02.25.16
Gemini version available ♊︎Further Militarisation of the EPO
Also see: "The European Patent Office Has Become Militarised"
Summary: Continuing a trend, the European Patent Office (EPO) hires many people with army background because there is brain drain and aggression is sometimes seen as the solution to everything (hiring people from battle zones like Afghanistan)
Days ago we mentioned H.R. issues at the EPO and based on our sources, which are rapidly growing in number, the EPO continues to hire people with military background. We have given previous examples of that and here is the latest, albeit it says nothing about the military background (warning: by clicking this while logged in to LinkedIn he may be able to see your name). Several readers have been telling us that it makes no sense just how many people from the army the EPO has been adding to its team as of late. There are examples that we didn’t cover here because we rarely name lower level staff (executive ranks are another matter). Here is Topić’s somewhat sanitised announcement (transcribed, hence there may be minor errors):
New Director in PD 4.3
22.02.2016
New Director HR Operations
I am pleased to announce the appointment of
Mr Jan Boulanger
as new Director HR Operations with effect from 1 March 2016.
Directorate 4.3.2 HR Operations provides expert services in the areas of salary and allowances, pensions, duty travel as well as time and leave, welfare, home loans, medical insurance matters a.o (more information on the unit can be found here).
Mr. Boulanger joins us from MasterCard Inc. (Waterloo, Belgium) where he was Senior Director HR Shared Service Centre Europe.
The DG 4 management team and I are very pleased to welcome Mr. Boulanger and we wish him every success in his new function.
Željko Topić
Vice-President DG 422.02.16 | Author Željko Topić – Vice-President DG 4
He was also a “Commanding Officer of an elite combat entity,” based on his description.
Why does the EPO keep recruiting so many people from the military these days? No wonder it became militarised. Like Philpott and a lot of the I.U., when there’s harsh action (or reaction) one might be led to assume that military background accentuates it. █
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