On 31 December 2023 there were 58 job positions in the Estonian Patent Office, divided as follows: 16 in the Trade Mark Department, 16 in the Patent Department, 12 in the Registry Department, 6 in the Intellectual Property Law Department, 6 in management and directly under the authority of the Director General. From the job positions, 43 were civil servants and 13 employees. The Board of Appeal with its two eployees is also located at the Estonian Patent Office. The Board of Appeal is an independent pre-trial institution whose members are appointed by the Minister of Justice.
By the end of the year there were 53 employees in the office. 3 new people were employed in 2023 and the percentage of voluntary turnover was 0.
96% employees had higher education. 3 had a Doctor’s degree. By the end of the year 6 employees had worked in the office for 1–4 years, 5 for 5–9 years, 7 for 10–14 years, 34 for 15 years or more. There were 18.87% males and 81.13% females and the average age of the staff was 51 years.
In today's era of working from home, all employees of the Patent Office have the opportunity to carry out daily work remotely, flexibly in terms of place and time. Many work from their home office, and the Patent Office also has workplaces on the office space of the Social Insurance Board in Tartu at Pepleri 35. Working remotely has both risks and opportunities. Being able to work at any time can lead to overwork or burnout. At the same time, physical isolation can lead to encapsulation and alienation, and new colleagues find it more difficult to blend into the organization's culture. In order to function as a joint organisation, we organised numerous joint events and trainings last year in order to strengthen the feeling of „us“ and deepen our common values – all of us in the Patent Office, regardless of position, are ambassadors of intellectual property. We organised an internal competition for a new slogan, which was chosen from among those offered with the majority of votes going to „Loo, kaitse, innusta!“ (Create, protect, inspire!). It is very important that all our people feel involved and part of the Patent Office.
The Patent Office has a tradition of choosing the best employees of the year. In 2023, the person of the year was Mari-Epp Tirkkonen, the chief examiner of the Trade Mark Department, the best patent examiner was Aare Abrams, the best trade mark examiner was Janika Kruus, the best colleague was Kadri Kroodo from the Intellectual Property Law Department and the best Registry Department colleague was Tiina Feldmanis.:
