Luxembourg, 7 November 2024
- Flexibility of EU employment framework is underused
- IT experts are particularly important but difficult to recruit
- The reason why some profiles or nationalities are less interested in EU jobs is not fully examined
The EU institutions need to step up their efforts to meet the need for an increasingly diversified workforce, according to a report published today by the European Court of Auditors. Despite a flexible employment framework and recent improvements, the European civil service still struggles to attract staff for certain specific profiles. The institutions also rely too heavily on temporary staff in some policy areas, which may put business continuity at risk, the auditors warn. An ageing workforce, geographical imbalances, and a performance framework that is too rigid are other issues.
There are over 50 000 people working for the EU on different types of contract: permanent officials, temporary staff, and contract staff. The European Commission is the largest institutional employer with around 30 000 staff, followed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (around 7 000 and 3 000 staff, respectively).
“The EU institutions are still struggling to attract certain specific profiles and nationalities, despite offering modern and flexible working conditions,” said Jorg Kristijan Petrovič, the ECA Member responsible for the audit. “Our recommendations are meant to help the EU institutions to manage their workforce better, become more attractive employers, and improve their staff’s career prospects.”
Over the years, the number of tasks performed by the EU institutions has increased, but the number of posts has not. The EU institutions have dealt with emerging priorities by reallocating staff where they are most needed and by diversifying recruitment channels. As a result, they are increasingly reliant on staff on fixed-term contracts despite the risk of disruptions to service when such contracts expire.Although Artificial Intelligence could go some way towards alleviating this problem in the future, the auditors stress that the institutions should do more to address the systemic issue of managing an increased workload with finite resources.
The EU institutions offer working conditions that are in line with the expectations of a modern expatriate workforce. While the purchasing power of EU staff has decreased more than that of national civil servants, salaries remain on a par with those offered by other international organisations. However, the institutions still find it difficult to recruit candidates from all member states so as to ensure they have a geographically balanced workforce. They also struggle to recruit and retain vital staff, such as IT experts. Furthermore, the institutions have not been able to attract younger recruits in sufficient numbers to compensate for an ageing workforce, despite initiatives targeted at young graduates. As the institutions do not have a common approach for identifying the reasons why the jobs they offer are not always attractive, this makes their actions less effective.
The auditors identified weak spots in workforce performance management. The assessment framework is mainly focused on dealing with the most severe cases of professional incompetence, but the procedure involved is cumbersome and rarely applied. There are few formal procedures for addressing and rectifying poor performance before it becomes professional incompetence. At the same time, legal constraints limit the institutions’ ability to reward high achievers with faster promotions, while non-financial rewards are not well developed. The auditors also found that internal competitions are not used to their full potential in order to provide sufficient career opportunities for staff, especially secretaries, clerks and assistants.
Background information
The EU institutions’ staff are employed under common rules known asthe Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants(opens in new window). The audit covered three EU institutions: the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Commission. It did not cover the 12 500 staff employed in the EU’s decentralised agencies, which have their own specific human resources policies and governance arrangements.
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Source – ECA