Satisfaction with the Winterthur location has fallen
Companies are less satisfied with Winterthur as a business location than in previous years. This is shown by the results of the House of Winterthur 2024 company survey. With an increasing willingness to invest and optimistic business expectations for the coming year, the mood in the economic region nevertheless remains positive.
The results of the 2024 company survey show that the general mood among companies in the Winterthur economic region is largely positive. However, satisfaction with the general economic conditions has fallen noticeably. Satisfaction with the location has decreased significantly compared to the previous year. Just under 70 percent of the companies surveyed stated that they were somewhat to very satisfied with the general conditions in the Winterthur economic region. In the previous year, this figure was still around 87 percent.
"This development underlines the need to stand up for the companies based here and their needs," says Jakob Bächtold, Managing Director and Head of Business at House of Winterthur. In order to draw better conclusions about the reasons for the decline in satisfaction, House of Winterthur will increase the number of company and member visits in 2025 and conduct more discussions with business representatives.
Skills shortage keeps companies busy, willingness to invest increases
In the survey, companies named the shortage of skilled workers as the biggest challenge for the coming year, followed by political regulations, price pressure, the order situation and consumer behavior. Despite the challenges mentioned, a good three quarters of companies expect a rather positive to very positive business trend for 2025, which is slightly below the previous year's figure of 80%. The willingness to invest has once again increased slightly, reaching a new high of over 55% and showing that many companies will continue to develop at the location.
Proximity and real estate situation as important location factors
Decisive factors for companies when choosing a location are mainly proximity to customers (19.9 percent) and private residence (17.2 percent), followed by proximity to private networks, availability of real estate and lower rents and property prices.
To the company survey
House of Winterthur has been conducting the company survey among companies in the city and region of Winterthur for seven years. The survey covers topics such as satisfaction with the location and current challenges. Around 150 companies took part in the survey in late fall 2024. Four fifths of respondents were members of the management.
Source: www.winterthur.com
