If the labour market grows as strongly as it has over the past 15 years, namely by 1.3 percent per annum, Switzerland will be short of half a million workers within a decade. Go to this forecast come the economists at UBS Switzerland AG. Their recommendation: Employers must act as quickly as possible to prevent the looming gap in skilled workers from opening up in their own companies. Those who offer talents the perfect climate at the workplace with the right benefits and thus retain them have the chance to emerge victorious from the war for talents.
Closing skills gaps before they occur
One of the top 3 most important employer benefits, according to a survey by MichaelPage, is a good work-life balance. In fact, 80 percent of Swiss employees think that there is no reason to change jobs as long as their work-life balance is in order.
These aspects also made it to the top of the list of the most important employer benefits:
- A good relationship with superiors and colleagues
- Appropriate further training opportunities
So far, so good. But what are companies supposed to do with these buzzwords? Let’s take a quick look at how other Swiss organizations have solved the work-life balance conundrum for their employees, for example. According to a ranking of the employer evaluation portal kununu, Ironforge Consulting AG sets the best example.
Benefit number one: work-life balance
Employees benefit from flexible working hours, which is not exactly a matter of course in Switzerland. And: The management regularly asks the employees whether the current training and workload situation is pleasant. This question is by no means asked pro forma, but subsequently leads to tailor-made measures that directly contribute to the well-being climate in the company.
Tip: Take the same approach to the other two core areas of leadership and training as Ironforge Consulting AG does. Ask your employees what they need to improve their relationship with their supervisor, for example. Or: What would they like to see in the area of in-company training?
Ask what your employees need
It is quite possible that topics such as improved communication or optimised team management will be addressed in terms of leadership. The desire for contemporary conflict management or more agile forms of employee management could also be topics that concern your employees. Ergo: If you develop the appropriate skills of your managers, the satisfaction level of your employees will increase.
When it comes to further education, it is also worthwhile to ask. Here, the needs of colleagues can also diverge widely. While one would like to see an improved internal exchange to close knowledge gaps, the other is more enthusiastic about one-to-one coaching.
There is an app for everything
Are you sweating in the face of this range of needs? There’s no reason for that. What’s the saying? There’s an app for everything. Also for the areas of leadership development and training. Register your managers through them for the federal certificate of the Swiss Association for Leadership Training (SVF). In the various modules, they learn everything that is important for healthy employee management in the digital age.
Using the same app, your employees can also exchange information with each other within the company’s continuing education program, thus boosting the internal flow of knowledge across locations. But you can also network with trained instructors as needed or learn with others in virtual classrooms. And all this completely independent of time and place. Thus, learning can also be optimally integrated into one’s own work-life balance. Employee retention – actually a cinch in the digital age.
