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Jetzt Profil einrichten44 Mitarbeiter haben diesen Arbeitgeber mit durchschnittlich 2,9 Punkten auf einer Skala von 1 bis 5 bewertet.
17 Mitarbeiter haben den Arbeitgeber in ihren Bewertungen weiterempfohlen. Der Arbeitgeber wurde in 23 Bewertungen nicht weiterempfohlen.
Alle Bewertungen durchlaufen den gleichen Prüfprozess - egal, ob sie positiv oder negativ sind. Im Zweifel werden Bewertende gebeten, einen Nachweis über ihr Arbeitsverhältnis zu erbringen.
flexibility, home-office, work-life balance, starting salary
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!
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.
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)
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
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
Eigentlich alles. Mir fällt spontan nichts Negatives ein. Es gibt ein Fitnessstudio das man nutzen kann, Kantine, flexible Arbeitszeiten etc.
Das man schwer Infos darüber erhält was passiert wenn man wieder ins "deutsche" bzw nationale System wechselt was Versicherung und Rente angeht. Etwas schwer dies zu durchblicken.
Das Haustiere im Büro erlaubt werden. Bei anderen Firmen ist dies möglich. Das der Betriebsarzt generell besuchbar ist und auch krank schreiben kann.
Jeder ist freundlich und motiviert.
Möglichkeite flexibel HO zumachen (nur 60 Anwesenheitstag), keine Kernzeit....
Super Gehalt.
Man achtet sehr auf Nachhaltigkeit.
Man wird von allen Kollegen unterstuetzt.
Konnte bisher nichts Negatives feststellen.
Fast nur Einzelbüros, also ruhiges arbeiten möglich. Ergonomische Arbeitsplätze sind Standard (Höhenverstellbarer Schreibtisch etc.). Kantine vorhanden.
Konnte bisher nichts Negatives feststellen.
Flexible Arbeitszeit - und Ort Gestaltung
Das internationale Umfeld, sehr nette Kollegen, interessante Aufgaben
sehr kollegial
Top
sehr gut, aber vom Team abhängig
Sehr!
Aufgabe
Die Qualität der Arbeit wird nicht geschätzt
Beseitigung der sozialen Unterschiede zwischen älteren und jüngeren Kollegen, die oft viel mehr arbeiten und für die gleiche Arbeit viel weniger bezahlt werden
Ich muss zugeben, dass ich mich damals riesig gefreut hatte, als der Anruf kam und mir eine Stelle als Patentprüfer angeboten wurde, aber ich konnte nicht ahnen, dass es zu meiner schlimmsten Joberfahrung kommen würde. Schon nach den ersten Wochen wurde mir klar, dass ich eine Fehlentscheidung getroffen hatte, und dass der Job deutlich unter meine Erwartungen lag. Auf der einen Seite war von Innovationen keine Spur zu sehen. Für alles was Unternehmen herstellen, melden sie Patente an, was schon zeigt, wie faul das System ist. Auf der anderen Seite, da es so viele Anmeldungen gibt, arbeiten die Prüfer wie vor einem Fließband in einer Fabrik, was natürlich keinen Sinn hat. Ich war schockiert wie oberflächig mit den Anmeldungen umgegangen wurde. Das Ganze kam mir sehr schwammig und unseriös vor, gerne hat man Äpfel mit Birnen verglichen (damit es schneller ging), und niemand wusste genau, wie was zu tun war, obwohl es Richtlinien gab. Das Allerbeste noch: Direktoren selbst scheitern an der EQE Prüfung, was schon ein sehr schlechtes Zeichen für den Job ist.
Was mich noch sehr überrascht hatte, war das unfreundliche Arbeitsklima und die unfreundlichen Kollegen. Das man versucht hat, seine Arbeit mit Sinn und Verstand zu machen, schien Niemanden zu interessieren. In einer internationalen Organisation hätte ich so was nie erwartet. Was auch in meiner Karriere noch nie vorkam, war, dass mir gesagt wurde, dass Teamarbeit unerwünscht war. Hat man einen Kollegen um Rat gebeten, wurde das ungern gesehen, da man dadurch die Produktivität des Kollegen beeinträchtigt hat. In Unternehmen wird die Teamfähigkeit hoch geschätzt, beim EPA schien dies nicht der Fall zu sein. Obwohl der Job am Anfang einen bestimmten Reiz für mich hatte, wurde er immer langweiliger und trockener, wo keine Kreativität und klares Denken gefragt wurden. Von Kommunikation und Austausch unter Kollegen natürlich keine Spur.
Es tut mir leid, aber ist man für Technik und Innovation begeistert, bewirbt man sich nicht für das Patentamt. Das Patentamt wirkte auf mich eher wie einen Relikt aus dem Mittelalter als einen vorbildlichen Arbeitsgeber. Der Job ist aus meiner Sicht für Juristen mit ein wenig technischen Hintergrund geeignet. Auf das technische Wissen kommt es nicht an, der Job ist eher ungeeignet für Ingenieure oder Wissenschaftler.
Gradually, working conditions seem to be improving somewhat, i.e. patent examiners seem to be perceived as human beings again, with abilities, needs and limitations, and there is a little faith again in the intrinsic motivation of staff (instead of a tightly woven net of absurd performance targets and suspicious control, as before). It's far from perfect, but the improvement is nice - staff are enjoying the fact that the pain is subsiding ...
Salary increases have effectively been abolished since mid-2019. Until then, the increases for civil servants in the member states had been used as a guide. Now there is a maximum of inflation + 0.25%. With a number of clever exceptions, so that the increase at the beginning of 2021 was only 0.5% and at the beginning of 2022 is apparently completely absent. So from mid-2019 to the end of 2022 (3.5 years), probably a total of 0.5% salary increase. One has to fear that this will continue as the same set of rules will continue to apply. Thus, relatively speaking, the EPA salary is getting worse and worse, since in normal industries, yes, there are salary increases in line with inflation + economic growth. This is something to keep in mind when embarking on an EPO career. Even if the salary seems nice at the beginning it will be worth less and less as the years go by. But it is damn hard to start another career after a few years as an EPO patent examiner, because the job experience is only relevant in a few other jobs. I.e., you tie yourself to a career where your salary is likely to permanently lag behind the increases in the general cost of living.
Moreover, in the recent past we have had severe discrimination and rapid deterioration of working conditions even for younger colleagues who already get less than half the average salary. The latter continues to apply, and that without the younger colleagues receiving correspondingly lower performance targets. At least the tone has recently become friendlier.
The requirements have risen rapidly in recent years; since 2020, there seems to have been a certain relentlessness, but we'll have to see how far that goes. First of all, we have the situation that even young colleagues (still) have to do more than experienced auditors did a few years ago. And in the past, it was possible to attract really highly qualified people. The often less talented newcomers (you can't get the best ones under today's conditions) have a hard time, burnout is widespread. Depending on the technical field, you have to process more than 100 applications per year, which includes the analysis of about 200 documents on the state of the art + the application itself + the search (to find the 200 documents first) + writing the office actions, possibly meetings in the examining division and with the applicant, etc. For this you have 1 to 1.5 days net (of course you have to do all kinds of other things besides working on your own files, so that only the mentioned 1 to 1.5 days remain for your own files). If you like that, go ahead, but please think about it beforehand.
In terms of working conditions and supervisor behavior, the direction has been right since 2020, which gives hope. In view of the disastrous long-term measures before that, there is still a lot to be done though. I don't mean promoting idleness, but rather creating a constructive environment where everyone is happy to do what they can do in a sustainable and healthy way. Not less, but also not more. In the recent past, unfortunately, much more has often been enforced without compromise.
With regard to salary increases, normal conditions must be re-established as quickly as possible, i.e. salary increases must be increased again in line with the salary increases in the member states. Otherwise it will become quite uncomfortable for the employees, particularly since these are forced to live at very expensive locations, above all Munich. The real estate price development is not satisfied with +0.5% in 3.5 years ...
Internationales Arbeitsklima, Arbeitsplatzsicherheit, Aufgaben
Frühzeitigere Einbindung von Personal und Gewerkschaften bei strategischen Entscheidungen
Collaboration ist ein strategischer Schwerpunkt, Internationales Umfeld
Das EPA hat einen sehr guten Ruf unter Wissenschaftern und Juristen
Telework, Teilzeitmodelle, Flexible Arbeitszeit, eigene Kitas
Interne Führungskräfte, sehr niedrige Fluktuation
Überdurchschnittliche hohe Gehälter auf dem Niveau von europäischen Beamten
Green Office Program, Paperless (digitale Akten)
Patentprüfung in Gruppen von jeweils 3 Kollegen, Collaboration als strategischer Schwerpunkt
Ombudsstelle, Interne Counselors
Sehr umfangreiches Schulungsangebote für Führungsnachwuchs , Compliance
Moderne Büros im Zentrum von München, Den Haag, Berlin und Wien, Kunst am Arbeitsplatz mit Kunstsammlung von Weltrang
Abteilung für Kommunikation, Social Media, European Inventor Award
Absolute Gleichberechtigung, equal-pay, „Women in the lead“ Program
Prüfung von Patentanmeldungen, Arbeiten an vorderster Front von neuen Technologien
Sozialpaket
Ständige Vergrößerung der Verwaltung
zur Zeit nicht viel um nicht zu sagen nix
Diktatorische Herrschaft ohne sich an den Codex zu halten, Kommunikation, leider gibt es keine rechtlichen Möglichkeiten
Codex einhalten, Im Interesse des Amtes und nicht der Nationalstaaten handeln
So verdient kununu Geld.