AST / SC

R&D alongside AST/SC colleagues

Stop social dumping

The new Human Resources Strategy focuses on three strategic priorities to address the challenges facing the Commission: attractiveness, recruitment and selection, and career perspectives, with no new feature for the AST/SC category.

The perception of the attractiveness of the Commission as an employer varies according to the category at the time of recruitment. This attractiveness is certainly not high among AST/SC staff or future candidates.

Offering a career path to AST/SC colleagues is simply a necessity.

This can be ensured by:

A significant increase in promotion quotas: there are still DGs where no promotion quota for AST/SC has been granted since the creation of this category.

Ensuring wider access to internal competitions: the AST/SC category is the only category which does not allow officials to move from one function group to another (AST/AD). Without access to an annual internal competition, colleagues are deprived of any chance of career development. Colleagues should also be able to participate in internal competitions to progress in their current career and thus have the opportunity to strengthen the internal talent pool rather than participating in external competitions to start a new career. The Commission should invest in the human capital that is already in-house.

Clarification of the long-term vision for AST/SC and AST career prospects: as regards tasks, the distinction is often less but clearly different in terms of salary and career prospects.

The 2014 Staff Regulations normally provide for an evaluation of the AST/SC category within ten years of its creation. In this respect, the evaluation should take place in 2023 (if not earlier), which would remove any staff development difficulties imposed by the AST/SC category.

Greater mobility should also be ensured, for example by opening up access to posts in delegations.

As this is a new category introduced by the reform in 2014, their integration into the services has not always been easy.

As a result, these colleagues are often confronted with difficulties regarding the true nature of their missions and have questions about their future career development

Our actions

18 June 2021R&D alongside AST/SC colleagues!