A balance between work and private life is now considered by the Commission as a strategic management of human resources. However it is necessary to be constantly vigilant with regard to the application of the rules.More and more colleagues, particularly women, are taking advantage of the possibilities offered

.

• Part-time : more than 3.300 colleagues of whom 85% are women

• Parental leave : more than 4.700 colleagues of whom 80% are women

• Teleworking : more than 1.800 colleagues of whom 67% are women

• Flextime : nearly 18.000 staff members and employees apply it, or 55% of eligible staff.

This corresponds to a modern and responsive management supported by R&D, that allows flexibility in the organization of time, especially for people who bear family responsibilities or for those who want to attend training courses for example.

For a fair application of flextime

In addition hours worked may be a recovered. However, we must remember that only a small proportion of those hours are actually recovered.

In 2010, 88,000 days of work were literally « offered » to the institution by colleagues thus represent 400 full-time positions.

R&D is opposed to restrictive measures such as those practiced in the DGs as well as those proposed in the reform of the Staff Regulation.

On several occasions, the Directorates-General have tried to restrict the application of flexitime for example by limiting the maximum number of days recoverable or by restricting the time slots. Informed about the situation, R&D intervened regularly to enforce the guidelines of DG HR.

In the same vein, R&D is opposed to the proposal by the Commission, as part of the reform of the Staff Regulations, to eliminate the possibility of recovery for members of management. This clearly goes against the principle of equal opportunities and penalizes parents, whether male or female, in fulfilling their family responsibility and balancing professional and private life.

Teleworking, flextime, part-time and parental leave are social benefits that R&D intends to maintain

and we will be opposed at any attempt to restrict these, particularly from the Council where Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands and the United Kingdom, to name just a few examples, have these modern means of management.