Working conditions

Working Time Regime since 01/06/2014
The default working time regime applicable to all Commission staff is flexitime, unless otherwise provided for. It shall ensure that the overall work assigned is manageable within the context of a standard 40-hours working week, with considerations to inevitable peak periods during the year.

Flexitime applies to the following categories of staff (regardless of function and grade): - does not apply to (staff covered by working time arrangements):
 * officials,
 * temporary agents,
 * contract agents,
 * Seconded National Experts (SNE).
 * local agents/agents under national law,
 * stagiaires,
 * interimaires.

Working time

 * Bandwidth hours: 7:00 am - 8:30 pm
 * Flexible hours
 * 7 am to 9:30 Mon to Fri and
 * 12 noon to 3 pm Mon to Fri and
 * 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm Mon to Fri (4 pm Wed and Fri)


 * Core hours
 * 9:30 am to 12 noon Mon to Fri and
 * 3 pm to 4:30 pm (till 4 pm on Wed and Fri)

A rest break of 20 minutes at least shall be taken where the time worked during the day is 5 hours or more. This break does not count as working time.

Daily working hours, encoding and validation by staff
Within the 7:00 am - 8:30 pm bandwidth, the time worked at the workplace should be encoded by each member of staff (including senior & middle management) in the time Recording Application of Sysper Time managemetn module (TIM), unless otherwise specified. Stagiaires and interimaires do not need to record their hours, but they are bound by the 40-hour work week and presence at the workplace during core hours. Work should be planned in a way that the maximum duration of a working day encoded does not exceed 10 hours (idem for missions); 8 hours for structural or occasional teleworkers (4 hours for half-days telework) and pro-rata for part-timers. During core hours staff member are bound to be present at the workplace (to the exception of managers[3]). Work done at the workplace outside the 7:00 am – 8:30 pm bandwidth shall be considered as working time unless the hierarchical superior objects. Under exceptional circumstances, work executed as below may be considered working time. For such working hours to be exceptionally accepted, staff members should have obtained the prior approval of their superior. Staff is encouraged to encode their working hours daily, though 6 days are allowed for situations of force majeure or prolonged mission and recording hours retroactively, beyond which no further changes would be possible in the system. In duly justified circumstances, the local leave manager (GECO – gestionnaire congé) can do the encoding in place of staff concerned, beyond the 6 day retroactive period. Each staff member should validate, at the beginning of each month, the recorded working hours from the previous month, in addition to the proposed debit or credit balance, if any, to be carried over to the following month. Upon this, the direct hierarchical superior (or their delegate) shall examine and validate the timesheets and proposed balance to carry over.
 * For work done outside the workplace within flexible hours
 * For work done outside the workplace outside flexible hours

Validation by the hierarchical superior
Line managers are invited to personally check individual timesheets before validating them, while paying attention to unusual situations and accumulation of time credits that cannot be justified by a corresponding workload. Both line managers and staff have a key role to play in ensuring that time management is effectively applied. All hours worked by staff members and accepted by the superior count towards the monthly balance.

c.f. https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/dg/REGIO/our_services/hr/working_conditions/Pages/working_hours.aspx