Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's Incredulous Survey: Management's Voice, Management's Future -- EPO Staff 'Engagement' Spin (Denial of Issues)

Pure spin and distortion by Willis Towers Watson (that's their job), such as the 'outline' below. It merely insults the intelligence of staff while calling it "your voice".

Willis Towers Watson spin



Summary: The EPO lies to its staff and will soon lie to the public, too; In this Battistelli-styled stunt it's constructing an alternate reality while trying to pass it off as 'scientific' (like oil companies funding 'research' to refute climate science)

YESTERDAY morning we wrote about the new survey, which was managed by European Patent Office's (EPO) management. It was overseen by the deniers looking to cover up their misdeeds and incompetence. Willis Towers Watson offers spin as a 'service' (or 'product'), so why not 'pull a Battistelli' (PwC) and waste some more EPO budget on PR disguised as 'survey' or 'study'? Why not spin mismanagement and misconduct as success and promise? It's all about controlling the narrative while making it seem like a reflection of reality (based on, e.g., the number of people surveyed).

We asked/called for insiders to 'leak' it to us, so some quickly did. The EPO should be accountable to the public, not to itself. We need this in the public domain in order for the public to be able to assess the EPO's "sound bites" and see if they match what the contracted firm has found (which may not be accurate either because of the EPO's money tainting objectivity). We also need to know what questions were asked, i.e. the methods. We doubt the EPO wishes to disclose all these 'gory' details. Unlike SUEPO-funded surveys, this one was conducted with the purpose of making António Campinos look good -- a fact one must bear in mind. At the bottom we include the three PDF documents associated with the "sound bites", which the EPO will soon use for propaganda purposes (it already does so internally). Here, below, is the enclosing message.




The Office-wide results are out!


Have a look at the
  • infographic which provides an executive summary or
  • browse through the presentation deck that WTW presented
  • further details in the annex to the presentation.
The President shared his view on the results in his communiqué here.

Following the Office-wide results release, the DGs will hold workshops for their management teams, delving further into these results. After these presentation workshops, all team managers will receive their unit results and organise workshops with their teams.

Final DG participation rates

Complete Invitees Return Rate
DG0 93 113 82%
DG1 4434 5204 85%
DG4 752 847 89%
DG5 217 253 86%
BoA 179 228 79%
Total 5675 6645 85%

About sustainable staff engagement

engaged

Engaged + Enabled + Energised = Happier colleagues, users and customers.
Sustainable Staff Engagement Engaged Enabled Energised
What it means To believe in where we're going and be proud to work at the EPO To have the tools and opportunities to do good work To have a workplace that supports healthy and inspirational ways of working
What it measures /analyses Rational, emotional and behavioural attachment to the company In how far does the local work environment support productivity and performance Individual physical, interpersonal and emotional well-being at work


About Willis Towers Watson

Willis Towers Watson, an international expert survey provider, will help the Office set up a scientific way to measure the dimensions Engagement, Enablement and Energisation. In an open tender process, WTW put forward a solid proposal that convinced the award committee composed of management and staff representatives. Moreover, WTW will assist in ensuring the survey results will lead to actions. The company will administer the survey to guarantee full confidentiality of data.

About the survey

The survey is quick, easy and open to all EPO employees, who have been at the Office for more than 4 months. Anyone having started at the Office after 1 October 2018 (cut-off date) is still in the process of getting to know their new work place and will hence receive no invitation.

On 31 January 2019, you received an e-mail from our external survey provider Willis Towers Watson to participate in the survey. The survey has 55 questions and is as such shorter than previous surveys, to provide actionable and strategic insights. Key areas identified can be followed up in topic-specific Pulse surveys.

The survey is divided into three sections:
  1. About you section: 3 questions on demographics (This information will be used to construct meaningful analysis only; please rest assured that information will not be used to identify respondents cf confidentiality information)
  2. General opinion sections: 55+ multiple choice questions
  3. Open comments sections: 2+ open ended questions that will ask you to share your suggestions and opinions for the Office's future. - Please note, comments will be reported as written. Please do not insert information like your name etc if you wish to remain anonymous.
High-level topics in the survey include: Sustainable Engagement, Communication, Management, Line Management, Service Focus, Working Effectiveness & Quality, Empowerment, Training & Talent Development, Remuneration, Diversity & Inclusion, External Reputation and Well-Being.

It was possible to complete the survey on your computer, mobile phone or tablet, at work or at home and in any of the three Office-languages.

Any management team with 8 or more responses will receive a unit specific report of the findings, which can help the manager identify strengths and areas for positive action.

Reporting examples

How are the 8 responses / 20 comments cut-off rules applied?

org
  • In this example scenario the following reports would be generated:
  • Team manager A will receive an unit report if 8 or more people in his team fill in the survey
  • Team manager B could receive an unit report if all of his staff fill in the survey, if only 7 or fewer people submit their results, all results from Team B would be rolled up to the next level (i.e. the All Directorate Employees report)
  • Team manager C will not receive a specific unit report, as the number of team responses is under the confidentiality protection cut-off of 8 people. Their results will be rolled up to the next level and will feature in the All Directorate Employees report.
  • The Director will receive a report of his management team (Direct Reports), which includes the responses from Team Managers A-C and his Assistants / Advisors, if all 8 fill in the survey. If fewer submit their responses, their results will be rolled up to the Directorate's all employees report.
  • The Director will receive a report for all members of his directorate; this includes his management teams, advisors, assistants and all team members of A,B,C. This report is furthermore available to the Principal Director.
  • Open comments: The cut-off rule for open comments is 20 to protect respondent's confidentiality. In this example, the Director may receive an open comments report, if more than 20 of the people in his directorate have filled in the survey. If fewer people provide comments, say 14 people, comments from the entire directorate will be rolled up to the Principal Director and feature in their report of comments of all Directorates in his line.
  • All responses will furthermore feature in the All PD employees report, in the All COO employees report and the All DG employees report and the All EPO employees report.

Survey timeline

Milestones Date
Willis Towers Watson to analyse survey results March
Office-wide results presentation by Willis Towers Watson
  • To MAC
03 April
  • To all managers (SIM)
Morning of 04 April
  • To CSC
Morning of 04 April
  • To staff (cross-site VICO)
Afternoon of 04 April
Video guide "Working with your results" available to managers As of 04 April
DG-specific results presentations by WTW 10-15 April
  • DG0
11 April
  • DG1
12 April
  • DG4
10 April
  • DG5
15 April
  • BoA
12 April
Unit reports available to managers 10-15 April
Start of unit results discussions

Your manager should reach out to you about these soon
Starting from 10 April

Contact

For questions, you can visit our FAQ section (blue box linked above), or reach out to the project team on staffsurvey@epo.org or your DG representative!






 

PDF files:
  1. EPO-Survey Results Infographics_nometadata
  2. EPO Office-wide results presentation 4 April_nometadata
  3. EPO overall results presentation_Annex_nometadata

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slop's Achilles Heel: It Increases the Workload, Not Just Costs
Set aside its inability to scale well
Improving techrights.org
Technical debt (like 17 years with WordPress) is something that's better to address early, not later
Laos Leaving GAFAM Behind, Gradually
Yesterday evening it was measured at 10% for GNU/Linux at one point
China Says Goodbye to Microsoft
It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world
 
Links 19/08/2026: Timothy James King (AmigaDOS) Dies, GitHub Goes Offline, Finland Wants to Shun Social Control Media
Links for the day
Mass Layoffs at Dropbox, Blame the Debt, Not Slop Hype
The debt of Dropbox Inc., which isn't an imaginary (estimated) thing, is over 4 billion dollars
Microsoft is 'Angel of Death' to Developers (Even Its Own), 'Voluntary' Layoffs Happening Again
From what we are hearing and reading, there are 'voluntary' layoffs again
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: Shirts, Handwriting, and Fights in Geminispace
Links for the day
They Were Wrong All Along
Two women combined won't deliver a healthy baby in just 4.5 months
A "Tech Journalist" Would Not Cover Vote on LLMs as a Sex Issue
For a moment there you have to pause and wonder, is this a "Tech Journalist" or the Daily Stormer?
20,000 by Year's End
The "New Techrights" will have 20,000 pages by year's end
Last Night GNU/Linux Measured at 9% in Africa
Nighttimes in Africa are times when GNU/Linux usage on desktop/laptop devices typically surges, based on Clownflare [...] It changes in favour of GNU/Linux
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Google Bait and Switch (Getting College People 'Hooked' on 'Cheap' Storage, Then Backups Gone), a "Question of E-mail"
Links for the day
Bluesky is in Trouble
Bluesky is a private company (unlike Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. in Toronto, that one runs a pyramid scheme!), so it's hard to know for sure just how much money it is losing
Links 18/08/2026: US Abandons South Korea, New Legal Disputes Over Slop Plagiarism in the Music Scene
Links for the day
Linux Losing Interest in Users' Freedom, Pursues DRM Instead
"Linux" is (or was, as GNU/Linux) meant to empower - not artificially restrict - the users
GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
Links for the day
SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
It's long, so make a cuppa first
SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
they've always had a financial report by now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
Links for the day
Evri (HermesUK) is Now Run by Bots and Hallucinating Scammers
Years ago they virtually removed support and tried chatbots instead
Less Technology, More Life
Technology is being associated (sometimes rightly) with physical and mental problems
Google Search Has Gotten Worse (a Lot Worse)
getting worse
Birthday in 80 Days
we'll start decorating and party online with our community
Loans and Massive Debt at Microsoft, This Won't End Well.
Microsoft running out of money to pay salaries (to the point of paying people for 'voluntary' layoffs) is a positive sign?
Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Life in Plain Text, Mimicking KARL, Release of Jugulans, Avoiding Slop
Links for the day
Clown Storage Without Backups
Setting up several reliable copies of the data, plus several off-site backups (this data is nowhere as sensitive as medical data), should only cost a few grand
FreeCAD is Becoming Slop-ware, Use LibreCAD Instead
It has regular releases and "Qt5 is mandatory" now [...] they at least audit what they add
Cuba and Venezuela High in Adoption of GNU/Linux
some of the "communist" nations
Links 17/08/2026: Myanmar’s Cholera Outbreak, China Sends Commercial Vessels Through Arctic
Links for the day
GAFAM Loyalty Has Come to an End, Morale Low, People Whose Future is Uncertain Choose to Become "Lifers"
morale is low and there's no loyalty anymore
SLAPP Censorship - Part 152 Out of 200: Injunctions Do Not Cover Criticism, They Have Scope
self-incriminating communications
Clownflare Sees About Quarter of Web Requests in Ireland Coming From GNU/Linux
Well, in Ireland it seems like many people adopted GNU/Linux
Clownflare: In Australia and New Zealand GNU/Linux Peaks at Over 10% During Working Hours
That right there is interesting in its own right
Slowing Down by Intention
At the moment we have 6 or 7 ongoing series
Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Chamboree, Partial Solar Eclipse, Lady Macbeth
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2026: "Bluesky Is Down Again!" and "Anti-Social Media"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 16, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 16, 2026