Eurocommissaris Sefcovic: 'balans tussen werk en privé van Europese ambtenaren verbeteren' (en)

Maroš ŠEFCOVIC

Vice-President of the European Commission Responsible for "Interinstitutional Relations and Administration"

"Work - Life Balance in the European Commission"

Journée de la Femme - Conference on Equal Opportunities

Brussels, 8 March 2010

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the DG HR Conference organised at the occasion of the International Women Day. Thank you for sparing your lunch time to be with us. As Commissioner for Administration, this Conference also offers me a first opportunity to get to know some of the 33.000 staff members who work for the success of the European Commission.

Today the Commission adopted the Women's Charter to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Women's Charter reiterates as well the Commission's commitment to gender equality. We remain committed to further improve gender equality and to see a better representation of women in key decision-making roles in Europe. Including inside the Commission.

In the past decades, we have seen an increasing number of women coming to work here. Indeed their number has increased from 44.3 % in 1995 to 53% now, and many are now taking their rightful place in AD and management roles. By the end of 2008, women occupied 19,9% of senior management posts, five times more than in 1995. [21,3% of middle management positions = x 2 for the same period]. They have brought a new perspective to the Commission, a new way of working and a new dynamism and this is, naturally, something to be celebrated.

This said, we should not be complacent about our progress to date, and recognise that there is more work to be done to achieve a more balanced representation of men and women at all levels.

This year, we decided to do things somewhat differently. We wanted the annual Conference to address an issue that matters to both the staff and the organisation alike. And what better subject than Work-Life Balance?

We also wanted to hear from you, to give you the opportunity to have your say and to engage with you. I'm delighted to see such a high and balanced turn out and I take this as evidence that the approach we have taken was the right one.

To deliver on the very high level of ambition that President Barroso has set out for the Commission, we need a highly skilled, highly trained and highly motivated workforce - because, as we know, organisations are only as good as their people.

It may seem self-evident that any organisation's best asset is its people. But sometimes it feels like this simple truth is overlooked. Any organisation is likely to be more successful if it is managed in a way that encourages and enables people to give of their best. Putting people at the heart of the organisation is not just good for individuals - it makes good business sense.

Our aim is to build a climate in which the Commission continues to create a sense of vision, motivate people and develop new ways of working, and in which all people, women and men, from all backgrounds have the opportunity and the skills to maximise their potential in the workplace. [Sadly, as Peter Drucker once wrote, “So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work”.]

Everyone has a private life that requires attention and maintenance, just as their professional lives do, and everyone's life outside work is different. As an employer, we cannot expect you to neglect your private lives. This would not only be unfair to you as individuals, it would also have a negative effect on the organisation.

People have different expectations of their individual work. They want to be able to balance work commitments with their lives and responsibilities outside work. And a high-performance workplace will encourage them to do just that.

Organisations that have policies in place to achieve this have reaped the rewards. They are much more likely to retain skills and valuable experience as their employees usually stay with them for longer. They typically demonstrate very high levels of performance, engagement and client satisfaction. Put simply, a workforce that believes it works for a good employer will produce more and better results for that employer.

We have good reason to be proud of the measures we have already put in place. We have a solid infrastructure and a series of measures to facilitate more flexible working patterns. Amongst the best-known are provisions of parental and family leave and guaranteed entitlement to part-time work for certain members. New recommendations have also been issued to decentralise work-life balance issues, advising DGs to schedule training and meetings at reasonable hours.

The most significant changes to the day-to-day running of the Commission, however, came with the introduction of flexitime and telework in 2007. Since then, the ability to work away from the office and to have more say in the hours you work has been very well received. We now have over 1300 regular teleworkers, and of the people taking advantage of these initiatives, 90% feel it has improved their work-life balance.

Although we have already achieved a lot, there is still more to be done. 25% of staff surveyed in 2009 stated that they feel highly stressed at work due to difficulties in combining professional and personal commitments, and still only 52% are completely or quite satisfied with their current balance, despite the fact that 89 % of participants said that the reconciliation of their professional and private life is very or quite important for their well-being at work.

The key to rectifying this is getting the environment right so that people are able to fully contribute - it is a very simple concept. As an employer, there is certainly a good business case for valuing our workforce, for example by providing the opportunities to allow staff to meet their family caring responsibilities as well as work commitments. These qualities are essential in order to create an inclusive culture that underpins every high-performance workplace. They are fully in line with an environment which is oriented towards delivering and getting results, as opposed to just physical presence or time spent at the office.

It makes sense for us to be flexible with you, to ensure that everyone can fulfill their potential, and to make sure you have a good work-life balance. It's not a 'fringe benefit' - it's a strategic human resources tool that we have to make use of if we are to be at our most productive.

Providing the right environment will become as critical as developing a talent management strategy for the Commission. In a context where our resources will become a scarce asset and where DGs will compete more and more to get the right talents at the right place, recent developments point to the fact that recruitment has increasingly become a two-way process.

The employer still has to measure up the potential employee to decide his or her suitability for the job. Yet more and more employees or candidates measure up the organisation they wish to work for too. A survey of undergraduates in the 20 largest economies in the world showed that three out of five people would only work for an employer whose values are consistent with their own. And we believe that work-life balance is among those values that count for our staff.

Obviously the key role for instituting good management practice lies in our various DGs. But there is also a role for the Commission as an employer. The ambition that I have presented to you will be at the core of a new strategy on equal opportunities that, as Commissioner for Administration, I will propose that the Commission adopt in the coming weeks.

Our renewed focus should be built along the need to develop a talent management policy where all our staff, women and men, irrespective of grades, status and functions can fully contribute. It should also create the conditions for an inclusive and result-oriented working environment where people are fairly treated, valued and respected, and where the make-up of the Commission's workforce better reflects the European population we serve.

In particular, the new strategy will set gender workforce targets at all levels at the European Commission. It will ensure that through mentoring, coaching initiatives, potential talents are identified and nurtured.

Our next challenges are to align our organisational practices with our stated commitments and to develop our organisational capacity to leverage equal opportunities as a resource. Implication from the senior management is the most essential element for change; without it, nothing happens. We need to put in place the right conditions and mechanisms to ensure that the Commission's services deliver effectively on Equal Opportunities. We also need to ensure that all staff feel confident in our commitment and capacity to deliver on our Equality agenda.

At the end of the day, what we all want is to contribute to the success of the European Commission. At a time where the stakes are so high, we need the engagement and dedication of all our staff to deliver the changes that we aspire to.

Enjoy your time with us. Thank you for your attention.