Our culture

Working at the EFTA Secretariat means working in a diverse and multicultural environment, where each and every staff member brings a variety of perspectives and experiences to the table.

The generations at EFTA_Jan2025_smaller

At EFTA there are 90 staff members of 15 nationalities, including 72 EFTA nationals. 
The average age is 39,5. 

Gender balance of all staff members: 56% female, 44% male, 0% other genders or non-binary. 
Gender balance in management roles: 33% female, 67% male, 0% other genders or non-binary.
See our Gender Equality policy here. 

We pride ourselves on being a workplace of equality, diversity, inclusion and mutual respect among employees, who shall be treated fairly and enjoy equal conditions and opportunities.

We do regular workplace surveys to see what staff members like about the workplace, and we then do our best to maintain – and what staff members think could be better, and we then do our best to improve those matters.

Office presence is the norm for EFTA staff members, which means we happily come to our offices at least 3 days a week.
There is also a cap of how many days a year staff members can work from their home country.

At the same time as our work can be considered serious we do not take ourselves too seriously and do various things to have fun and strengthen the camaraderie among our staff members. 
We have regular events, planned either by our animation committee or within each division, such as Eurovision parties, summer drinks, children's Xmas party, and other.

Our Mission is to serve as a committed and trusted partner, providing high quality expertise and advice to our Member States in promoting free trade and economic integration. To achieve this, the EFTA Secretariat: 

  • Acts in the Member States’ best interests, facilitating cooperation and delivering high quality services
  • Is a respected partner that is credible, proactive and service-minded, adding value with relevant insights and deep expertise
  • Enables highly skilled individuals to develop their potential and provide the calibre of services required