EARLIER THIS week we saw the latest lies from the European Patent Office (EPO), which wrote to staff about the new survey [1, 2] that distorts perceptions. It tells all staff, which is mostly disgruntled, that everything is wonderful and improving. Staff, suffice to say, finds that insulting to its intelligence.
“Of course they will never ever share those "juicy details" with the public voluntarily.”
--AnonymousThey hope that selective "disclosure" will help shape media coverage, maybe some of which the EPO will pay for (as it tends to do, it routinely bribes media companies).
"I'll keep my eyes and ears open," told us EPO staff.
Other people are rather upset at what António Campinos is saying internally.
For those having a déjà vu, Battistelli did the same thing a couple of years ago with PwC. Here are some articles about it.
Your input for our future strategic plan
Dear Colleagues,
This afternoon, Willis Towers Watson (WTW) presented the findings of the Office-wide staff engagement survey "Your voice, our future" to all staff (available here). The first thing I would like to do is to thank all of you for participating. An 85% participation rate has given Willis Towers Watson a sizeable and credible set of data to analyse, and on which to base their conclusions.
Moving forwards, we must act upon the findings. Given the Office-wide nature of these results, the responsibility to rectify any shortcomings falls to all of us and everyone will now play their part in improving staff engagement - on the basis of shared responsibility. As one organisation, we will take shared ownership of this report, assess the findings with our colleagues and work together to collectively address the issues [...]
As a next step, you will have the opportunity to discuss the results with your managers. They will be given access to your unit results report during the course of this month, after the DG discussions on the results and will be in a position to evaluate specific results with you.
With a good understanding of the results, our Office will take a number of actions together to respond to the issues identified in the survey. Firstly, we will examine how we can address the findings of the survey in the Strategic Plan. The findings have arrived on time and with clear recommendations, so we are in a good position to evaluate possible measures that could be incorporated into the forthcoming Strategic Plan [...]
In addition, we will use focus groups to evaluate the survey results and to help us draw up an action plan with specific measures to improve staff engagement. The focus groups will help us to address certain issues which are either particularly pressing, are deemed to need special attention or which can supplement other actions foreseen in the Strategic Plan.
Lastly, we will ensure effective follow-up and monitoring. The survey identified that only a small proportion of staff felt that the Office does enough to get the opinions of its staff. We will therefore commit to holding another strategic staff engagement survey by no later than 2022. The overall score on staff engagement will also be added to the Balanced Scorecard.
As a last word, I would like to encourage you all to be as proactive as possible in assessing the results with your colleagues and managers. The survey and the responses from our staff have provided us with a much clearer understanding of the areas in which we need to make further effort. I am convinced that this survey - and our response to it - will help us to build the engaged, knowledgeable and collaborative organisation [...]
“And what was this survey about then if not the opinions of the staff?”
--AnonymousAs the insider puts it: "Are three years needed in order to get the opinions of the staff? And what was this survey about then if not the opinions of the staff? In a way it's a sort of humorous prose but with a dadaist touch. Makes no sense whatsoever." ⬆