Teleworking | IP Australia stops the brain drain

IP Australia has been allowing staff to work remotely for eight years, and believes it is the best way to retain skilled employees.

Living in our nation’s capital isn’t for everyone, and IP Australia realised eight years ago that retaining skilled patent examiners would mean letting some employees work outside of its Canberra base.

IP Australia is responsible for processing patent, trade mark, and design applications, and makes decisions about disputes over intellectual property rights in Australia.

Almost 15 percent of the agency’s 1,000-strong workforce telework for some part of the week on a regular basis, whether that is home-based for one or two days a week, or out-posted to another city. Victor Portelli, general manager of patents at IP Australia told ZDNet that the organisation had started allowing staff to work remotely from around eight years ago.

“It was very dedicated small numbers on technical platforms that weren’t as good or as grunty as they are now, but we did have, even at that stage, secure links,” he said…

via IP Australia stops the brain drain through teleworking | ZDNet.