Employment conditions up to 30th April 2004
The current employment conditions were in force up to 30.4. 2004:
- Recruitment, grading, appraisal/promotion and career development
- Working environment
- Overview on duties, obligations and rules of Commission staff
- Remuneration/social policy in an international institution
Recruitment, grading, appraisal/promotion and career development
In recruiting its staff, the EU institutions, represented by EPSO, ensure that officials meet the highest standards of competence, performance and integrity and that they are selected from the broadest possible base of nationals from the Member States.
Grading: On recruitment, probationary officials, as a general
rule, are classified
provisionally in the first step of the lower grade of the career
bracket for which they have passed the open competition, e.g. A
7/1 or B 5/1.
Career structures: Jobs in the institutions are classified
in 4 categories
A - D, according to the nature and importance of the duties
to which they relate. Each category is subdivided into up to eight
grades, which in turn comprise as many as eight steps.
The overall aim of the new staff appraisal system, the Career Development Review (CDR, including information on promotion) links career development with an assessment of past results and of the potential of the individual concerned. In turn, CDR triggers decisions on various elements of human resources policy including promotion, training and mobility.
Working environment
Mobility, training and gender mainstreaming are essential elements of the career system. All EU officials are entitled to annual leave of 24 working days, to leave on personal grounds and to secondment in the interest of the services. The working week is 37,5 hours and flexi-time rules apply between 08.00 and 20.00.
Overview on duties, obligations and rules of Commission
staff
Officials and other servants immediately become subject to distinctive legal arrangements affecting both the exercise of their duties and their private lives. Officials who fail to comply with their obligations may be liable to disciplinary action.
Remuneration/social policy in an international institution
The EU institutions have a dual responsibility to their staff: they must be both an employer and a "substitute state", i.e. they must offer specific services and facilities representing, in total, a self-contained social welfare policy. Pay levels are by and large comparable with levels in the international sector and are, moreover, below the average rates that the Member States pay to their diplomatic staff. Officials are also entitled to exercise a series of individual rights, such as the right of association including the right to strike.
For every year of service up to the age of 60, officials are entitled to a pension of 2% of their salary. Thus 35 years of service are required to reach the maximum entitlement of 70%.