Bonum Certa Men Certa

BTT (Bringing Teams Together) Loathed by Staff of the EPO

New document from the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO)

Summary: The sabotage/demolition job of Benoît Battistelli is continued by António Campinos, who is "finishing the job" of Battistelli (the second term, which he bribed all the voters for, started 4 days ago)

LESS THAN A WEEK AGO the staff union of the EPO (SUEPO) published a document about BTT, which was also mentioned here yesterday and covered earlier today as a video.



We intend to record a video about the document below very shortly, but here is the text in isolation without any further commentary from us (except it seems like a big mistake to feed all the messages to Microsoft, in spite of known privacy abuses and ongoing lawsuits):

29 June 2023 su23008hp

Issues with BTT – more than just teething problems



“It is a mess. Somebody will get a bonus for it. Business as usual."1



Dear SUEPO Members, dear colleagues,

BTT (Bringing Teams Together) is now in full swing, with a large majority of our colleagues already in their new (for-a-day) locations, and the echoes we get are not exactly positive. The administration is not planning on asking staff what they think about the entire exercise, so we did a short poll with SUEPO The Hague. Some 350 colleagues responded in short notice and provided a whole host of comments in that survey, and we want to summarise some of its findings here.

ChatGPT’s take on the comments received All strung together, the comments from the survey amount for 21 pages of disheartening reading – the level of disengagement, estrangement and disappointment with the EPO is concerning. We thought of asking ChatGPT to summarise all this text, and after being fed the survey comments as input and being asked to provide a 1-paragraph summary, the result was the following:

The implementation of the "Bringing our Teams Together" (BTT) project has resulted in employees feeling ostracized and undervalued as they are forced out of their offices. The project fails to deliver on its promise of individual accommodation and damages office culture and team cohesion. Communication and implementation are chaotic, leading to a loss of trust and morale. The project promotes a two-class society and remote work, undermining team unity and creating a sense of disconnection from the office. Management's handling of the project is seen as incompetent and lacking consideration for staff well-being. Overall, the BTT project is viewed as a misguided waste of time, impacting attendance and work quality, and failing to achieve its objectives. It fosters division, discrimination, and frustration among


_____ 1 An illustrative one of the many comments received in the survey




employees while sacrificing their well-being and working conditions for cost-saving purposes. The administration's tactics and disregard for employees' interests are condemned, reflecting a negative atmosphere and undermining performance. The project is deemed unnecessary, divisive, and detrimental to the long-term interests of the EPO.


It captures remarkably well the feeling one gets when reading through the comments. We tried to extract some bullet points from the survey comments and boiled it down to 6 pages worth, which (it takes a bit of searching) even hosts some – albeit very few - positive comments.

Some statistics The survey enquired about the room distribution policy, where about 50% of the respondents are now in a ‘Workplace for the day’ setup, with slightly less than 40% reporting a single allocated workplace and some 10% reporting a shared-space allocated workplace.

The room allocation policy gives a very mixed picture. Despite promises to that effect – and several CSC publications reminding the administration2, only 1 in 3 respondents state that their team used the “3 days/week on site” as a rule: in 20% at least 4 or even 5 days on site were required to get an allocated workplace, and more worryingly in close to 30% of the replies it seems that the allocation policy was unknown or seemingly random. 3% of the respondents state that there were no allocated workplaces in their team – and in only 2% of the cases there seems to have been a team discussion, with the team preferences leading the allocation policy. Far away from the stated aims.

Impact on staff: Negative, Positive, Neutral, Don’t know / indifferent, (empty)



When asked whether they intended to work more, or less, from the EPO offices, some 40% indicated their intention was to work less / as little as possible from the EPO, about 30% intended to work more / as much as possible from the office with the remainder not intending to change their habits, or unsure yet (3%).

_____ 2 CSC Publications of 13-03-2023, 13-02-2023, 30-01-2023, 13-01-2023, 08-12-2023, 25-11-2023 on BTT




Remarkably, when asked whether they thought the impact on staff would be positive / negative / neutral – and when asked similarly whether the impact on the EPO (as an organisation) would be positive / negative / neutral, respondents replied strongly in the negative.

Impact on the EPO: Negative, Positive, Neutral, Don’t know / indifferent, (empty)



2 out of 3 respondents feel that the impact of BTT on staff is negative, only 5% sees a positive impact; 3 out of 4 respondents feel that the impact of BTT on the EPO is negative, with only 6% seeing a positive impact. This means that even the people that got an allocated workplace, even the ones that intend to work more from the EPO, see a negative impact on themselves, their colleagues, and this organisation.

It seems the administration could not have been more wrong with the implementation of this project.

Your SUEPO TH Committee


We'll discuss this in an upcoming video.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
 
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Motorcycling in Central Oregon, Protocol Styles and the Flag of Sark
Links for the day
Links 30/09/2025: Death Sentences, Internet Censorship, and Internet Shutdowns
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Social Control Media and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Richard Stallman About to Give More Talks in Europe, Some Confirmed Already
In Göteborg
Links 30/09/2025: CERN in "Have I Been Pwned" and More Windows TCO Blunders
Links for the day
Microsoft Canonical is Selling Mass Surveillance and Back Doors as "Security for Ubuntu"
If you are looking for a GNU/Linux distro to use, just remember that Microsoft has Ubuntu in the bag
Justice for Wildlife
animals cannot speak to humans who hate animals
Cowboys Gonna Be Cowboys (on the Internet, They're Not a New Problem)
Boys will be boys
Cowboys of the "Left" and Cowboys of the "Right"
Don't believe the lie that this is some "leftist" thing
When Codes of Conduct Serve to Protect Criminals From Much-Deserved Scrutiny
CoCs are typically unfit for purpose because enforcement lacks context and suitable understanding of the full background (the "full story")
It Took the Open Source Initiative (OSI) 4+ Years to Address the 'Data Breach' or Data Protection Violation Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in March 2025
We may never know the dialogue or its nature
Even Microsoft's Biggest Boosters (and Media Operatives) Are Turning Against Microsoft
Expect many more layoffs before the fake "results" next month
GNU Was Right 42+ Years Ago
Since then the abusive, user-hostile technology has spread like mushrooms
Old Isn't Always Inadequate
How many gadgets manufactured today (in 2025) will still work in 2075?
The Monkey Business of Rust People
Compatibility won't matter
Almost Half of the FSFE's Money (the Fake 'FSF', Misusing the Brand) Comes From Vodafone
That money always comes with strings, even if they're invisible to most of us
Microsoft Lunduke Spreads Deliberate Lies to Incite Online Mobs
Has he lost his reading comprehension skills?
Our 19th Birthday (in Just Over 5 Weeks From Now)
We meanwhile have ongoing, solid plans to cover patent-related issues when the FSF turns 40
British GNU/Linux Distro FydeOS Tops DistroWatch
That seems like a decent site and decent effort to keep an eye on
We'll Soon Have 75,000 GemText Pages
avoid many perils of today's Web
Google Used Free Software to Build a Monopoly. Now Google Kicks Free Software to the Curb
The "G" in "Google" does not stand for GNU. It never did. It's just another greedy company.
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Retro Hardware, Federated Fragmentation, and Nex Server Written in C
Links for the day
4 More Days Till "4 decades, 4 freedoms, 4 all users"
We are now just 4 days away from the rare anniversary
Two Months After Merging to Hide GitHub Losses Microsoft is Doing It Again (This Time Windows)
Merging those two together is not a sign of strength but a tightening of budget
Speculations About the Next Large Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs
the mass layoffs are likely to happen on week 3 or 4 in October
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 29, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 29, 2025