ECB Employees “Overworked” From Handling Crisis: Report

The European Central Bank (ECB) is planning to hire more workers to monitor the eurozone crisis, reported the Associated Press on Wednesday, after Bank President Mario Draghi admitted that his 1,600-strong full-time staff were “overworked” and at risk of burning out.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is planning to hire more workers to monitor the eurozone crisis, reported the Associated Press on Wednesday, after Bank President Mario Draghi admitted that his 1,600-strong full-time staff were “overworked” and at risk of burning out.

According to the report, the bank will add up to 40 new positions by this year to help out on complex tasks such as checking whether countries obey the terms of their bailouts.

This decision came after a survey by the IPSO union, who represent many ECB employees, revealed that more than 75 percent of the central bank’s staff now work regular overtime, with most of them claiming that the higher workload had appeared to be permanent.

IPSO President Marius Mager also noted that many ECB staffers had also been made to perform additional tasks of absent colleagues, who had all gone on long-term missions to crisis-struck countries such as Greece.

[quote]”The crisis mode (in Europe) has turned into the permanent one, that’s the problem,” said Mager to AP.[/quote]

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Since the regional crisis first took root in 2009, the ECB has had to take on new and unfamiliar tasks on top of its main job of setting the region’s monetary policy and interest rates.

Last month, Draghi himself appeared to sympathise with his workers, admitting that they were now facing a higher workload and pressure as a result of the crisis.

[quote]It was “no surprise that they see themselves as overworked, and our assessment is exactly the same,” he said.[/quote]

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And the responsibilities for the bank are unlikely to end there. According to AP, the ECB will soon be responsible for setting up a centralised banking supervisor, whose main charge will be to monitor and restore confidence in the region’s financial system.

The Associated Press also reported that the ECB’s decision to add more staff may also be challenged by 17 of the ECB’s 23-member governing council, who are determined to keep ECB staff limited.