Contracts come to an end, projects move from one phase to another, hierarchy changes… in the 21st century, things have the tendency to move very quickly in the work environment.

After thirty-three years at CERN, including three and a half years as Ombuds, I am leaving. During my time of Ombuds I have seen many people for discussions, misunderstandings, difficulties in communication and also conflicts. No institution can live without conflicts.

We can all agree that efficiency leads excellent results; this is a cornerstone in research and organisational matters. However, people may not unanimously point to which method of management and leadership is best for achieving such a goal.

Achieving two goals at once is a real challenge in personnel management: on the one hand, a manager must reach the results expected by the institution with the available workforce; and on the other hand, the manager must take care of their collaborators' well-being.

For the Open Days, CERN will be transparent for all visitors. It's also the occasion to remember that the Ombuds' door is fully open every day of the year for all persons working for or on behalf of CERN.

On average over the past three years, 3% of CERN staff members have used the Ombuds’ services each year. This is a reasonable figure as no institution can live without conflict. Too many cases would be worrying, as would too few: it would mean that conflicts are swept under the carpet.

One of the main missions of CERN is education. Several programmes are dedicated to training students. Others, like the Fellowship programme, offer graduates to start a career and become professionals in their fields.

“Virtue ethics provides managers and business leaders with an opportunity to ask themselves what kind of people they become through their actions and how their decisions impact the lives of others.

Good ethics start with you. It is similar to the CERN Code of Conduct: such a code is not designed to remind us to be in agreement with its values, but rather it is intended to remind us that we should first apply it to ourselves. Why is this in our interest?

Although around a hundred cases a year are reported to the Ombuds, several issues may still not be disclosed due to employee silence*.