Agora #94
23 - 27
The Assembly of the Agencies Staff Committees (AASC) has raised concerns over systematic barriers preventing agency staff from accessing career mobility pathways.
From Fragmentation to Integration:
Career mobility within the European Union (EU) institutions is essential for fostering professional growth, enhancing skills, and ensuring institutional efficiency. Mobility allows staff to gain diverse experiences, expand their professional networks, and contribute to different aspects of EU governance. However, staff working in decentralized agencies often face significant challenges. While officials in central bodies like the European Commission benefit from established mobility frameworks that enable career progression and knowledge exchange, Temporary Agents (TAs) and Contract Agents (CAs) in agencies encounter limited opportunities for mobility, resulting in stagnation and inefficiencies in human resource allocation.
The Assembly of the Agencies Staff Committees (AASC) has raised concerns over systematic barriers preventing agency staff from accessing career mobility pathways. These challenges not only restrict individual career development but also limit the effective circulation of expertise within EU institutions. The lack of harmonized secondment and transfer mechanisms creates a fragmented system, where agency staff often struggle to transition into new roles within the broader EU framework. Without institutional support for mobility, agencies risk high turnover, talent drain, and reduced motivation among employees.
This article explores the current state of mobility, recent initiatives, the challenges identified in staff mobility, and recommendations for an improved framework while drawing comparative insights from international institutions such as the United Nations (UN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the World Bank.
The Current Landscape of Staff Mobility
The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is responsible for selecting staff for EU institutions and agencies. While EPSO manages open competitions for permanent positions, the selection of temporary agents is handled by individual institutions, leading to inconsistencies in mobility opportunities. Contract Agents, often recruited for specific tasks with limited contract durations, have even fewer career development prospects (EPSO).
Despite representing approximately 22% of total EU institutional staff, employees in decentralized agencies do not benefit from a structured mobility framework. The lack of interinstitutional coordination means that valuable expertise is often underutilized, and career stagnation is a significant risk for agency employees. The absence of a clear reintegration strategy after a secondment or transfer further discourages participation in mobility programs. In contrast, within the European Commission, officials have access to structured mobility frameworks that provide rotational opportunities and cross-departmental transfers. This gap in opportunity highlights a fundamental imbalance that needs to be addressed to ensure equal career prospects across EU institutions.
Other global institutions, such as the UN and IMF, have dedicated inter-agency mobility policies that allow staff to transition seamlessly between positions within their respective organizations, ensuring continuity of expertise. The UN’s Managed Mobility Framework, for instance, establishes systematic staff rotations across different duty stations, fostering career progression and institutional knowledge-sharing. Similarly, the IMF has adopted a structured approach to mobility, recognising that internal career shifts strengthen workforce adaptability and reduce turnover.
Challenges in Mobility for Agency Staff
Legal and Administrative Constraints
Legal and administrative constraints significantly impact the ability of agency staff to move across EU institutions. Article 50c of the Staff Regulations establishes a secondment framework, but it applies exclusively to Temporary Agents, leaving Contract Agents without structured mobility opportunities. This differentiation creates an uneven playing field, where a significant portion of agency staff is denied access to career-enhancing opportunities. Agencies operate under varying legal and contractual frameworks, which complicates inter-agency transfers and results in inconsistent application of mobility policies. Unlike permanent officials in the European Commission, TAs and CAs do not have an automatic right to move between institutions, making career advancement within the EU framework more challenging.
In contrast, the World Bank’s Talent Mobility Framework integrates short-term assignments, job swaps, and career rotations as part of its workforce development strategy, ensuring career progression without bureaucratic roadblocks. The ECB also has cross-functional mobility programs, where employees can apply for temporary positions in different departments or agencies, thus broadening their expertise and career prospects.
Lack of a Coordinated Mobility System
The absence of a coordinated mobility system is another major obstacle. There is currently no centralized platform that facilitates secondments and short-term transfers between agencies and institutions. As a result, mobility is often handled independently by each agency, creating bureaucratic inefficiencies and limiting transparency. Since there are no common selection criteria for mobility programs, staff members may find themselves at a disadvantage depending on the policies of their agency of employment.
Reintegration Challenges and Institutional Reluctance
Reintegration after a secondment remains a persistent issue. Many staff members who take part in secondments struggle to return to their home institutions due to a lack of structured reintegration pathways. Agencies may be reluctant to approve secondments in the first place, fearing the loss of experienced personnel without a guarantee of return. Consequently, many seconded staff choose to pursue external opportunities rather than reintegrate, leading to an institutional brain drain and a loss of valuable expertise. A lack of incentives for reintegration further compounds the issue, as agencies fail to prioritize welcoming back employees with enhanced skills and experience.
By contrast, the UN has a well-defined reintegration mechanism, ensuring that seconded staff have clear career pathways when returning from temporary assignments. The IMF similarly encourages internal mobility while safeguarding staff continuity through structured transition plans.
Recommendations for an Improved Mobility Framework
To create a fairer and more structured mobility system, a centralized reserve list database should be established to track eligible staff for secondments and short-term transfers. This database would improve transparency and efficiency by allowing decentralized agencies to better manage mobility applications. By consolidating existing mobility initiatives under one structured system, the EU could enhance coordination and accessibility for all staff members. The integration of mobility features into Sysper would modernize the EU’s HR management system by enabling staff to indicate mobility preferences, apply for opportunities, and track assignments digitally. This enhancement would streamline mobility processes, improve transparency, and ensure faster, more efficient responses to workforce needs across EU institutions.
Additionally, the Staff Regulations should be revised to extend Article 50c beyond Temporary Agents and allow Contract Agents access to secondment opportunities. Clear reintegration mechanisms should be established to ensure that staff returning from secondments can seamlessly transition back into their home institutions. A unified mobility portal should be created to serve as a single access point for internal job postings and secondment opportunities across all EU institutions. Learning from mobility models in institutions such as the World Bank, which has established a structured mobility and reintegration framework, could serve as a valuable reference for EU agencies.
The ECB’s cross-functional career pathways should also serve as a template for the EU. Encouraging structured job rotations across agencies, rather than limiting them to individual departments, would not only enhance career mobility but also improve cross-agency collaboration and institutional efficiency.
Bringing It All Together: A Vision for EU Staff Mobility
The lack of structured mobility for agency staff is a pressing concern that affects workforce motivation, retention, and institutional efficiency. Without immediate action, EU institutions risk losing valuable talent to external organizations while failing to utilize existing expertise effectively. Structured secondments and short-term transfers should be prioritized as a right rather than a privilege, ensuring fair career progression across EU institutions. By implementing these measures, EU agencies can cultivate a workforce that is both dynamic and well-integrated, ultimately contributing to the efficiency and credibility of the European Union as a whole. Adopting best practices from institutions like the UN, IMF, ECB, and World Bank can serve as a guiding framework to improve internal career mobility within EU agencies.
Further Reading
- European Court of Auditors Report on Workforce Planning: ECA Report on A flexible employment framework, insufficiently used to improve workforce management
- EURACTIV: Internal Mobility in EU Institutions: EURACTIV Article on EU Agency Staff Mobility
Existing Initiatives to Promote Inter-Agency Mobility in EU Institutions
Overview of existing programs designed to facilitate staff mobility, highlighting their scope, effectiveness, and areas for improvement:
Inter-Agency Job Market
The Inter-Agency Job Market is a dedicated platform that enables agency staff to explore and apply for vacant positions across different EU agencies. This initiative was designed to facilitate career development, support knowledge transfer, and increase collaboration among institutions. However, despite its potential, the platform lacks mandatory participation from all agencies, resulting in inconsistent adoption. Staff members often find limited opportunities listed, as not all agencies actively contribute to the system. A stronger commitment from EU institutions to expand this job market could significantly enhance mobility for agency employees.
Contract Agent 3a Job Market
The Contract Agent 3a Job Market specifically facilitates mobility between Executive Agencies and the European Commission. This initiative allows contractual employees to explore and transition into new roles without requiring an external hiring process. While this system is beneficial, it remains restricted to Executive Agencies, leaving many Contract Agents in decentralized agencies with no structured pathway to career advancement. Moreover, the effectiveness of this initiative has been questioned, as a recent assessment revealed that only four job openings were available on the platform, raising concerns about its reach and practicality. Additionally, the platform primarily caters to Brussels-based positions, potentially limiting accessibility for Contract Agents stationed in other locations.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Staff Exchanges
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Staff Exchanges program is a well-established initiative within the EU’s research framework. It funds temporary mobility for seconded staff for periods ranging from one month to one year, facilitating skill development and collaboration among researchers across EU institutions. While fostering international collaboration, the program faces criticism for its limited funding, resulting in a low success rate (16%), and a complex application process that challenges smaller institutions. Additionally, administrative hurdles in managing secondments and reintegration disrupt career continuity. Its narrow focus on research personnel excludes administrative and policy professionals who could also benefit.
Internal Mobility Programs in the European Commission
The European Commission offers structured internal mobility programs that allow permanent officials to rotate across departments and services. This system ensures that staff members gain diverse experience and that institutional knowledge is shared efficiently. However, these programs do not extend to Temporary Agents and Contract Agents in decentralized agencies, creating a disparity in career development opportunities. Integrating agency staff into these internal mobility programs could address this gap and provide equal career progression opportunities.
While several initiatives exist to support inter-agency mobility within EU institutions, many of them remain restricted in scope, participation, and accessibility. The Inter-Agency Job Market and Contract Agent 3a Job Market provide some career mobility options, but they are not universally adopted across all EU agencies. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Staff Exchanges program serves as an effective mobility model, but it is currently limited to research personnel. Lastly, the European Commission’s internal mobility programs offer valuable opportunities, but they remain inaccessible to Temporary and Contract Agents in decentralized agencies. A more inclusive and structured mobility framework would strengthen workforce retention, institutional efficiency, and career development across the EU’s decentralized agencies.
Isidoros TSOUROS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isidoros Tsouros assumed the role of Research Assistant at EUAA in 2019. With over 25 years of experience as a legal professional, he has had a distinguished career, being elected as the President of a Greek Law Bar Association on two occasions. In 2022, he was elected to the USB Executive Committee as a representative from the Agencies Section. Since May 2024 he is the Chair of the EUAA Staff Committee.
This article reflects his trade-union perspective and is written in that capacity