Like most large central banks, the European Central Bank usually does its best. However, it just introduced a policy for most of its 5,200 employees, which is not only fun, but also on the edge of adventure.
It requires its employees to consider doing something that some people haven't done in a decade or more: Switch jobs.
To improve skills and expand experience, the Frankfurt-based bank's new "3-5-8" program will encourage people to spend no more than eight years in the same position.
It is called 3-5-8 because it envisions employees spending the first three years in a new job to build their expertise and then use their time in fifth grade to map a move that ideally should happen before eighth grade. If this doesn't happen, employees can expect to discuss with the manager what they might go next.
The policy is not to force anyone to move or to switch to specialization, the bank's human resources director Eva Murciano said. Instead, it was to convey “the clear expectation of the institution to change roles”, she told me.
Management staff are expected to take a more aggressive approach to employee action. A platform like the internal LinkedIn will allow employees to publish their resumes and register interest in transfer work. Employees can work with other global financial institutions for up to three years because they know they have a ECB return vote.
Murciano acknowledged that the policy has inspired some concerns among employees working in highly specialized fields such as economic research.
But hopefully the new guidelines will help people advance in an organization, Murciano said most employees stay until the retirement age of 65, while employee turnover is a very low of 1.8%.
The program is also designed to address the problems faced by employers around the world – the need to improve workforce skills as workforce skills for AI and data technology, and data technology disrupts the shape of work in a range of fields.
Term limits for work are certainly nothing new. Diplomats and soldiers are expected to make regular tours. In the private sector, graduate students often circulate around a business to learn ropes and provide senior executives specifically for more.
At the ECB itself, those who oversee the bank must regularly transfer roles to maintain objectivity. However, it is clear that almost all employees will encourage them to exchange roles after a while.
Is that a good idea? It depends on the employer.
The loss of British civil servants in the UK has long been so high that departments such as the Treasury have lost a quarter of their staff every year, raising concerns about 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, accumulating the wisdom of experts who make them highly precious. But I also know too many smart young people whose career paths seem hopelessly stopped.
As a person speaking about the differences between generative AI and General AI, not to mention the frequent differences between neural networks and humans in environmental systems, I know the need to keep up with the needs.
So I hope the idea of 3-5-8 will make sense for a body like the ECB far from oppressive employer. IPSO union polls do recommend bank employees worry about rising levels of preference and stress. But most people like the long-term security of permanent contracts.
As many bosses ordered workers to return to the office, the bank had just expanded its popular policy to allow employees to work remotely to 110 days a year, which is actually nearly half of the working hours - not necessarily in Frankfurt.
It turns out that employees only use more than half of the far-reaching days that meet the criteria. But this still means that there is a small demand for office space, so the bank is moving from three buildings to two and introducing a "dynamic workspace" (aka Hot-Desking).
Losing individuals and dedicated desks made some employees feel dissatisfied, and I hope the 3-5-8 policy will be even more dissatisfied. But as work life changes, I won't be surprised to see others following the ECB is now in a position to move forward.
pilita.clark@ft.com