Staff and Budget

• Pages: 49-51

49

The OLAF report 

. Staff and Budget

At the end of 2019, the total number of staff members

and available vacancies at OLAF stood at 393. The

number of OLAF staff members remained stable from

2018 (389) to 2019, despite the general reductions

in staff and budget in the EU civil service as well as

the redeployment of staff with the Commission. The

situation is expected to remain uncertain in the years

to come, owing to the establishment of the EPPO and

the agreed transfer of 45 posts from OLAF to the EPPO

over the period 2019–2023.

The key challenge for OLAF has been to maintain its

strong investigative performance and to continue to

play its significant and active role in the development of

EU anti-fraud policy despite the staff cuts. In addition to

the reductions in staff numbers, OLAF staf f members

have had to cope with a structural increase in workload.

Nevertheless, despite the staff cuts, OLA F managed to

maintain quality and efficiency in its investigations and

in its anti-fraud policy work by aligning resources with

priorities and by improving efficiency.

INVESTMENT IN DIVERSITY

OLAF is committed to improving the diversity of its

workforce and to promoting an inclusive working

environment. In 2019 OLAF exceeded the Commission’s

target to have at least 40% women in management by

2019 and intends to continue its efforts to reach a fair

balance in gender representation at all staff levels in

2020. At the end of 2019, 47% of middle management

jobs were occupied by women, compared with 28.8% in

2014. OL AF’s internal target of three first app ointments

of women to middle management positions set for

2017–2019 has also been exceeded, as four female first-

time heads of unit were recruited during that period.

OLAF fully endorses programmes aiming to promote

diversity and inclusion, among them the female talent

development programme. T he programme was

launched by the Commission in 2018 and is a mix of

competency building, mentoring by senior managers,

networking and individual coaching. By the end of 2019,

three female colleagues from OLAF had benefited from

the programme.

OLAF Directors and Director-Gen eral