Karoly Soos, Helen Conefrey
Is the transfer of expatriate personnel from one place of work to another, enriching or demotivating?
The movement of Officials and Contract Agents (CAs) from HQ to EU DEL and between EU DEL (known as “rotation” for Officials and “mobility” for CAs) can be enriching or demotivating depending on a number of factors, including the nature of the work, individual preferences and most importantly how the transfer process is managed.
In principle, rotation and mobility are the cornerstone of our careers as we have the opportunity for growth through increased professional experience and knowledge of several country contexts together with improved career development when mobility forms an integral part of the promotion framework. There are however many challenges as colleagues face disruption and uncertainty over their next posting, are required to adapt quickly to new countries and regions and sometimes feel helpless as the institutional process advances over which they have little or no control.
Rotation and Mobility 2025 – feedback from staff
The reality on the ground for hundreds of colleagues participating in the 2025 rotation and mobility exercises has been difficult this year for a number of reasons.
There have been multiple delays in releasing the results for the on-going exercise, which have led to increased frustration among staff. In every mobility, there are others involved, our dependents. Moving from one place of work to another is potentially life changing and involves a number of steps both logistic and mental that are clearly underestimated by management. Staff complained of :
Incessant delays compared to the 2024 exercise with much uncertainty and speculation around a reorganisation of the EU DEL network and its impact on current and future posts for Officials and Contract Agents.
No real-time data on applicants per post that would help candidates to better target positions and prepare for eventual interviews
A top-down institutional process that lacks transparency as little or no feedback is provided in a timely manner
Insufficient time to deal with a range of issues including the search for schools and enrolment of children in third countries
Removal companies demanding a minimum of 6-months’ advance warning to ensure dates over the Summer period when there is a peak in requests
Legal Framework / differentiated approach
CAs have long complained about the differentiated process for rotation (Officials) and mobility (CAs). While some posts for Officials require interviews, all CAs are subject to interviews and it is unclear how they are factored into the result. Some CAs this year did not receive any invitation for interviews from their 5 selected posts – this is truly hard to understand.
Expatriate staff have undergone promotion and reclassification procedures and have already proven their suitability to work for the EU so some even question the need to go beyond a desktop CV assessment while others underline the importance of verification and of robust communication skills and critical analysis hence the need for interviews!
USHU advocated long and hard for a Decision for mobility for CAs as a tool to promote career development and greater transparency in relation to transfers. This became reality in 2014. With over a decade of experience and it is high time to review the CA Mobility Decision. We need to ensure it meets today’s needs, has a human-centred approach and remains an opportunity, never a threat!
USHU is compiling a list of recommendations to improve the current Decisions and implementing procedures – we are open to receiving your inputs based on your experiences over time.
USHU advocates for a more human-centred approach to institutional transfers
The rotation/mobility procedure must take a more human-centred procedure. This is a process that is internal to the Commission and those involved have already succeeded in external recruitment and selection procedures and are clearly fit for the job. Often the rotation/mobility process can be humiliating for staff as for whatever reason; they are unsuccessful but receive little information as to why they were not chosen or how to improve for the future.
The Commission has solid databases and should provide indicative information on the availability of posts in EUDEL far more in advance – this would help staff to target and plan better for changes.
INFORMAL MOBILITY TABLE DATA COLLECTION EXERCISE
For over a decade, USHU has been assisting CAs by voluntarily gathering information on future vacancies in the form of an indicative table to provide more predictability. CAs have responded well as they see this as mutually beneficial. CAs provide detailed information and used the table to network with other CAs in advance of the official launch of the annual exercise. This voluntary table includes information on the real tasks provided by the current jobholder (not just the official Job Description which is often too generic and does not reflect tasks on the ground) together with contact data and country-specific information (health, security, schooling etc). The USHU Focal point for CA Mobility is karoly.soos@eeas.europa.eu and he will assist you in collecting and sharing provisional CA mobility data.
Join the conversation on Rotation and Mobility. Share your thoughts with us at: REP-PERS-USHU@eeas.europa.eu
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