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The European Central Bank, like most large central banks, generally does its best to be exciting. However, most of the 5,200 staff are not interesting and have just developed most policies of the adventurous adventurous staff.
Employees need to think about things they haven’t been able to do for more than a decade: switching jobs.
With a move aimed at improving skills and expanding experience, the Frankfurt-based bank’s new “3-5-8” plan encourages people to spend within eight years in the same role.
It is called 3-5-8 because it is intended that staff members spend their first three years in new jobs building know-how and use their time to fifth year to plot ideal movements by the eighth year. If this doesn’t happen, employees can expect to discuss with their manager where they will head next.
Eva Murciano, director of the bank’s personnel department, said the policy was not intended to force anyone to move or switch specialization. Rather, it is intended to convey “clear expectations by the institution to change roles,” she told me.
Managers are expected to take a more proactive approach to staff movements. A platform that works like an internal LinkedIn allows staff to post resumes and register interest in job shifts. Staff can also work for three years at other global financial institutions, knowing they have return tickets to the ECB.
Murciano admits that the policy has caused some degree of anxiety among staff who have worked for years in highly specialized fields such as economic research.
However, it is hoped that the new guidelines will help people move forward with an organization that says that most staff will stay until Murciano reaches the retirement age of 65, with employee turnover rates of 1.8% lower.
The plan is also intended to address the challenges facing employers around the world. This is the need to improve workforce skills as AI and data technology promote the form of employment in many sectors.
The job duration limit is of course not new. Diplomats and soldiers look forward to regular mission tours. In the private sector, graduate trainees often turn around business to learn ropes, as well as top executives assigned for the bigger ones.
With the ECB itself, those who oversee banks need to regularly shift their roles to maintain objectivity. However, we reveal that almost all staff are encouraged to exchange roles after a certain period of time is less common.
So is that a good idea? It depends on the employer.
Canceling in British civil servants has long been notoriously high as departments like the Treasury lose a quarter each year, increasing fear of institutional memory and expertise.
In both the public and private sectors, I can think of many people who have spent years in the same job and accumulate wisdom that makes them invaluable professionals. But I also know that there are too many bright young people whose career paths seem hopelessly blocked.
Also, as someone with a slight grasp of the differences between generated AI and general AI, I understand the need to catch up, not to mention recurrent neural networks and loop-in-the-loop systems.
So I think the idea of 3-5-8 makes sense for a body like the ECB, far from being a oppressive employer. Voting by the IPSO Union suggests that bank staff are concerned about rising favors and stress levels. However, most enjoy the long-term security of permanent contracts.
And when many bosses were ordering workers to return to the office, the banks extended the general policy of having staff work remotely for up to 110 days a year, not necessarily in Frankfurt, actually, by almost half of their working hours.
After all, staff only use just a little bit of a remote half day that is eligible to take. However, that still means there is less need for office space, so the bank has moved from three buildings to two, introducing “dynamic workspaces”, aka hot desks.
I think the 3-5-8 policy will be even more uncomfortable as some staff are irritated by the loss of personal dedicated desks. But as working life changes at an uneasy pace, you won’t be surprised to see others follow where the ECB is heading now.
pilita.clark@ft.com
