much much worse than it used to be, but still a good employer (but for how much longer?)
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
flexibility, home-office, work-life balance, starting salary
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
5-years-contract, slow salary increase, less and less money for more and more work.. probably up to a point where good people don't wanna work for the EPO anymore. change it before it's too late!
Verbesserungsvorschläge
better promotion-/salary raise-system! staying in the same position for the whole life is ok as long as you see an improvement in your salary. but being stuck position-wise AND money-wise will sooner or later result in loss of motivation, decrease in work quality etc.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
Me as an examiner: You are allowed to work at your own pace and rhythm. work has to be done, but there is no daily or weekly feedback to put pressure on you. semi-annual and annual performance counts. being less efficient for one or two weeks is totally fine as long as you can compensate it by being a bit more efficient the weeks after. you can take coffee breaks whenever and as often you want. But in the end, you have to do the job. Very nice co-workers and team leaders (might depend on the team)
Kommunikation
very good on a lower level (might depend on the team leader), worse on a higher level (even the team leaders are not well informed by the upper bosses)
Kollegenzusammenhalt
very good. no real competition, however, this is slowly becoming a problem due to a change in the promotion-system which limits the number of promotions and salary raises to only a certain number of employees per team. so, basically, it is not enough do be good; you also have to outdo your colleagues in order to get a salary raise. This used to be different back in the days.
Work-Life-Balance
you barely have appointments which you have to attend (unless you are in a leading position). this give you the freedom to follow up private appointments as you wish and like. up to 70% home-office allowed. 30-36 vacation days (you can take them at any time of the year).
Vorgesetztenverhalten
I am more than happy with my boss. Other bosses I have met seem to be very nice and competent, too. Might be different for other teams and bosses.
Interessante Aufgaben
You have to like the job (which I really do). But even I can see that the ever-growing work-load will sooner or later take away the beauty of this job, which is very sad. The less time you have, the less it is about technology and science. On a long run you have to find a way to keep the job interesting for yourself.
Gleichberechtigung
a lot of female team leaders around. in many directorates there are more female than male team leaders. the fact that there are still more male than female examiners is due to the fact than in general less women study technology or science; not really the EPO's fault, they are doing their best in my opinion. family, pregnancy or parental leave will be highly supported.
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
average hiring age is between 30 and 40. up to 45 it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get hired as long as you fit. however, after 45 it definitely might get harder, but this is understandable and due to two facts: the average examiner retires with 60; and you need up to 5 years to become a fully trained and independently working examiner.
Arbeitsbedingungen
depending on how often you work on-site compared to your home-office days, you get your own office. in any case you get a laptop, an ipad pro max, and two screens. They even deliver an office chair, an office desk (automatically adjustable) and a huge screen to your home if you wish to work from home. however, there is always a debate about the software tools and not everyone is happy about it.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
with more people working from home the EPO reduced the space and offices being used in order to safe electricity. but apart from that I am not qualified to judge about it
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
the starting salary is very good and probably better than in any other company that you will find for the same kind of work and responsibilities. however, at the same time salary raises are probably worse than in any other company you will find for the same kind of work and responsibilities; again, due to the news system. With the new system you can expect a salary raise of about 2% every 2-4 years. Depending on your field, you might start with less money at another company but, on the other hand, earn more money over the whole period of time, let's say 30 years of working, when working at another company. There is also no "13th salary", which is also something that has to be considered when you do the math. the new generation gets two 5-years-contracts before getting a permanent position; 10 years of no security is disgraceful. yes, there are annual bonuses (can be about 2000 euros) which you can get if you performed well over the last year, but again you also have to be better then your co-workers, because bonuses are also limited in number and amount. further, there are inflation compensations in the form of a salary raise. health insurance is very good.
Image
it is indeed getting worse and worse due to the changes and the new system. for the moment, I would still recommend the EPO, but I hardly belief that I will do so in 5-10 years to the next generations
Karriere/Weiterbildung
You start as an examiner and retire as an examiner. don't expect a meteoric career. if you are fine with it, great. if not, then don´t apply.