Mission statement
Focus on people – support and integrate
The Federal Office's mission statement was developed in the first half of 2004 with the involvement of its staff. It marks the authority's evolution from being purely an authority for asylum to a competence centre for issues concerning integration and migration.
As a result of the "Law to regulate and limit immigration and to regulate the residence and integration of EU citizens and foreign nationals" (Immigration Act), which represents the legal basis for this change, a wide-ranging package of conceptual and organisational responsibilities has been taken on by the Federal Office.
Increase in responsibilities requires a change in awareness
This increase in responsibilities is leads not only to a change in the external perception of the Federal Office, but also requires a change in awareness in the minds of all staff. The aim of developing the mission statement was therefore to involve the Federal Office's staff in this process of change and to support them in identifying with the aims and responsibilities of the Office and to inspire openness and enthusiasm for new challenges.
The Federal Office's mission statement was developed in a bottom-up process with the ongoing involvement of the President of the Federal Office. Each interested member of staff had the opportunity to be involved in this process on a voluntary basis. In a working group made up of a representative group of people, in which members of the different areas of interest in the Federal Office were also involved, the results were worked on in several meetings and published internally. Employees were encouraged to contribute their own ideas and suggestions at each stage in the process. The aim was to involve as many members of staff as possible in developing the mission statement. Particular emphasis was placed on ensuring that processes were transparent and comprehensible.
The joint purpose is to involve members of staff
Developing a mission statement is only one of several measures in the areas of organisation and personnel development, the joint objective of which is to involve the Federal Office's staff in the current process of change. The Federal Office was selected as demonstrating best practice in the area of "increasing motivation in the daily work of public administrations" and represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the 3rd European Quality Conference for Public Administrations in Rotterdam from 15 to 17 September 2004.
Objectives and values are regularly monitored
The staff of the Federal Office regularly monitor the objectives and values set down in the mission statement and refine these. After receiving its certificate for audit berufundfamilie® (Audit of career and family) on 19 June 2007, as the first authority within the remit of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to do so, the Federal Office incorporated its family-friendly personnel policy into its mission statement. In addition to the guidelines on interacting with one another, management style and self-awareness, the mission statement now also includes statements about equal opportunities for men and women and about reconciling work and family life.
