Posts Tagged: "remote work"

Last year brought unprecedented changes as to how the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducts business. Prior to the pandemic, the USPTO was already a trailblazer with employees teleworking. As of 2018, 8,824 patent positions, roughly 94% of the total positions eligible for telework, already worked from home. On March 15, 2020, however, the USPTO closed all of its offices to the public, and subsequently transitioned its entire workforce of roughly 13,000 people (which includes patent examiners, trademark examiners, and other staff), to full telework, practically overnight. Since the majority of these positions were already teleworking, the transition was almost seamless.