013', DG HR.A. Date of reference: January Note: Including jobs held by trainees and service providers. Source: Commission Services Working Paper 'Planning and Optimising Commission Human Resources to Serve EU Priorities 2013', DG HR.A. Date of reference January Without service providers and trainees and after adjustment for the HR services provided by the Commission to other Institutions, the HR community share was 4.8,%. On average 64,% of HR staff has a corporate role, they work for the whole Commission, and 36,% has a local role working in local HR departments in the respective DGs. A large majority of local HR jobs is carried out by officials and almost one third of all jobs in corporate HR are occupied by contract staff. Outlook The HR function will continue delivering more targeted services with fewer members of staff by simplifying and automating existing workflows, optimising risk based controls and promoting high professional standards for the HR com-

87 Business process re-engineering 78 munity. DG HR has initiated a more detailed analysis of Commission HR processes that will be the basis for further optimisation. 3.2 Business process reengineering Policy aim Business process re-engineering (BPR) provides an opportunity to anticipate the inevitable changes in our working environment. The main objective of the BPR exercise is to stimulate change in HR processes. It focuses on streamlining workflows, enhancing the value of services delivered and optimising the allocation of resources. Lastly, it builds in proportionate and effective checks. Leaner processes that focus on customers will enable DG HR to better manage human capital in the Commission. Main developments DG HR launched the Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) exercise in Under the leadership of Unit HR.03, it developed a BPR framework and methodology. A detailed BPR plan for the period 2012/2014 was drawn up. The plan covers all processes in DG HR using two different approaches: Customer-focused processes will be submitted to a full BPR exercise comprising an in-depth review of existing workflows and drawing on customer feedback; All other processes will be submitted to a lighter review using a BPR selfassessment tool kit... Business process re-engineering proposals: Some examples. The review on absence management highlighted the need to give line managers a greater role in identifying and managing new absence patterns. This can only be achieved by improving the reporting information on absences made available to managers and by more pro-active cooperation with the local HR units. Further automation of the SysPer2 workflow will also save considerable resources by avoiding time-consuming data entry. As the duration of the civil servants' career is likely to increase in the coming years, the Commission has a real incentive to take more proactive medical prevention measures to keep staff 'fit for the service'. Prevention measures should be evidence-based and underpinned by risk assessments, with a particular focus on psychological risk evaluation.... In 2012, the BPR exercise covered several operational processes: the selection of middle managers, the selection of senior managers, absence management and the medical service. The results highlighted opportunities to improve the value of HR services and significant saving potential.

88 79 HR Report Part II Outlook In 2013, a full BPR review will be carried out for learning and development, service level agreements and career processes. DG HR will also start using its BPR self-assessment tool kit for processes not submitted to the full BPR review. 3.3 HR Professionalisation Policy aim The aim of the HR Professional Development Programme, launched at the end of 2006 is to contribute to achieving the objective that HR in the Commission is effective in obtaining consistent HR results, efficient in ensuring optimal use of resources and relevant by addressing the right issues in the right approaches. It aims to attract, develop and retain competent staff in HR by focusing on their individual needs as part of a programme to improve management practices in the Commission. The programme concentrates mainly on organising learning and development initiatives both for corporate and local HR staff and on identifying and promoting HR good practices, by contributing to the development of the HR service delivery model. Main developments Actions for DG HR The focus within DG HR centred on improving professional capacity to deliver HR solutions, with an emphasis on service culture. Actions focused on raising the level of HR knowledge, internal consultancy, communication and customer focus. The majority of the participants were satisfied with the in total 32 HR Pills, training sessions of 30 minutes on an HR essential. In terms of internal consultancy, the DG HR Principal Adviser (PA) issued a number of technical opinions on several subjects like senior management development, 360 appraisals for Heads of units, the revision of guidelines for job descriptions and re-designing the ecv, HR plans and a new approach for dealing with under-performance. In the framework of the European Year for Active Ageing, the PA organised an Active Ageing Day. The aim of this event was to raise awareness of and competence in this crucial issue and to promote closer cooperation between four HR networks (ReLOP, COFO, Well-Being and Equal Opportunities). The PA continued to produce short HR Insights videos to disseminate HR concepts and practices on topics such as efficiency, quality management and motivation. In order to use as many media as possible, the PA s web pages were revised and re-published. The PA chaired the work of the Task Force on Communication and produced the action plan, which was endorsed by the senior management team on 14 May The work on customer focus in DG HR progressed through the steering and coordination of a pilot project in four units. Work is ongoing to implement the action plans in those four units before rolling it out across the DG.

89 HR Professionalisation 80 Actions for the HR function The highlight of the Development Programme is the HR Qualification. The HR Qualifications Programme was successfully completed by 25 participants. The 3rd HR Qualifications Programme for 2013 was launched with a call for applications sent on 13 December The PA team continued to deliver standard sessions of the HR Professional Development Programmes and other learning events (Master classes, HR matters live) aimed at raising the standards of HR professionalism and to ensure that the Commission s HR function is aware of developments in the profession. In 2012, extensive work was undertaken to analyse, revise and reconfigure good practices. The new pages on good HR practice were published in the HR and administration website and feature over 100 examples of good practice within the HR community and a new focus on the Good Practice of the Month was brought in. A career paths project for members of the HR community was developed, circulated and discussed with units in DG HR. The next stage will be to ensure that the project is incorporated in an encompassing initiative to develop career paths for all jobs, including in HR. Actions for the HR function: To provide learning and development events within the HR Professional Development Programme both on the corporate and local level Account management in DG HR: Connecting internally Providing a more joined-up and efficient DG HR service to our customer DGs requires not only providing better and regular structural information exchange between DG HR core process units. It is also essential to share knowledge and analyses of the situation faced by our customers and the future HR challenges that DGs face in the new Account Management Business Meetings. The first account management business meeting took place in January Since then, participants from several DG HR units met for one hour every week. They reported on pertinent cross-cutting policy developments and looked at specific business cases. These meetings were a valuable support to the development of strategic HR plans. External speakers from different DGs and services were also invited to these meetings. DG CONNECT, the SG, DG TRADE, the Spokesperson s service and ENV-CLIMA shared resource directorate presented their structures and policies, challenges ahead, with a specific focus on HR, and expressed what they expect from DG HR. Actions for line managers and staff in the Commission The PA has also been in direct contact with managers and staff in the Commission. The purpose was threefold: to improve understanding of the situation and the challenges faced by our main stakeholders, to raise the level of competence of our managers in people management and to contribute to DG HR's brand image. Across the Commission, the PA gave 18 customised sessions covering management and leadership issues, including the provision of coaching and consultancy sessions. Actions outside the Commission A number of activities regarding HR modernisation provided at the request of other organisations improved our understanding of other practices and boosted the brand image of our Institution. The PA raised the external profile and image of the Commission in HR issues by giving facilitation and learning and development sessions at organisations such as the United Nations, the 'Ecole National

90 81 HR Report Part II d'administration' in France, the European Public Administration Network, the University of Manchester, the European Railway Agency and the 'Hertie Schule' in Berlin. Outlook In 2013, we will continue to improve the capacity of DG HR to provide professional solutions to HR users, with an emphasis on customer service orientation. We will continue to boost the HR competencies required to effectively manage day-to-day challenges and to raise the external profile and image of the Commission in HR issues. 3.4 Social dialogue Policy aim The aim of social dialogue between the administration and staff representatives is to ensure the stability, independence and competence of the European civil service. The right of staff to defend their interests within the EU Institutions has been recognised by the Staff Regulations since But social dialogue also influences the way staff policy is formulated and implemented and, as such, plays an important role human resources management in the Commission. DG HR is responsible for conducting social dialogue, at all levels, and for drafting the rules that regulate this dialogue. Our partners are the three bodies in charge of relaying the opinions, requests and views voiced by staff: the Staff Committee, the Joint Committees and the Trade Unions and Staff Associations (OSP). As such, the policy aim is to ensure a smooth dialogue, which facilitate consensus via a consultation process and prevents conflict between the administration and the staff of the Institution. Chart II.10 Representativeness of OSPs at central level (2012) Main developments Trade unions and staff associations The task of trade unions and staff associations, as outlined in Article 10(b) of the Staff Regulations, is to defend the general interest of staff. They are not statutory bodies, but they maintain structured relationships with the administration, according to the rules set out in the Framework Agreement of 18 December 2008 concerning relations between the Commission and the OSPs. Social working conditions of officials and other servants, but the procedures described in Articles 14 to 20 of the Framework Agreement only apply to amending an existing rule or decision or to creating a new rule. Source: DG HR.D. The Framework Agreement lays down criteria to measure how well OSPs represent staff (based on the outcome of elections of representatives and the number of members of each OSP). This determines which OSP can be recognised as a dialogue partner of the administration in the 'concertation' procedures and the level of human and budgetary resources allocated to it by the administration. Currently, there are 13 recognised OSPs: USF (Union Syndicale Fédérale), USHU, U4U (Union for Unity), Conf.SFE (Conférence des Syndicats Européens and Syn-

91 Social dialogue 82 dicat des Fonctionnaires Européens), R&D (Renouveau & Démocratie), Solidarité Européenne (SE), TAO-AFI (Association des Fonctionnaires Indépendants pour la Défense de la Fonction Publique Européenne), A&D (Action & Défense), SFIE (Syndicat des Fonctionnaires Internationaux et Européens), FFPE (Fédération de la Fonction Publique Européenne), Save Europe (SE), Generation 2004 and SID (Solidarity, Independence and Democracy). Of these 13 OSPs, 3 OSPs (R&D, Solidarité Européenne and Conf. SFE) are grouped into the Alliance, 3 OSPs (Save Europe, TAO-AFI and A&D) into PLUS and two OSPs (USHU and U4U) into Rassemblement syndical. Currently there are 6 representative OSPs: Alliance, USF, Rassemblement syndical, PLUS, Generation 2004 and FFPE. Only these six OSPs are entitled to participate in 'concertation' meetings as provided by the Framework Agreement. Chart II.11 Allocation of seats in 'concertation' procedures (2012) When the 2008 Framework Agreement came into force, the scope of social dialogue was extended to include all matters relevant to HR policies and the working conditions of officials and other groups of staff. In 2012, meetings with OSPs mostly concerned non-statutory measures regarding staff policy, pay and pensions, temporary staff, Agencies and internal competitions. In 2012, the trade union landscape changed. Divisions arose within the Alliance, a new representative grouping of OSPs (PLUS) was recognised, fewer representatives were elected to Conf. SFE and it merged with the Alliance. A new OSP, Generation 2004, was created. Source: DG HR.D. Chart II.12 Meetings between Commission and OSPs ( ) Other meetings Informational meetings Political concertations Technical concertations Source: DG HR.D. Note: The number of meetings in 2007 was exceptionally high due to the renegotiation of the agreement on freelance interpreters. Staff Committee The Staff Committee (SC) is composed of the Central Staff Committee and its eight local sections (Local Staff Committees), one for each of the main sites where Commission staff are located. The members of the Local Staff Committees are elected by the staff in each site for a three-year term. The Local Staff Committees appoint representatives to the Central Staff Committee. In contrast to the OSPs, the Staff Committee is a statutory body, whose function is to represent staff interests vis-à-vis their Institution and provide a forum for staff to express their opinions. The Staff Committee is often consulted by the administration and gives its opinion on how provisions on staff policy are being implemented. Apart from this dialogue on statutory matters, exchanges take place through Contact Commissions at corporate and local level or ad hoc meetings. The administration is represented by the Director General of DG HR. In 2012, a number of meetings of the Local Contact Commissions were convened to exchange views on topical issues between the administration and Local Staff Committees.

92 83 HR Report Part II Table.II.17 Composition of Local Staff Committees (2012) Brussels Lux. Ispra Karlsruhe Petten Geel France Outside EU USF 21.6,% 52.3,% 34.1,% 10.8,% 100,% 9.9,% 0.0,% 45.0,% U4U-USHU 10.0,% 8.1,% 15.6,% 56.7,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 33.9,% FFPE 10.1,% 8.1,% 11.5,% 6.1,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 3.6,% Alliance 25.2,% 25.1,% 18.8,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 55.2,% 17.0,% 10.9,% PLUS 13.6,% 6.4,% 13.5,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 6.7,% Generation ,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% 0.0,% Independents 0.0,% 0.0,% 6.5,% 26.4,% 0.0,% 34.9,% 83.0,% 0.0,% Total 100,% 100,% 100,% 100,% 100,% 100,% 100,% 100,% Source: DG HR.D. Note: Due to rounding, some totals are not equal to 100.0,%. Joint Committees Under the terms of the Commission Decision of 15 July 2005 on improving social dialogue at the Commission through Joint Committees, Joint Committees are consultation bodies which contribute to the development of personnel policy, to its correct implementation, and to the monitoring of an equitable and just application of the measures which are in place. In addition to the Joint Committees provided for in Article 9 of the Staff Regulations, other committees cover issues such as career, social measures, training, working conditions, health and safety. In 2012, 66 Joint Committees were active. Main files finalised in 2012 In 2012, after the end of negotiations with OSPs concerning the proposal of new staff regulations, cooperation with the representative OSPs continued on a number of non-statutory measures on staff policy, such as careers (internal competitions, transitional measures, measures for staff older than 55), working conditions, the counter-proposal 'Paquet IV' for a more rational use of resources focusing on investment in staff, simplification and improvement of administrative structures and better management of European public policies. Meetings with OSPs were held regularly in 2012 to keep them informed of the discussions in the Council and the Parliament concerning the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union. In 2012 elections were held for the LSCs in Brussels, Ispra, Petten, France and the ones outside the European Union. These resulted in a new distribution of seats within the Central Staff Committee. DG HR provides key legal and administrative support for organising these elections. Outlook In 2013, the final adoption of the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union will imply inter-institutional social dialogue procedures ('Commission de concertation') between the Commission, Council and Parliament and their staff representatives.

93 Relations with decentralised Agencies and Joint Undertakings 84 The OSPs will also need to be consulted on the General Implementing Provisions of the new Staff Regulations and the social measures granted during the negotiations with OSPs in The decision and the agreement on resources granted to staff representatives in 2011 must also be updated, as there is a clause in both documents of the resource package providing for an initial review. The Commission decision on improving social dialogue in the Commission through Joint Committees will be updated, and any Joint Committees whose existence is no longer justified will be dissolved. The administration will give a series of information sessions to keep staff representatives abreast of developments regarding the Multiannual Financial Framework and any developments regarding the Council's decision not to adopt the annual adjustment of remunerations and pensions of EU staff. The functioning of statutory bodies will be improved by revising the rules concerning the composition and the functioning of the Staff Committee and by promoting harmonised electoral rules for all LSCs. Elections will be held for the Local Staff Committee in Luxembourg. 3.5 Relations with decentralised Agencies and Joint Undertakings Policy aim European Regulatory Agencies are decentralised Agencies which are covered by European public law and which have an independent legal status, distinct from the EU Institutions and.are typically created to implement specific policies. Joint Undertakings 9 (JUs) are set up to enable the Commission to carry out partnerships with the private sector or other bodies. Decentralised Agencies and JUs apply the Staff Regulations (SR) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS). It is thus essential to set common rules applicable to all Agencies and JUs in order to promote a harmonised approach, and avoid inconsistent applications of the SR and CEOS. It is the Commission's role to ensure consistent implementation. The objective is to frame a consistent staff policy between the Agencies (and JUs) on the one hand, and between the Agencies (and JUs) and the Commission on the other hand. This is essential to guarantee the equal treatment and mobility of all statutory staff. The Commission plays its role in two ways. Firstly, it runs a helpdesk service for the Agencies and JUs. In 2012, the helpdesk received and processed more than 2,600 s (most of them questions on HR issues posed by the Agencies and JUs). Secondly, it scrutinises the draft implementing rules submitted by the Agencies and JUs in accordance with the Article 110 of the Staff Regulations. In 9 Joint Undertakings are created by secondary European law with the aim of performing tasks of a technical, scientific or specific management nature. Joint Undertakings are also organisations covered by European public law created by ad hoc regulations of the European Parliament and the Council in order to implement certain aspects of the 7th Framework Programme for research and technological development.

94 85 HR Report Part II 2012, the Commission endorsed 116 implementing rules submitted by the Agencies and JUs. Every year, the decentralised Agencies and the JUs present to the Commission their multiannual staff policy plan on their HR policies and a justification of the number and level of their establishment plan posts. The Commission and the Budgetary Authority check these data. Main developments The inter-institutional working group completed its work. It was set up in 2009 to clarify and standardise the functioning and working methods of the Agencies as well as to define a common framework for their operations. Consequently, a joint statement and a paper defining a common approach to decentralised Agencies was signed on 19 July 2012 by President Schulz, Minister Mavroyiannis and Vice-President Šefčovič, representing the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The Commission also provides services to Agencies and JUs in areas such as training, medical and IT service and security. During the year 2012, in order to simplify and rationalise the relationship with the Agencies and JUs, 40 SLAs have been updated. In 2012, eu-lisa the newly created Regulatory Agency in charge of operating the Schengen Information System 2 became operational. The Commission provided special assistance to all recently established Agencies (eu-lisa, ACER, ESMA, EBA, EIOPA, EIT, BEREC, EASO) and to the GSA during its move to Prague. In 2012, two founding regulations (of the GSA and the ERA) were revised in line with new HR standard provisions applying to Agencies and with the principles set by the common approach. At the end of 2012, the Commission presented a roadmap on the follow-up to the common approach with specific timetables for planned initiatives, including parts on HR policies and management. Outlook The Commission s proposal to revise the Staff Regulations (SR) suggests further steps to harmonise the implementation of HR rules and policies in Agencies and JUs. In particular, it proposes amending Article 110 of the SR and creating a new category of temporary staff in the Agencies (new Article 2(f) of the CEOS). These and other changes will be reflected in the set of new guidelines, framework rules and model implementing rules. In terms of policy on JU, discussions will continue on the legal implications of extending or merging JU. In the interest of consistency, a model founding act and new model financial regulation applicable to JU are being drafted. All these developments will be reflected in HR policies on JU, particularly in the implementing rules for SR and CEOS. 3.6 Relations with public administrations Policy aim The main aim of public administration reform in enlargement countries is to create stable and efficient institutions. In the context of enlargement, the need to put in place a professional, impartial and merit-based public administration,

95 Relations with public administrations 86 capable of ensuring the proper implementation of EU law, is part of the Copenhagen criteria for accession. The Commission offers advice and guidance to candidate countries on how to implement those reforms. A core task of internal HR management in the context of enlargement is to prepare the Commission to recruit staff from the new Member States following enlargement. To this end, internal road maps on the administrative preparations for accession have to be prepared. The aims of administrative cooperation with the EU Member States, third countries and other international organisations are to strengthen institutional ties, increase mutual understanding of the functioning and policies of the Institutions and countries, exchange best practices on administration and accountability, and thereby improve the quality of the respective administrations. Main developments Starting in June 2011, DG HR coordinated a series of inter-service group meetings on the administrative preparations for Croatia to join the EU. As a result of these steering meetings, a Communication to the Commission by Vice-President Šefčovič in agreement with the President, Vice-President Reding and M. Füle on phasing-out of Commission pre-accession activities in Croatia and a Commission staff working paper on administrative preparations for enlargement (Croatia) were adopted by the College on 12 July 2012 (as part of the Croatia package of five documents dealing with human resources measures in view of Croatia's accession). Through the annual progress reports on enlargement of candidate and potential candidate countries, the Commission makes its annual official assessment of the state of advancement of reforms leading up to accession, including public administration reform. In 2012, DG HR undertook missions to Croatia, with the aim of informing staff of the consequences of closing down the delegation in Zagreb, and to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Kosovo. The international seminars on these countries aimed at exchanging views on policy and best practices with experts from those countries and from other international key players in the field (SIGMA/OECD) and to discuss feasible alternatives to the way administrative reforms are designed and carried out. The Special Group on Public Administration Reform, set up for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, continued to discuss key issues and progress in this area. Its fourth meeting took place in Skopje in March A seminar was held on merit-based recruitment and equitable representation in the public administration, with the participation of DG HR, in November 2012 in Ohrid. The role of DG HR, together with DG ELARG and SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management), was essentially to prepare and to present the Commission's opinion on various aspects of the Special Group on Public Administration Reform. DG HR helped to assess the public administration reform for the Commission's feasibility study for a stabilisation and association agreement between the European Union and Kosovo. Cooperation between the public administrations of the Member States, and the Commission, is organised through the European Public Administration Network (EUPAN). This informal intergovernmental forum is chaired by the Member State that holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Commission takes an active part in EUPAN meetings, both at working group and Directors- General levels, as the only permanent member of the Troika steering body.

96 87 HR Report Part II The main achievements in 2012 include: Assisting the Presidencies in preparing and implementing the working programmes, while taking into account DG HR's line to take and its agenda for EUPAN; Continuing to participate actively in streamlining EUPAN's internal organisation, cooperating with other organisations and providing information and visibility. With regard to the OECD, the main forum for discussion is the Public Governance Committee, composed of senior civil servants from the public administrations of the OECD countries and observers such as the Commission. Its work covers governance and the management of Institutions and public resources, based on OECD studies. The following topics have recently been covered: e- government, budgeting and public expenditures, ethics and corruption in the public sector, governance dialogue, public employment and management, as well as reflections on good governance after the crisis. Both the OECD and EUPAN are valuable sources of information that enable the Commission to share best practices and knowledge in all aspects of public administration. Participation in these structures provides a good opportunity to keep in touch with representatives from Member States and build constructive relations with them. In the EUPAN, meetings aim to find solutions through common approaches to public administration issues and gradually creating a European administrative area. Cooperation between the Commission and the United Nations Secretariat is based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed in It takes the form of joint seminars, video-conferences, staff exchanges, joint training and other events. A number of staff exchanges were organised and several members of Commission staff were hosted in New York under the administrative cooperation scheme. Administrative cooperation between the African Union Commission and the European Commission is based on two memoranda of understanding signed in 2006 and They provide for exchanges of permanent staff and trainees between the two institutions, and cover aspects of general administration, budgetary planning and reporting, communication, internal controls, crisis management and security. In 2012, the main events were the 14th EU-Africa Joint Task Force Meeting in Brussels and the hosting in Brussels of African Union Commission civil servants under the administrative cooperation scheme. The two memoranda of understanding between the European Commission and the World Bank and between the EC and Turkey regarding staff exchanges and the secondment of officials to the Commission continued to be implemented in The aim of administrative cooperation with the World Bank is to further improve the quality of the administration by sharing views and good practices across a broad range of activities linked to administration and accountability. The main purpose of the secondments is to share expertise and to foster dialogue and cooperation between the Commission and Turkey. Outlook For 2013, regarding the administrative preparations for Croatia's accession, the focus is on implementing the documents adopted by the College in July The Communication stipulates that six-monthly reports must be sent to Vice- President Šefčovič.

97 HRM information systems 88 Regarding relations with candidate and potential candidate countries, the focus is on contributing to policy developments on public administration reform (PAR) strategies, including participation in special groups on PAR meetings. A second special group on public administration reform was set up early in 2013 with Albania, based on the good results achieved using this format of discussions with FYROM. The main objective for 2013 in the context of the EUPAN should be to continue shaping the role of DG HR in this network. The EUPAN secretariat asked the Commission to step up its presence by promoting expertise and best practices of HR professionals. DG HR will participate in the main events organised by the Irish and Lithuanian Presidencies in 2013, including the 7th Quality Conference scheduled for October. As for the OECD and SIGMA, their aims are to intensify cooperation on indicators for good governance, effectiveness and capacity building of public administration. Regarding cooperation with the other international organisations, specific activities earmarked for 2013 include the fourth tripartite Commission-UN-African Union Commission senior management seminar in New York signature of the joint policy statement on environmentally sustainable public administration, DG HR's participation in the 15th and 16th Joint Task Forces with the African Union Commission and the related College to College meetings, as well as continuing the exchange of officials based on the agreement signed with the World Bank. 3.7 HRM information systems Policy aim The planned HR Management Information System (HRMIS) strategy towards 2015 will reiterate the Commission to using IT as a lever to further transform the way it recruits, administrates, manages, trains and motivates its human resources. By setting new objectives and goals, the strategy takes into account the current economic and political context. This means reducing costs while investing in innovative, shared projects, delivering better staff efficiency and productivity tools and helping to simplify processes (business process reengineering). This should ultimately lead to reduced overheads and increased potential for staff to be redeployed to high-priority policy areas. DG HR, DG DIGIT and the administrative Offices are working together to deliver integrated e-hrm services that can better link together the HRM services of different parts of the Commission, whether at central or local level. Main developments Considerable attention has been devoted to ensuring that the technical platforms, used to implement e-hrm systems, provide business continuity and are sufficiently scalable and adaptable for the coming years. Numerous projects in the HR management information system domain came to fruition in These systems allowed old IT systems and obsolete technologies to be phased out. Firstly, the existing systems were maintained in order to ensure full continuity of operations. Some major revamps also took place in HR policy areas where

98 89 HR Report Part II the rules and regulations have changed. This was the case for SysPer2 modules such as Time Management, Appraisal and Promotion, Screening, Job Information System and ecv. Secondly, cooperation with other EU Institutions and bodies was intensified, as an increasing number of them were granted access to DG HR family's information systems in As a consequence SysPer2 is now being used by the Court of Auditors, the Translation Centre, the 6 Executive agencies, the European External Action Service, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Data Protection Supervisor. The Court of Justice and the Ombudsman have requested the roll-out of SysPer2. Thirdly, 2012 was a year of continuity with major achievement made on large multiannual projects. Considerable progress was made to extend SysPer2's functional coverage, in particular in the following areas: The SysPer2 User Centricity and Security Project was launched in Its main goal is to revamp SysPer2 s interface, adding new attractive navigation and mobile functionalities, integrating business intelligence tools directly in SysPer2 and simplifying the mechanism to delegate and manage access rights. A technological platform migration of the legacy system (SIRE) was the first step towards the integrating SIRE functionalities into SysPer2 external resources management (due in 2015); To integrate lists of successful candidates in SysPer2 was the first step towards no longer using RECLAU. The second stage involved setting up a decentralised workflow for the local DGs including dashboards, notifications and the integration with the Electronic Health Record system of the Medical Service for the medical checks that form part of the recruitment process. Furthermore, a recruitment business process re-engineering exercise was put in place to align the recruitment processes for staff types such as officials, temporary staff and contract staff; The SysPer2 Senior and Middle Management Project concerns the automation of managing the career lifecycle of middle and senior managers. These go from the publication of vacancies, selection of candidates including the procedure for the Consultative Committee on Appointments - recruitment, probation period, appraisal, promotion, mobility, career interruption, career extension and exit strategy. The project was preceded by a business process re-engineering exercise. In 2012, publication of vacancy notices was delivered. In 2013, development work will focus on the online applications and pre-selection and on the automation of recruitment and mobility procedures. HR reporting and business intelligence remained a priority in Considerable progress was made on rationalisation and user services, in simulations and predictive analysis tools, in visualisation and dashboard tools and in consolidating the HR Data Warehouse. Lastly, as leader on HRMIS as part of the Commission-wide information system rationalisation exercise, DG HR made considerable progress in further simplifying and integrating the Commission's HRM processes and in further rationalising the HRMIS portfolio. It issued a progress report and an action plan in 2012 that set out proposals to rationalise the Commission's HRMIS portfolio in 2013 and Outlook In 2013, DG HR will continue to improve the automation of HRM processes which are still not fully covered by modern systems, tools and technologies. At the same time, it will also adapt its strategy to incorporate the results of the business process re-engineering exercise, the corporate information systems rationalisation agenda and future changes arising from the outcome of the

99 European civil service law 90 negotiations on the Staff Regulations. All these projects are essential for delivering the overall vision by 2015 and constitute the bulk of the HRMIS strategy. Alongside its first priority, namely the Staff Regulations revision project, DG HR's second priority as regards IT will be to improve the reporting, business intelligence and analytics facilities and services. Its third IT priority will be to further rationalise and integrate its own information systems portfolio by the extending the HRM domain's flagship project SysPer2. It also intends to: Continue the automation and business process re-engineering of the recruitment procedures for officials, temporary staff and contract staff; Complete the developments supporting the processes of management of the middle and senior managers; Deliver the SysPer2 User Centricity and Security Project; Continue improving the way in which information on the competencies and skills of staff is captured and managed by extending the Job Information System and ecv modules for better forward workforce planning; Continue working in close cooperation with the administrative Offices to deliver high-quality integrated e-services, in particular with the PMO for retired staff and with EPSO for selection processes; Complete the missing HRM links by developing a vacancy notification, online application and a selection and mobility system; Facilitate the delegation of programmes to the Executive agencies and the efficient management of Commission staff in delegations. As for the My Intracomm corporate portal, DG HR's objectives for 2013 and 2014 are to consolidate the portal's position as a single entry point to a range of content, tools and online services, which should help reinforce internal communication and knowledge sharing. It also aims to finalise DG's migration to My Intracomm, improve accessibility including via mobile devices and offer new possibilities for user interaction and collaboration. DG HR is also responsible for the Electronic Health Record system. The objectives for this system in 2013 and 2014 are to phase out several legacy systems and to continue developments by taking into account the results of the ongoing business project re-engineering on absence management and visit management. Furthermore, DG HR will collaborate with other EU Institutions and bodies, which are increasingly considering using the Commission's HRM information systems. 3.8 European civil service law Among other things, DG HR performs two types of legal activities, always in close cooperation with the Legal Service of the Commission: Development of European Civil Service Law: discussion in the Council of reports and legal acts drafted in accordance with the Staff Regulations (SR), drafting amendments to the SR or any other acts concerning staff and preparing decisions to be adopted either by the Council or the European Parliament, under the ordinary legislative procedure or by the Commission pursuant to the provisions of the SR;

100 91 HR Report Part II Legal advice: providing legal advice within the DG and to the Offices on interpreting the SR, the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS), the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Communities (PPI) and other acts concerning Commission staff, premises or estates. Policy aim There are around 50,000 officials and other servants of the European Union working in the Institutions, Agencies or other bodies of the EU. Their careers, rights, obligations and working conditions are regulated by European Union law: namely the European Civil Service law. The main aim is to maintain a high level of quality of both the Commission's proposals in the field of European Civil Service law and DG HR's legal advice, and especially: To prepare Commission proposals in this field for which the Commission has the exclusive right of initiative in coordination with other units in DG HR as well as other DGs concerned (mainly the Secretariat General, the Legal Service, Eurostat and DG BUDG) and to follow the proposals through the legislative procedure in Parliament and the Council; To provide our clients namely the frontline units in DG HR and the administrative Offices which draw up policies or deal on a day-to-day basis with HR Units in the various DGs or directly with individual staff members with quick, reliable and practical legal advice which takes all the legal, institutional and budgetary aspects of their queries into account. Main developments Review of the Staff Regulations The SR and CEOS lay down the rules, principles and working conditions for the staff of all Institutions, Agencies and other bodies of the European Union. In order to further modernise and increase the efficiency of the EU Institutions in the current economic context, there is a need to make certain amendments to the SR and the CEOS. Based on these considerations, Vice-President Šefčovič and DG HR prepared a draft Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council. Following political consultations on the proposal by Vice-President Šefčovič, the College adopted a Proposal 10 on 13 December Apart from changing some outdated aspects of the Staff Regulations, the proposed amendments concerned in particular the pension age of EU civil servants, weekly working hours, career structure and the method for adjusting salaries and pensions. The ordinary legislative procedure began in early 2012 and discussions took place in the European Parliament and in the Council. DG HR defended before the two co-legislators the lines of the Commission proposal and its limited nature, as the last in-depth overhaul of the Staff Regulations took place in 2004, and provided technical support to the MEPS and the Council delegates to better understand the whereabouts of the Staff Regulations review. The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI Committee) endorsed the main outlines of the Commission Proposal in April The JURI 10 COM(2011) 890

101 Pre-Litigation and case law 92 Committee changed only a limited number of elements of the Commission proposal and opened a limited number of new issues. However, the discussions stalled in the Council within the Working Party on the Staff Regulations, because the Member States linked the Commission Proposal to the parallel discussions on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and its share of Heading V (administrative expenses). On 7 and 8 February 2013, the European Council reached agreement on the next MFF, where administrative expenditure (Heading V) was set at the level of,61,629 million. This represents 1.5 billion cuts in addition to over,1 billion cuts proposed by the Commission. It is decided that the Heading V ceilings set in the adopted Conclusions constitute the framework for the co-decision process that will decide on the concrete implementation of measures referred to in the Conclusions and other proposed by the Commission. Chart II.13 Requests and complaints ( ) Outlook The political agreement between the Heads of States on the next MFF serves as a basis for negotiations with the European Parliament, which now has to give its consent. The Commission expects the negotiations on Staff Regulations review to accelerate within the framework set by the Commission proposal and Conclusions of European Council. 3.9 Pre-Litigation and case law Policy aim The aim of pre-litigation is to provide staff with an efficient service. The objective of the pre-litigation team is to respect procedures and deadlines. Queries can be dealt with via intranet and a telephone call centre is available to answer questions on the procedures. Main developments Pre-litigation activities Providing high-quality decisions and meeting statutory deadlines were among the priorities for In this respect, all Article 90(2) files were handled within the four-month statutory deadline. As a customer-oriented service, the pre-litigation team focused on two main actions: increasing the number of inter-service meetings for Article 90(2) complaints and reinforcing cooperation with other services. Inter-service meetings, involving the complainant, the departments responsible for the decision being challenged, the Commission's mediation service and staff representatives, give all the parties concerned the opportunity to express their views. The number of these meetings increased substantially in As regards cooperation with other services, DG HR organised bilateral meetings with human resources units from all DGs, in order to better explain pre-litigation procedures. Feedback from these meetings was positive, and they triggered useful suggestions on optimising the procedures, a number of which were taken on board. In addition, the pre-litigation team put a strong emphasis on the correct implementation of positive decisions and case law. In this context, they produced a Complaints article 90(2) Requests article 90(1) Requests article 24 Source: Recart 90, DG HR.D.