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STU/69th Council/21/027
14 October 2021

212th Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO

ORAL STATEMENT OF THE UNESCO STAFF UNION (STU)

Thank you, Mr Chairperson, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

The health crisis we are going through highlights the increasing need to take the well-being of staff into account in its management strategy. In this regard, the results of the staff survey cannot be claimed to be satisfactory. Many colleagues feel that the Organization does not take their well-being into consideration, in particular the respect of work-life balance which is often affected by telecommuting. In this respect, STU is cautiously awaiting the new policy on flexible working arrangements.

Regarding the 2017-2022 human resources strategy, STU notes that recruitment delays are still extremely long. According to the IOS audit on the subject, this is due to the high number of applications, and not, as had previously been mentioned to justify its abolition, to the system of posting vacancies first internally, then externally. The STU therefore calls for a return to this system in order to improve career development in our Organization, which is at a standstill.

In terms of performance, as STU feared, the experience shows that the switch to an annual cycle and to mid-term reviews every six months only results in an accelerated pace and an additional workload on supervisees and supervisors. Apart from that, the bad practices of the past are still there. STU regrets the abolition of the Reports Board and the Review Panel which deprives supervisees of any possible appeal.

As for mobility, the results of the staff survey are clear: the 2019 exercise was poorly conducted, both for staff and for the Member States. Among the possible improvement, STU calls for the implementation of Recommendation n° 9 of IOS related to the possibility of applying for posts at a higher grade. STU also recalls that according to Rule 57 (c) of chapter 5.3 of the Human Resources Manual, “in the case of promotions to the P-4 grade and above, a staff member on a post subject to geographical mobility will be required to have completed at least one geographical assignment for a minimum duration equal to the applicable time in-post”. This rule must be applied in a fair and transparent way.

STU remains at the disposal of the Administration to discuss the next human resources strategy which it hopes will be more staff-oriented than the previous one.

Thank you for your attention.