With his message to the staff, Mr Danielsson has  confirmed  his decision to abandon the Open Space project for the L-15 building, by conveying a message to his staff.

In particular, all the objections raised by R & D, including the technical ones, have been confirmed by the external consultant.

From the beginning of the process, R & D has been listening to DG NEAR’s staff

This shows clearly that: if the staff express their views with clarity; if the staff representation supports the requests by accompanying them with rigorous technical reasoning; if the Director-General concerned shows an appreciable willingness for dialogue and a true spirit of listening and not a regrettable dogmatism, as is unfortunately often the case these days – then the most appropriate solution can finally be found.

In particular, from the outset, R & D has responded to the request for help from DG NEAR’s staff and at each stage, we have always reported on our actions (link).

As always, we were well aware that it was essential to organise a credible and technically irreproachable consultation. in order for staff demands to be taken seriously

The R & D survey among DG NEAR’s staff was an essential part of the dialogue

On 20 October 2016 we  launched by e-survey, in secure mode, the “OPEN SPACE DG NEAR” survey which generated a very wide participation of the staff (62 %).

On 28 November 2016 we  published the results of that survey (link) demonstrating that, for strictly professional reasons, DG NEAR’s staff did not wish to move to an open space (link).

On this basis we then followed the whole process, by defending the will expressed by DG NEAR’s colleagues at ever opportunity, notably during the occasion of our meetings and contacts with DG NEAR’s management.

We also put a lot of attention into generating the greatest unity of action of the staff representation.

Mr Danielsson has always confirmed that the results of the survey would be taken into account in an appropriate way and that the consultations that were going on were not intended in any way solely to decide on the establishment of the Open Space, while the decision to use it would have already been taken and could no longer be questioned.

Mr. Danielsson has kept his word and we want to thank him very sincerely for that.

We regret, however, that it has taken so long to take a decision that was clear from the beginning of the process, leaving DG NEAR’s staff in a state of uncertainty over many months.

We hope that this may inspire other Directors-General who seem to be totally cut off from any real dialogue with their staff!