Management approach

We experience digital change on a daily basis. Knowledge that was up to date yesterday may be outdated tomorrow. Many employees are worried about the future of their industry or profession. Companies are asking themselves what is the right approach to digitisation. As Switzerland’s leading ICT company, Swisscom can help answer the essential questions. It is at the heart of digitisation, which it sees as an enormous opportunity, and wishes to remain the market leader in Switzerland. This requires satisfied employees who use their skills, experience and personalities to inspire people in the networked world on a daily basis.

That is why Swisscom invests in its employees. From 2019, it will offer its employees five training days a year with the aim of enhancing their employability and has set this objective out in the new collective employment agreement (CEA), which was concluded in January 2018. Employees are provided with numerous other opportunities for personal development: further training on the job, project assignments in other areas of the company (for which employees apply via a marketplace), workshops on new technologies and agile ways of working, progress meetings, talent programmes and numerous training courses. Swisscom positions itself on the job market as a top employer. It offers its employees tasks in which they assume responsibility, utilise their potential and further develop their abilities.

The structural changes associated with digitisation and the decline in the core business are reflected in staffing numbers. Swisscom is streamlining work processes and reducing job vacancies in declining business areas. The change in the number of jobs resulted from the fact that some 2,330 employees left Swisscom, while Swisscom hired 1,640 new employees.

By planning for the long term, Swisscom is able to absorb much of the decline in the workforce through natural fluctuation, proactive vacancy management and retirements. Due to the intensive support they receive prior to the expiry of the social plan deadline, employees who are supported by the social plan find an alternative position internally or externally in around 88% of cases. New jobs are generally created in growth areas such as the cloud or security. As in the past, Swisscom will heavily rely on training through apprenticeships and will be making 902 apprenticeships available in 2018.