Ergon, a software company with 250 employees, is one of the most popular employers in Switzerland and has already won various awards. Special features include the transparency of wages and company data for employees, the high degree of co-determination and the participation of everyone in the company's success.

Continuity and renewal

The new management team stands for continuity: Gabriela Keller has been with Ergon since 1994, 15 years of which were spent on the executive board. The graduate ETH computer engineer was previously responsible for marketing and human resources and played a key role in shaping Ergon's corporate culture. "I am looking forward to continuing to shape Ergon's development in my new position as CEO and to building optimal software for our customers with our engineering teams." Patrick Burkhalter, who has led Ergon since 1992, will retire from the operational business and will now be responsible for Ergon's strategic development as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

With Lukas Ehrensperger, who has been working as an account manager at Ergon since 2014, a strong sales personality with a large industry network is joining the management team. Alois Sauter will continue to work for Ergon in sales and as an account manager. Teddy Graf as CFO and Hans-Jürg Schneider as COO will retain their functions.

Decentralized organization with a strong market focus

The four departments Finance Solutions, Enterprise Solutions, Application Security and Telecom Solutions are now directly represented on the Executive Board by their long-standing heads Adrian Berger, Heiko Faller, Roman Hugelshofer and Dominik Moser. The management structure is becoming flatter and the direct flow of information supports short decision-making paths and a strong focus of the management on the respective markets.

The changes in the management team were preceded by a succession planning process lasting several years, during which the future management team worked together with Ergon employees on the new strategic direction of the company and the management team was prepared for its new role with further training.

New forms of communication among systems but also with humans are possible. Terms such as cyber-physical systems and Internet-of-Things come into play here. According to a recent study by Gartner, 21,000 billion devices will be connected via the Internet by 2020. Software robots are increasingly taking over routine tasks, for example in HR or the financial industry. This development is changing our work and the corresponding work processes to a great extent, but also the requirements for the qualifications and skills of the employees. Welcome to the world of work 4.0 - partly already a reality, partly on the way there.

Technological progress always offers risks as well as opportunities. What are the challenges for health protection and holistic occupational health management in view of this enormous change? Are the cases of psychological problems continuing to increase so rapidly? What do safe human-robot collaborations look like? What are current responses to future work? How can the stress in the head due to permanent strain be reduced and the performance of the employees be maintained?

Work 4.0 requires occupational health management 4.0. The speakers at the conference on June 2, 2016 on the topic of "Occupational Health Management 4.0" will highlight the current and new demands, risks and opportunities resulting from the influence of digitization. However, they also show approaches of preventive measures and solutions within the framework of occupational health management.

More info on the conference at: http://www.save.ch/events/betriebliches_gesundheitsmanagement_4-0_2016_06_02/

Cleantech is a growing future market worldwide, in which many Swiss companies are increasingly able to position themselves successfully. The resource efficiency strategy adopted by the Federal Council in 2011 has contributed significantly to this. With its Cleantech Master Plan, the federal government has defined its role as a door opener to join forces and create synergies between the players from science, business, administration and politics. The implementation report, which the Federal Council took note of in May 2015, showed that this has been successful.

Following a renewed analysis of the situation, the Federal Council decided today to no longer pursue the Master Plan as a stand-alone strategy, but to continue the measures already underway within the framework of other existing strategies (including the Green Economy Report and the Sustainable Development Strategy). The Federal Office of Energy will remain the first point of contact for concerns in the cleantech sector and will assume the coordination function within the federal administration.

In May 2015, the Federal Council took note of the implementation report on the Cleantech Master Plan and instructed the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) to submit a proposal on how to proceed. To this end, the federal agencies involved have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the situation together with the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Economic Affairs (VDK).

Proven strategy

The analysis shows that the previous cleantech strategy has proven its worth and has triggered numerous activities at the public and private sector level. Most of the measures defined in 2011 have been successfully implemented. As an important principle for future work, it was again stated that the federal government must first and foremost ensure good framework conditions.

Against this background, the Federal Council concludes that an independent continuation of the Cleantech Master Plan is no longer necessary. The measures still underway can be addressed within the framework of other existing strategies.

The Federal Council continues to attach importance to a coordinated approach in the area of cleantech and has today assigned the coordinating role to DETEC (Federal Office of Energy). It will be informed again by the end of 2019 at the latest with an overall view of the current status of the work and will then decide on the further course of action.

(BR)

For companies with 1,000 business travelers, the difference - and the potential savings - is nearly $50,000 per year.

 

Women book their flights 1.9 days earlier than men and therefore pay on average about two percent less for their tickets. These are the findings of an analysis of 6.4 million flight bookings published by Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) under the title "Gender Differences in Booking Business Travel: Advance Booking Behavior and Associated Financial Impact".

For the study, CWT Solutions Group collaborated with Javier Donna, Assistant Professor of Economics at Ohio State University, and Gregory Veramendi, Assistant Professor of Economics at Arizona State University. Using state-of-the-art statistical techniques, it was possible to establish a link between gender and flight booking behavior.

As the study shows, the financial impact resulting from the difference in booking behavior between the gender groups is significant: for companies with 1,000 business travelers, the difference - and thus the potential savings - is nearly $50,000 per year.

So companies with 20,000 business travelers could save up to $1 million annually if male travelers booked as early as their female counterparts.

Analysis about frequent travelers

Further results of the study show: The older travelers are, the more inclined they are to book flights in advance. A pattern can also be seen among frequent flyers, because the more often employees travel on business, the more they book their trips at short notice. Interestingly, however, gender differences hardly play a role among frequent travelers.

In addition to examining these booking patterns, however, the analytics process can be applied to other areas in the travel process and help travel managers gain new insights and a better understanding of travelers' booking behavior.

This allows travel managers to personalize travel processes more, engage with travelers in a more targeted way, and ensure more accurate travel management and more efficient travel programs overall.

"The analytics process opens up many new possibilities for designing personalized travel processes," says Catalin Ciobanu, Senior Director Data & Analytics at CWT Solutions Group. "It can also be applied to many other forms of traveler segmentation, such as breakdowns by geographic location, booking channels used, or business unit.

Ultimately, by better understanding the traveler, we can improve both the processes and the effectiveness and efficiency of corporate travel programs."

Read more about CWT's business travel study at this Link

After all, if you type your thoughts into a mobile device, you can't really follow what's going on and become dependent on it.

What you have stored digitally, you no longer need to remember. - Due to the widespread use of mobile devices, the phenomenon of "digital amnesia" unfortunately presents itself not only in everyday life, but also in the work environment. Many employees overestimate their ability to multi-task, as a global survey commissioned by Kaspersky Lab shows.

After all, if you type your thoughts into a mobile device, you can't really follow what's happening and become dependent on it. From an information security perspective, companies would need to ensure that the devices used by employees are equally protected against theft, loss and cyber attacks.

Information loss

According to the Kaspersky study, 52 percent of employees surveyed in Germany admitted that when notes are recorded in digital form, much is lost that is necessary for later understanding:

Namely, the context, the feelings and references to the behavior with which the facts to be recorded were expressed - in the European average, by the way, this said somewhat less at 44 percent. Five percent of the Germans surveyed (6.8 percent across Europe) are even completely dependent on their digital notes during a meeting: With these, all memories of it were lost at the same time!

The study also shows that one in two respondents in Germany and Europe can no longer actively follow what is happening while typing their meeting notes. However, more than one in three (36 percent) German respondents (46 percent across Europe) insist that meticulously recorded facts are more important than, say, recording the mood that prevailed during a meeting.

In addition, one in two (51 percent) in Germany and two-thirds in Europe (67 percent) say that digital notes have the advantage over their own memories of being easier to store and pass on.

"Digital Amnesia"

"Human memory is limited. Those who only listen and rely on their memory should know that the transfer from short-term to long-term memory is a difficult process and depends on how well we already know the subject in question," explains Dr. Gorkan Ahmetoglu, a lecturer in industrial psychology at University College London.

"If a topic is new to us and we can't fully grasp it yet, we should record as much as possible so it can be recalled and internalized later. In the case of a familiar subject, however, the advantages of digital notes are less pronounced," continues Dr. Gorkan Ahmetoglu.

"Then we'd better dispense with a record and give full attention to the information presented and its circumstances to complete our picture."

Interaction

Relying entirely on digital memory is risky: the device used could be lost, stolen, or the data could fall victim to a cyberattack. "There is now a great deal of tolerance in companies for the use of digital devices in meetings," says Holger Suhl, General Manager DACH at Kaspersky Lab.

"Digital amnesia in the working world harbors risks. At the same time, however, it also shows us that the best results are only achieved through the interaction of man and machine. In this way, it is possible to hold on to both: the facts and the emotions that are important for their interpretation. For companies of all sizes and in all industries, protecting digital devices used as memory aids should be a priority."

The detailed Kaspersky report "Digital Amnesia at Work" can be here can be retrieved.

As part of his work, Valeri also planned and implemented the launch of the new business unit "euroengineering". In 2015, Valeri completed an International Executive MBA with a focus on General Management at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). STAFF FINDER is thus laying further foundations for international expansion and expansion in the Swiss market.

The expansion of the management team allows Viktor Calabrò, founder and CEO of STAFF FINDER, to focus more on the further development of the company and its internationalization. This is all the more important as STAFF FINDER successfully closed a financing round with One Peak Partners and Goldmann Sachs Private Capital at the beginning of March.

More information at: www.staff-finder.jobs

Whether tofu, tempeh or soy cream - products made from soy are in vogue. In the human diet, the yellow bean is increasingly in demand throughout Europe and the range of soy products is constantly expanding. Now, Swiss organic soy stakeholders have joined forces to improve domestic cultivation and expand the range of domestic soy products. The project is supported by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) coordinated. The advantages of Swiss organic soy: no rainforest is cleared for it, the soy is guaranteed to be free of genetic modification, value creation takes place in Switzerland, and traceability is guaranteed. In addition, the farmers are organized in the producer organization PROGANA and have purchase contracts.

The pitfalls of soybean cultivation

With its nodule bacteria, soybean as a legume does bind important nitrogen and does not need to be fertilized. "The main problem in organic soybean cultivation is weediness," says Maurice Clerc, FiBL arable advisor and co-project leader. "This drives up production costs in organic farming. That's why it's important to breed varieties that suppress weeds better and which are ideal for producing the various products."

So far, the soybean is not very widespread in organic farming in Switzerland, although some pioneers have been growing the bean for several years. This is due in no small part to more than 30 years of breeding work by the Agroscope Research Station, which has produced varieties suited to the local climate. Now, however, more and more organic farmers are becoming interested in soybean cultivation, which is very demanding. This is where the "Organic Food Soy Switzerland" project comes in.

The "Organic Food Soy Switzerland" project: what is it about?

The aim of the project is to strengthen Switzerland's organic soy sector by involving the entire value chain, starting with breeding, variety testing, seed multiplication, cultivation advice, processing, product development, through the retail trade to the consumer, and to provide consumers with high-quality organic soy products entirely from domestic production. "We want to promote ideal collaboration for everyone involved in the production and processing of Swiss organic soy - from seed to the final product for consumers," says Matthias Klaiss, FiBL project coordinator.

The project is supported by the Coop Fund for Sustainability and from the Bio Suisse financially supported. "Coop has been producing all of its tofu products entirely with organic soy from Switzerland since 2015," emphasizes Roland Frefel, responsible for fresh products at Coop. "In order to be able to meet the growing demand for these products in the future, Coop is supporting this innovative project, once again underlining its pioneering role in the field of sustainability and organic farming in particular."

Coop, FiBL, Agroscope, Bio Suisse, the producers' organization PROGANA, Delley Samen und Pflanzen AG and Mühle Rytz are involved in the "Bio Speisesoja Schweiz" project. The project will run until the end of 2018.

"Travel can have an impact on health or on performance," says HR Director Randstad (Switzerland) Ltd.

Swiss employers with an international focus can score points with Swiss employees. Three quarters of respondents say they would like to work with colleagues from different countries. This is the case for all the men and women surveyed and for all age groups. The survey also revealed that 46 percent of Swiss employees would like a job that involves international business travel.

Among 25- to 34-year-olds, this figure is as high as 51 percent. This age group includes, among others, young people who have just completed their studies. Jobs with travel opportunities are particularly popular among many graduates.

Discrepancy between desire and reality

Around half of employees would like to travel, but for only 17 percent is traveling abroad part of their everyday working life. At 24 percent, this figure is more than twice as high for men as for women (11 %). Very young employees between the ages of 18 and 24 in particular travel beyond national borders for work (29 %). In the 25-34 age group, this figure falls, and international business trips are now part of everyday working life for only 14 percent.

High interest to work abroad

Interest in working abroad is high among both men and women. Just under one in two would find it exciting to work abroad one day. Interest increases steadily among 18- to 34-year-olds and then declines again with increasing age. This suggests that the willingness to travel is closely linked to family planning. This is because the willingness to travel increases again as soon as the children are a little older and more independent.

Furthermore, 49 percent of survey participants said they would move abroad for the right job. Here, too, enthusiasm is highest among younger people, with two-thirds of those aged between 18 and 24 saying they would leave Switzerland for their dream job.

International travel broadens horizons

The participants in the survey agree that traveling for work can offer added value. Employees who travel for work can benefit in several ways: They come into contact with a wide variety of people from different countries and language regions. And they gain insight into foreign corporate cultures. This is also the view of Nathalie Zihlmann, HR Director Randstad (Switzerland) Ltd:

"Being allowed to do business in an international environment not only broadens professional and cultural horizons, but also contributes to personal development. However, it should not be forgotten that frequent travel is also associated with stress and that this can have an impact on health or performance, especially in the case of frequent and short stays in other time zones."

Randstad Mobility Index

The Randstad Mobility Index indicates how many employees expect to accept a new, comparable job within the next six months. In Switzerland, the index fell from 102 to 99 points (-3) in the first quarter of 2016.

More information: www.randstad.ch

​

Mobility subsidiary Catch a Car draws a successful conclusion from its pilot project in Basel: More than 5,000 customers are now using its station-independent car-sharing service, which reduces traffic according to the latest ETH research results. The city of Basel is continuing the collaboration, and negotiations are underway with other cities.

Satisfied customers
The two-year pilot phase has shown that station-independent car sharing also works in Swiss cities. Catch a Car has been able to successfully establish its service in Basel and is recording a steadily increasing number of registrations and trips. Today, over 5,000 customers are on the road with 120 cars.

Manager Silena Medici is highly satisfied: "The system works very well and is very well received. That's why we're continuing it and want to expand. We are already in talks with other cities." Government Councilor Hans-Peter Wessels is equally pleased: "Catch a Car has become a natural part of urban mobility in Basel and is appreciated by residents." Since the car-sharing service has proven to have a car- and traffic-reducing effect, "we are very happy to continue the cooperation."

ETH study: fewer cars and less CO2 thanks to Catch a Car

Catch a Car was accompanied for two years by ETH Zurich, which evaluated the effects on traffic and the environment. All of these effects were positive: Since car sharers change their mobility behavior in the long term, Catch a Car - calculated on the current number of users - prevents 363 cars on Basel's roads. In addition, according to a qualified ETH estimate, average private vehicle use is reduced by 560,000 kilometers annually. This corresponds to 2,240 trips from Basel to Geneva or a saving of 45,000 liters of fuel per year or 104 tons of CO2.

In turn, Catch a Car users travel more frequently by public transport than private car owners, "proving that our car-sharing concept does not compete with public transport, but complements it in a meaningful way," Medici concludes.

Allianz and AMAG participate with share capital

All previous business partners will remain with Catch a Car in the future. While the cooperation with EnergieSchweiz and SBB will continue as usual on a strategic level, Allianz and AMAG will even join the Lucerne-based company as investors from summer 2016. "As an innovative insurer, we want to play an active role in shaping future mobility solutions," affirms Thomas Wegmann, Head of Market Management at Allianz Suisse. Bernhard Soltermann (Managing Director AMAG Import) adds: "Catch a Car offers us, as the largest Swiss car service provider, an excellent opportunity to expand our commitment and presence on the topic of mobility at national and regional level."

(Catch-A-Car)

Anyone who leaves litter lying around instead of disposing of it correctly - in other words, anyone who engages in littering - will in future be able to be punished with a uniform fine throughout Switzerland. This new provision would be implemented at cantonal level. The Federal Council supports an amendment to the Environmental Protection Act proposed by the National Council's Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (UREK-N) and adopted the corresponding statement at its meeting today. The amendment is to be coordinated with the ongoing revision of the legislation on administrative fines.

Fines ranging from 100 to 300 francs are envisaged. Today, 18 cantons already provide for fines for throwing away small amounts of waste. These range from 40 to 300 francs.

The impetus was provided by the parliamentary initiative submitted in 2013 by National Councilor Jacques Bourgeois (FDP / FR) to strengthen measures against littering (13.413). Parliament is expected to decide on the amendment in the summer session.

ADP, one of the leading providers of human capital management solutions, plans to further expand its business in Switzerland over the next few years. "Switzerland has always been one of the great economies in Europe, especially with strong brands in finance and pharmaceuticals - both fields of work that rely heavily on knowledge, innovation and talent," says Patricia Molenaar, VP Sales Spain, Switzerland & Poland at ADP.

"In such a market, there is great demand for solutions to manage its employees efficiently, and thus there is great potential for a provider like us."

ADP offers a wide range of outsourcing services that cover all work areas of an HR department. ADP's portfolio supports companies from the recruitment of new employees to their retirement and is directly tailored to the Swiss market and complies with local standards and regulations.

The solutions are aimed at companies of all sizes, from micro-enterprises to multinational corporations, and cover the five core areas of human capital management:

1. HR,
2. Payroll,
3. Bonus benefits,
4. Talent Management
5. Attendance Planning.

This includes simple payroll and time administration tools as well as complex talent management, performance planning and data analytics solutions, all for small, local companies as well as multinational corporations. Just recently, ADP's modular HCM solution DECIDIUM was rolled out in the Swiss market after being adapted to local laws and best practices.

Two Swiss locations

ADP operates in Switzerland from two locations, one in Carouge and one in Dietikon. The company already supports 320 Swiss customers in their day-to-day HCM needs. To meet the high demand for data protection and data security, all of ADP's solutions are certified to ISO 27001, ISAE3402 and Swissdec. ADP's cross-industry solutions have been available in Switzerland for 30 years, while the company has 65 years of experience worldwide and its solutions are used by over 630,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

For more information visit www.adp.ch

Good forecasts: Almost half (48%) of the jobseekers surveyed expect to be able to start a new job within 3 months. This is the highest figure since the launch of this quarterly index in Q1 2015. This increase was particularly pronounced among two groups - "millennials" and job seekers from French-speaking Switzerland:

• 62% of candidates under 30 are confident of finding a new job within 3 months, compared to 43% in the 30-50 age group and 49% in the 50+ age group.
• 56% of jobseekers from French-speaking Switzerland expect to find a new job within 3 months compared to 40% in German-speaking Switzerland.

Both "millennials" throughout Switzerland and job seekers from French-speaking Switzerland are confident about rising wages - in stark contrast to job seekers in German-speaking Switzerland:

"This increase in confidence among Millennials presents a challenge for employers seeking to attract and retain young talent," notes Xavier Chauville, Executive Director at Page Personnel. "This is especially true for engineers and technical specialists in export-oriented Swiss industries such as medtech, aerospace, food, pharma and biotech.

Also in demand are specialists in the value-added financial sector - especially fintech. The increase in confidence in French-speaking Switzerland is closely linked to the rise in vacancies. In 2015, there were widespread hiring freezes in both industry and finance."

Page Personnel Confindence Index

The Page Personnel Confidence Index is a unique measurement tool to gauge the confidence of job seekers. The results are based on an ongoing study and have been collected quarterly since July 2014 on a base of at least 400 PageGroup candidates. The study, which is unique in Switzerland, is conducted online and measures job change motivations, job seekers' confidence in finding a new job and expectations about how long it will take to find a job every three months. It also gives an impression of the economic development in Switzerland.

www.michaelpage.ch