EPO Staff Appraisals Apparently Benefit Kakistocracy, Including Cheaters Who Grant Illegal Patents and Punish Good Patent Examiners (Who Find Valid Reasons for Denials)
They're causing stress and anxiety, harming the people who try to do the "Right Thing" (not the kakistocracy, e.g. Georg Weber and Razik Menidjel)
"This letter on behalf of the Local Staff Committee the Hague and relating to the appraisal process was sent to management on 6 March," the Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) of the EPO said before the weekend, having written to an António Campinos deputy, Mr. Rowan from Wales.
Colleagues were informed of this letter, composed in Microsoft Word and dated Friday (7th of March):
European Patent Office
Patentlaan 2
2288 EE Rijswijk
NETHERLANDSLocal Staff Committee
The Haguedhstcom@epo.org
Date: 07-03-2025
Ref: sc25003hl
To: Mr Rowan, Ms Aledo Lopez
By email only
OPEN LETTER
Appraisal process
Dear Mr Rowan,
Dear Mr Aledo Lopez,We need to bring to your attention a concerning trend regarding the appraisal process.
We are receiving an alarming and disproportionate number of reports from colleagues expressing disappointment with their 2025 appraisal reports. The volume and frequency of these messages have been increasing in the last few years. This year, there is a seriously worrying dimension.
Colleagues report that any deviation from individual targets, however minor, results in a disproportionately negative assessment. In some cases, even when targets are met, negative comments are still included under production/productivity. There are concerns that such incongruous negative comments may serve as a pre-emptive justification for denying rewards.
A significant number of colleagues feel that their efforts are neither recognised nor fairly assessed. This is leading to frustration and disengagement. Generating frustration and disengagement is obviously at odds with the management’s stated goal of fostering motivation and staff engagement.
The design of the appraisal report and the use made of it is not helping. The appraisal reports are vague, allowing room for subjective or arbitrary decisions regarding rewards. Despite the box markings for each specific target, decisions are often justified based on the text of the final assessment which lacks clear and objective criteria for comparison across individuals.
The cumulative effect of omnipresent negative comments, the perceived arbitrariness in the decisions, the lack of transparency in goal setting and reward distribution, and ever-increasing individual targets are contributing to unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety among staff. This is leading to cycles of demotivation and disengagement.
2/2 Where a significant portion of employees within an organisation is deemed to be underperforming the blame should not rest solely on its staff. Instead, an effective organisation must reflect on its processes and identify the root causes of these systemic management and appraisal issues.We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to meaningful dialogue on developing and implementing improvements in the appraisal system.
Kind regards,
Isabelle Brandt
On behalf of the Local Staff Committee The Hague
In prior reports the staff representatives said that rewards typically went to people who granted many patents, i.e. didn't do proper examination and instead just allowed many fake patents get enshrined as EPs, causing fiasco (from which some patent attorneys could profit). This encouraged cheating and generally rewarded wrongdoing, including granting of European software patents - i.e. patents which are both illegal and undesirable. █