How USPTO Fosters a Strong and Distributed Workforce

For the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), creating an environment for employees that prioritizes “getting the work done,” has been a major goal in recent years. Shifting the focus away from how and where work gets done, and instead emphasizing the quality and character of the work that employees do, has helped the agency make great strides in engagement and productivity.

Central to this strategy is telework. USPTO’s telework program is an integral part of the agency’s strategic goals to attract and retain top talent, save on real estate costs, and reduce pollution and traffic congestion. In fact, the increased number of full-time teleworkers has played a role in the improvement of the attrition rate over time.  

Today, with more than 10,000 teleworkers, 5,200 working four to five days per week across 46 states, the USPTO deploys a multi-prong strategy to ensure that teams stay connected to each other while maintaining focus on agency and business unit mission and goals.  

The USPTO provides various flexible work schedule options, tailored telework guidelines to support business units, targeted online and in person training, surveys to gauge the workforce, and a robust suite of collaboration tools to support effective communication.   

In turn, these synergies create a more resilient workforce. What’s more, they have helped the USPTO become one of the “Best Places to Work” in the federal government. 

Is your workforce resilient? Have you put talent development resources in place to support the changing needs of your agency? Join me for my session, “Predictive Training: Hiring and Building a Resilient Workforce,” at Government Workforce: Learning Innovations to learn how using a strategic foresight methodology can you’re your agency identify several potential future scenarios and prepare for them.