The association EXPERTsuisse sees itself as a competence developer and certifier for its members. This is already reflected in the latest education program of the subsidiary EXPERTsuisse AG. In order to continue to successfully shape this development with its members up to and beyond the year 2025, the management team and its executive board have been continuously strengthened. In this context, the CEO role of EXPERTsuisse AG will now be transferred from Marius Klauser to Stefanie Specker as of April 1, 2023. "It is important to us that we can support the business model of EXPERTsuisse AG and the association, which has been professionalized and further developed over the past few years, even more robustly in terms of organization and personnel. Stefanie Specker has been working for us for over two years in the roles of CFO and CHRO, among others, and is therefore predestined to take on the CEO role," explains Peter Ritter, President of EXPERTsuisse.

"I am looking forward to my additional role as CEO of EXPERTsuisse AG. Our team is highly motivated to make the current projects - e.g. in education and IT - a success and to continue our success story together with our external dialogue partners," says Stefanie Specker, designated CEO of EXPERTsuisse AG. "It is a pleasure to hand over this responsible role into the hands of Stefanie Specker. We are not developing followers, but leaders. This allows for internal succession planning and for me an increased focus on political dossiers and strategic projects," says Marius Klauser, Director & Board Delegate of EXPERTsuisse.

Meanwhile, Luzia Hafen will take over from Marius Klauser in the role of Specialist Director Consulting & Business Service as of April 1, 2023. During Marius Klauser's sabbatical (August 2023 - January 2024), Sergio Ceresola will ad interim take over the director role and the role of the management of "allianz denkplatz schweiz", while Joachim Beil will ad interim take over the role of Head of Sustainability/Governance/Leadership. Michael Vonlanthen will continue to manage the education business with the important projects regarding the new expert courses for certified public accountants and certified tax experts. Marius Klauser will take over as Delegate of the Board of Directors and Director of EXPERTsuisse, Head of Sustainability/Governance/Leadership and Managing Director of "alliance think tank switzerland" return.

Source and further information: EXPERTsuisse

In Switzerland, Credit Suisse had to be forcibly merged with UBS - all with the active support of the Swiss National Bank. Both banks are given unrestricted access to the Swiss National Bank's facilities. For Pascal Hügli, bitcoin expert and lecturer on blockchain and cryptoassets at the HWZ, it is clear: "What the current situation brings to our attention: More and more people are just becoming aware that a bank deposit is an unsecured loan tied to a counterparty. From one day to the next, the search for alternatives is once again on - as it was at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis."

Flight into Bitcoin because of banking crisis?

Pascal Hügli, who in addition to his lecturing activities is now also the owner of Insight DeFi is a content and consulting agency focused on cryptoassets, further notes that at the time, however, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin did not exist. This has no counterparty risk and can be held independently. However, the digital crypto asset was only created as a possible answer in the wake of the last financial crisis. As the past few days have shown, the narrative of Bitcoin as an alternative seems to be catching on, according to the Bitcoin expert.

For example, since the initial turmoil surrounding Silicon Valley Bank just over a week ago, the cryptoasset has risen in value by over 30% against the US dollar (at the time of publication of this post, it stood at over 25900 francs, albeit with a downward trend, editor's note). Gold has risen in price by about 6% over the similar time frame, while the Swiss franc has weakened against the US dollar. Bitcoin as an escape currency, then?

Investors want alternatives

For Hügli, the reason for the price reaction is as follows: "Bitcoin's strong rise in this short term is probably mainly due to the fact that Bitcoin investors anticipate the end of the interest rate upward cycle due to the circumstances." However, he believes that current events will increasingly legitimize bitcoin investing in the medium to long term. People will want alternatives, and in a digital world, there will be no getting around Bitcoin. Hügli already senses this trend in the first inquiries from family offices and asset managers who contact him these days.

In the record year 2022, the IT company Bechtle Schweiz AG recorded impressive organic growth of over 17 %. To ensure this success in the coming years, Managing Director Christian Speck delegates various tasks to a management team consisting of Patrick Fischbacher, Head of Sales, Kerstin Friedlin, Head of Finance & Administration, and Christoph Kleinsorg, Head of Services & IT Services.

Broader support for management

Patrick Fischbacher has already been responsible for sales in all regions of German-speaking Switzerland since May 2022. By joining the newly formed Board, the various needs of Bechtle Schweiz AG's customers are optimally represented and will thus be even more involved in all decisions, according to the statement.

Kerstin Friedlin joined the company on November 1, 2022, and is responsible for finance and administration. "Kerstin Friedlin has excellent knowledge of the industry and the market as well as the different business areas of our company. I am therefore very pleased that we are able to fill this newly created and important position with such an experienced and competent colleague," explains Christian Speck, Managing Director of Bechtle Schweiz AG.

Finally, Christoph Kleinsorg started as Head of Services and IT Services on February 1, 2023. According to Bechtle Switzerland, his representation on the Management Board reflects the central importance of the quality of solutions and services for Bechtle customers. Christian Speck comments, "This demonstrates our commitment to aligning our offering even better with the needs of our customers. I am convinced that Christoph Kleinsorg will excellently implement these tasks with his know-how and personality."

Time for other important tasks

Thanks to the reinforcement in the management team, Christian Speck is able to dedicate himself with priority to the strategic orientation of the company and the development of innovations. Crucial to this are committed and well-trained employees who work together with customers to find solutions. "In the future, I will focus even more on shaping our corporate culture, as this is very close to my personal heart," explains Christian Speck. "Our employees are our most valuable asset and only together with them will we achieve our ambitious goals."

Source and further information

The situation of Credit Suisse has worsened in recent days. Then, on Sunday, March 19, 2023, the takeover of the ailing bank by UBS was announced. It is well known that such takeovers do not remain without consequences for the employees. For the approximately 17,000 employees, there is an enormous amount at stake after the CS takeover - and thus also for our national economy, writes the Swiss Bank Employees Association SBPV in a statement. It is to be feared that, on the one hand, Credit Suisse is talking about significantly more jobs than was communicated last fall during the bank's strategic realignment. In addition, tens of thousands of jobs outside the banking industry would potentially be at risk. Therefore, the SBPV had already demanded on Saturday, March 18, 2023, the immediate establishment of a task force on the endangered jobs and contacted the CS managers. This task force should include representatives of the employer, the staff commission and the employee associations. Other stakeholders involved - be it other banks, the SNB or the federal government - were also invited to participate.

Focus on people after CS takeover

In the task force called for by SBC, the social partners in particular must define measures for the possible developments in order to limit job losses to the absolute minimum. Where this is not possible, the consequences of redundancies must be cushioned as best as possible beyond the social plan. In this process, the Bank Staff Association will bring its decades of experience and constructive cooperation with the CS Staff Commission to bear. It is now a matter of putting people first.

Credit Suisse has a good social plan. It is used in the event of restructuring and is intended to ensure through various measures that as many affected employees as possible find employment again internally or at other banks. This existing social plan is good and should be applied in any scenario, SBC wrote in a statement. However, additional measures are needed to cushion the dramatic economic consequences. Neither the thousands of dedicated CS employees who are successful in Switzerland nor the general public should foot the bill for the mistakes of the former management.

Existing social plan is not sufficient

In this extraordinary situation, where the future of the bank is at stake, the Courant normal is not enough, said SBA in unison with the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions SGB. The social plan can only be the starting point for the task force to take additional measures against an imminent massive cutback in the banking sector, it said. Neither the thousands of dedicated CS employees nor the general public should pay for the mistakes of the former management.

Source: SBPV

"We are considered the water castle of Europe, but every year we are less so," says Anna Brand, the designated new president of the Zerowaterloss Foundation in Bern. On the occasion of the UN World Water Day on March 22, she calls on Swiss business and politics to start water-saving programs early, "because the coming water shortage will far exceed the negative consequences of the energy crisis in Switzerland and worldwide." Under the slogan "Accelerating Change," the UN is warning against excessive water consumption on World Water Day 2023. The Bern-based Zerowaterloss Foundation was launched by the Swiss industrialist family of Jürg Brand to ensure that unnecessary water consumption and waste is recognized early on as a serious risk to society. It supports the UN message as well as research projects and events to help address this new global crisis with innovative water management. Anna Brand says: "Access to sufficient water is a human right. Today, drinking water in Switzerland and worldwide is wasted because it is far too cheap for many uses and, on the other hand, hardly affordable as survival water for many people." The foundation, which she leads as the new president-elect, therefore calls for "an understanding of the value of water, because a water crisis becomes a human crisis." Source and further information: www.stiftungzerowaterloss.ch The post Water crisis far outstrips energy crisis appeared first on Organizer.

The Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC) connects angel investors with young Swiss technology startups. According to its own statements, this largest angel investor club in Switzerland has just published its annual investment report: of a total of 153 financing rounds in Swiss early-stage startups in the ICT and FinTech sector, SICTIC investors were involved in 106 rounds. This means that the association, which was founded in 2014 and has around 500 members, covers 69% of all early-stage financing in Swiss ICT and FinTech startups and thus makes a significant contribution to the successful transfer of technology into innovative products and the creation of new, promising jobs.

SICTIC recorded nine exits

The aggregated portfolio of this investor community grows to an impressive 254 startups, some of which have already achieved so-called "unicorn" status, i.e. a company valuation of more than one billion Swiss francs, or are on the verge of doing so. Furthermore, SICTIC reports a remarkable nine exits. "Despite many uncertainties in the market and an increase in inflation, 2022 was an exceedingly strong growth year for venture capital in Switzerland. This not only underlines the quality and robustness of Swiss startups, but also demonstrates the association's leading role as the most active matchmaking platform for Swiss early-stage financing," Dr. Thomas Dübendorfer, President of SICTIC, is pleased to report.

Expansion to other technology sectors

The investor club also announces that, in addition to startups from the ICT and fintech sectors, it intends to support startups from other technology sectors in the future: "We want to expand our successful and efficient matchmaking process to other sectors. On the one hand, this offers opportunities for our investors to further diversify their portfolio - on the other hand, it allows us to make a greater contribution to the Swiss startup ecosystem, as more startups can benefit from our matchmaking process", explains Thomas Ackermann, Managing Director of SICTIC.

Source and further information

The six finalized companies for the Prix SVC Espace Mittelland have probably never had to wait so long: The prize should actually have been awarded in August 2021. But the pandemic meant that the award ceremony had to be postponed twice. On March 15, 2023, the time had finally come: the ceremony was held in dignified style in the Kursaal in Bern in front of 1300 guests. The Swiss Venture Club (SVC) thus honored exemplary SMEs for the fourteenth time. The six finalists not only survived the years of the Corona pandemic, but all emerged from the crisis stronger than before, as they stated in unison.

First place for Sanitized AG from Burgdorf

Moderated by Patrick Rohr, the finalists - Hugentobler Schweizer Kochsysteme, Kästli & Co. AG, mb-microtec AG, Molkerei Lanz AG, Sanitized AG and Thommen Medical - presented themselves to the audience in words and pictures. It was striking that two of the companies, Sanitized and Molkerei Lanz, are headed by siblings. All six companies emerged from a multi-stage nomination process involving 250 companies. In the end, Sanitized AG from Burgdorf won the race: the company has been doing pioneering work for over 80 years, developing innovative, effective and safe technologies for antimicrobial finishes. It has an international network for distribution, production support and quality control. More than 300 brand manufacturers worldwide use Sanitized® as a valued "ingredient brand". The family-owned company, led by fourth-generation CEO Michael Lüthi, employs 65 people. "Sanitized convinced us by its scientific professionalism, translated into discreet high-tech, for a basic human need: Hygiene and by its environmental awareness - with deeds instead of words - with nature-based technologies, recently even with mint extract!" as Walter Steinlin, jury president, pointed out in his laudation.

mb-microtec ag and Molkerei Lanz AG in second and third place

The light show by the duo "In Motion" could have served as an indication that perhaps mb-microtec AG would come out on top in the end. But CEO Roger Siegenthaler was just as happy about his company's second place. mb-microtec is the global market leader in the development, manufacture and distribution of microcomponents for the watch, security and automotive industries, as well as for the space and aviation industries. The in-house watch brand "traser swiss H3 watches" offers uncompromising functionality and robustness with highly resistant materials as well as the self-luminous technology "trigalight". The family-owned company has around one hundred employees and has been led by CEO Roger Siegenthaler since 2014. This company was also recognized by jury president Walter Steinlin in his laudation as a shining example of entrepreneurship indeed.

The bronze rank went to Molkerei Lanz AG. Following the principles of quality, milk from the region, natural ingredients and gentle processing, the private dairy produces dairy products, yogurt, whipped cream and other milk-based specialties in the modern production building at its headquarters in Obergerlafingen. Founded in 1941, the family business is now run by the third generation of siblings Olivia and Gregor Lanz and employs 67 people.

Everyone can feel like a winner at the Prix SVC Espace Mittelland

Also awarded a diploma were Hugentobler Schweizer Kochsysteme AG from Schönbühl, market-leading total provider of development, production, training, sales and service of modern large-scale kitchen equipment and cooking systems; the third-generation SME run by Marc Kästli, Kästli & Co. AG from Belp, market leader for custom-made products in textile sun protection; and Thommen Medical AG from Grenchen, an independent Swiss manufacturer of dental implants. These three companies can also feel like winners, as they are just as innovative in their fields.

Business rendezvous

The event offered the 1,300 invited guests from business, science, politics and the media insights into the region's impressive and diverse entrepreneurship. Reto Portmann, the new SVC Espace Mittelland Regional Director since January 2023, emphasized: "It was wonderful to be able to use this platform to showcase the outstanding achievements of SMEs, which are often too little noticed by the general public. I was particularly pleased with the many meetings with personalities from the Mittelland entrepreneurial community at the networking afterwards." SVC President Andreas Gerber also announced that the contract between the main sponsor Credit Suisse and the Swiss Venture Club had been extended until 2028 - certainly a positive signal given the currently less than uplifting news surrounding the big bank.

Prix SVC as a climate-neutral event

Together with myclimate "Cause We Care", an initiative for climate protection and sustainable tourism in Switzerland, the Kursaal Bern offers CO2-neutral events. The SVC also supports this initiative and is committed with conviction to sustainability in the event sector. With an additional contribution of 1 % on the net invoice amount, the Prix SVC becomes climate neutral and supports the Kursaal's own myclimate "Cause We Care" sustainability fund. The Kursaal Bern doubles the payment into this fund. From this, local sustainability and climate protection measures are financed and at the same time the CO2 emissions of the event are offset with a carbon offset project.

More information: www.svc.swiss

Regular feedback discussions between supervisors and their employees have a positive effect on their performance. This has been proven by studies. They are also important for personnel development. Moreover, when conducted correctly, they increase employee satisfaction and motivation. Nevertheless, in many companies, feedback meetings are held rather sporadically - especially when everyone in the organization is stressed, at least in their perception, for example because so many things are changing. But that's precisely when they would be extremely important.

Avoid a possible escalation

A practical example: A division manager notices that some of his employees or work teams have again failed to achieve the agreed (project) goals. However, he does not express his displeasure about this. This is because he fears: The mood in his department will deteriorate if he once again articulates his expectations emphatically. So everyone continues to muddle along as before. Because the manager does not address the employees about the unachieved goals, they are convinced: Our supervisor is satisfied with our performance. And the unmet goals? They are not that important to him. So over time, the manager's anger potentiates to the point where she eventually "explodes." And because of her pent-up anger, she loses her temper. This in turn hurts the employees emotionally, creating a conflict that is almost impossible to resolve.

Such escalation can be avoided through regular feedback and employee discussions. In them, many possible sources of anger, frustration and thus demotivation are often eliminated - among other things, because in them the participants formulate their mutual expectations for future (joint) work. That is why regular feedback meetings are part of the standard management repertoire in many companies.

Communicate about the goals and expectations

Generally speaking, most managers talk too little with their employees about their work and the expectations and goals associated with it - regardless of whether they work in the company or at home. Yet this is precisely the main function of feedback meetings: to give employees the orientation they need.

Among the topics that can be discussed in them are:

• the quality of the (collaborative) work,
• satisfaction with the work situation,
• the corporate and divisional goals,
• the strategies and plans,
• The employee's duties and responsibilities,
• its strengths and weaknesses,
• possible qualification and support measures,
• possible improvements,
• health promotion,
• the target and bonus agreement.

Feedback and target agreement meetings do not have the primary goal of discussing current problems in everyday (cooperation) work. Rather, the behavior of the employee (and his or her manager) over a period of time is to be considered in summary in order to clarify how the (collaborative) work can be improved. Individual situations and incidents in the past serve at most as explanations.

Because the past is to be reflected upon, feedback discussions make little sense without preparation. In addition, feedback is only effective if it is concrete. For this, you need examples from your everyday professional and work life.

Conduct feedback conversations with conviction

In many (large) companies, it is obligatory to conduct regular employee or feedback interviews. This is good in itself! However, this sometimes leads to managers only conducting these discussions in order to report "completion" to the HR department, for example. In other words, they do not consider these discussions to be a necessary management tool. Their quality is correspondingly low.

In day-to-day operations, it is often the managers who conduct the highest-quality appraisal interviews who would least "need" to do so because they also communicate frequently and openly with their employees in the course of their daily work. To ensure a minimum level of discussion, it makes sense for managers and employees to independently fill out a questionnaire after each performance review and send it to the HR department, for example. The questionnaire may contain questions such as:

• How satisfied are you with the interview process?
• How satisfied were you with the atmosphere?
• How long did the conversation last?
• Were development issues and goals also addressed/agreed upon?
• What should change so that you and your conversation partner benefit even more from the next conversation?

This feedback to the HR department is not a guarantee for high-quality feedback discussions; however, it ensures a minimum quality that can be increased step by step. This is particularly true if the interview is linked to a commitment to agree on concrete (development) goals.

Take enough time

One indicator of the quality of an employee or feedback meeting is its duration. Managers should plan at least one hour per employee for this. This is because a relaxed atmosphere is necessary so that sensitive (personal) topics can also be addressed. The first step is to create this atmosphere.

Feedback discussions are all the more important the more independently and responsibly employees should or must work - for example, because they work largely in a home office. After all, independent work requires adjustment from time to time. This means that managers and employees must agree on tasks, procedures, quality standards and mutual expectations, among other things.

A well-structured feedback and performance review consists of phases:

• Reflection of the past time unit (for example, the past quarter),
• Assessment of the current situation and
• Looking ahead.

It is particularly important that the employee also receives feedback on his "strengths" and "weaknesses". What does he do/can he do well or less well? Because without feedback and an exchange about this, learning areas are often not recognized.

One prerequisite for open appraisal interviews, in which it is also possible to address sensitive issues and identify learning areas, is trust. If a manager does not succeed in establishing a trusting relationship with his or her employees in everyday life, they will not open up in the appraisal interview either. This means that the manager cannot give them effective feedback. In addition, they do not receive any useful feedback from them for their own development.

The time invested pays off

Conducting regular feedback and appraisal interviews with all employees requires a lot of time on the part of managers - also because of the necessary preparation. However, this investment is worthwhile. Because it ensures that there are fewer ambiguities in everyday work, which reduces the management effort.

Studies show that regular employee and feedback discussions (or target agreement discussions) have a positive influence on the following factors, among others:

• the relationship between employees and supervisors,
• the transparency and clarity of objectives,
• the communication and leadership culture,
• transparency and the flow of information,
• the cooperation and performance,
• employees' self-confidence,
• their competence development,
• their identification with the work and the goals,
• their independence and responsibility,
• their quality awareness.

That's why, as a manager, you should conduct feedback and target-setting meetings with your employees out of deep inner conviction. Because the effort is worth it - for you, your employees and the company.

 

To the author:
Joachim Simon, Braunschweig, is a leadership trainer and speaker specializing in (self-)leadership (www.joachimsimon.info). He is the author of the book "Self-Responsibility in Business" and co-founder of the (self-)leadership coaching app Mindshine (www.mindshine.app).

The XING job network is now offering non-registered users the opportunity to search for a job on XING with a new search function embedded on the homepage. With around 1.4 million job ads, XING Jobs now offers the largest selection of job listings in the German-speaking world, according to the company.

Individually tailored job search

Other new features on the portal include search filter options for job seekers such as "home office" or "flexible working hours" or "childcare", as well as information about the culture of the advertising companies and comprehensive salary data. "The XING Jobs Market now offers the largest and, thanks to custom-fit filters, also the most individual selection of job listings in the German-speaking world. As a result, users can find a new job every 40 seconds on average," says Thomas Kindler, Managing Director of XING.

Anyone who finds an interesting job on the portal can also network with others on XING who already work at the company of their choice in order to exchange information directly and learn more about the position. In addition, job seekers can see how employees rate the company in question as an employer. Furthermore, job seekers can compare salary forecasts for the desired job and detailed self-disclosures from the advertising companies. "Today, anyone looking for a job that suits their individual needs can no longer avoid XING. From unfiltered reviews by employees to networking with others from the company of their choice - we offer job seekers the greatest possible transparency so that they can make the right decisions for their job change. After all, job decisions have a major impact on one's own personal life and are made not only by the head, but also with the heart," Kindler continues.

More than 20,000 active recruiters on the platform

Around 35,000 new job ads are currently posted daily on XING's job market. This means that a new job posting goes online on the platform every two seconds on average. "At a time when there is a shortage of skilled workers, talented people are well aware of their attractiveness on the job market. They want to find the one job that really fits their personal needs. We at XING are now taking this into account with our new personalizable offering," Thomas Kindler continues.

XING also enables its 21 million registered users to get in touch with more than 20,000 active recruiters on the platform to be better found by HR professionals. "Our data shows that a recruiter visits a XING profile every 0.4 seconds on average. So the chances of being found for the perfect job could hardly be better," says Kindler.

Source and further information: www.xing.com 

Switzerland's energy independence is just 30 percent. By comparison, self-sufficiency in food, which is often described as insufficient, is almost 60 percent. With a few simple principles for the optimal use of domestic energy sources, this ratio could also be significantly improved in terms of energy supply. Switzerland, for example, has a large potential of domestic renewable resources which, if used correctly, could cover most of its needs in the long term. However, given the diversity and geographical distribution of resources and demand, it is crucial to optimize their use. A position paper by aeesuisse, the umbrella organization of the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry, summarizes a few guidelines.

Guidelines for the use of resources for heat generation

Space heating and industrial processes account for around 50 percent of Switzerland's total final energy consumption. Numerous energy resources can ensure domestic heat supply, but not all of them are equivalent to each other. First, a distinction must be made between "locational" and "non-local" resources. The "exergetic" potential of the resource, i.e. its ability to provide certain energy services with high added value, must also be taken into account.

Given these different characteristics of the resources that can be used to provide heat, the following order of priority emerges for the use of decentralized on-site resources for heat generation: Groundwater, geothermal, ambient air. Only if these are not locally available in sufficient quantities, (non-local) energy wood and biogas should be used. Otherwise, the coverage of domestic resources is reduced and the need for imports increases.

Guidelines for the use of resources for power generation

While the quality of heat depends on its temperature, there are no corresponding differences in the quality of electric power. Nevertheless, the question of resource prioritization arises: An electric kWh produced in winter, when Switzerland is significantly dependent on electricity imports, is more valuable than the kWh in summer. Further, the high exergetic value of electricity enables high-value and diverse applications. Against this background, electricity should be used primarily for purposes with high exergetic energy demand. Also, wastage of electricity should be avoided, especially in winter. In addition to the existing ban on electric heating in new buildings and the replacement ban, the use of heat pumps in very poorly insulated buildings should be avoided, or these buildings should be energetically renovated beforehand.

In addition, power generation should be expanded in the winter. This would allow more water to be held in the reservoirs from fall to spring, which would reduce electricity imports from abroad. Seasonal energy storage should also be promoted. Currently, reservoir capacity allows only a limited summer-winter transfer of about nine TWh because reservoirs are full at the end of summer and thus no additional capacity is available. Therefore, either some dams need to be increased (potential of additional 2 TWh) or other forms of seasonal storage such as power-to-X need to be used.

Consequences of not implementing the recommendations

If these guidelines were followed in a consistent and coordinated manner, Switzerland would be able to meet almost all of its energy needs domestically and renewably. If, on the other hand, these guidelines are not followed or are implemented too late, Switzerland will be forced to continue importing massive amounts of fossil fuels and expose society to energy shortages. In short, Switzerland's energy independence depends on its ability to use the right resource in the right place for the right purpose.

Source: aeesuisse

Could virtual reality games soon find their way into HR departments? Because results of a study by the University of Cologne and the Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences also suggest that virtual reality games can be a useful complementary tool for HR management in companies to predict an applicant's job performance. The study, "Intelligence at play: game-based assessment using a virtual-reality application," by Markus Weinmann of the University of Cologne and his fellow researchers, was recently published in the journal Virtual Reality.

Virtual reality games as "intelligence tests"

Several studies have already shown that video games can provide cues to, or even help develop, intellectual and cognitive abilities. Since intelligence is one of the most widely used predictors of job performance, video games could be of interest to human resource management. Although many companies are increasingly using VR technologies to recruit candidates, few studies have specifically examined whether and how VR games can be used to draw conclusions about intelligence in this area. The study by Markus Weinmann and his colleagues helps to close this gap between research and practice.

Playing under laboratory conditions

Weinmann and his research colleagues invited 103 participants to their lab. Under controlled conditions, they played the commercial VR game "Job Simulator" and completed the short version of the BIS-4 intelligence test. The researchers' analyses show that participants who completed the game faster than others also had higher general intelligence and processing capacity. A 17 % increase in processing capacity correlated with less time spent playing the game (by an average of 3.7 minutes). The results suggest that VR games may be useful adjunct tools in organizations to predict job performance.

Scientific novelty

According to the report of the two research institutes, the results are a scientific novelty, as it has hardly been possible to conduct VR studies with modern VR hardware so far. For example, there are only a few studies that have examined the relationship between behavior in VR and intelligence. "There are already some companies that use games, so-called 'serious games,' for recruiting. The new results fit this specific application of VR games and show that they can be used for recruiting," Weinmann said. The scientists plan to continue their research on the potential of video games for practical applications. Among other things, they are investigating how people behave toward virtual avatars in the metaverse.

Source: Techexplore.com

The path to self-employment can be associated with many uncertainties: Legal form? Foundation documents? Market analyses? Marketing? financing? Insurances? and, and, and. Much of this can be done online today. In addition to the many already existing offers now comes Foundera, a digital business start-up platform of the Mobiliar insurance group. It accompanies founders from the moment of the first business idea and supports them in all the necessary steps related to the foundation. But that's not all: Even after founding, companies can find offers, tips and tricks at Foundera that simplify their daily work, for example with the accounting of Bexio or the relevant insurance. Interested parties can simply select a starter package on the platform that suits them and they will be guided through the individual start-up steps.

Foundera AG is an operationally independent subsidiary of Mobiliar. Dario Renato Morf (picture) is responsible for its further development as Managing Director. He lives in Zurich and has spent the last three years building up and running his own company in the field of employee development for SMEs. Before starting his own business, he spent eight years in various roles at Zurich Insurance. "Foundera plays a key role in our offering for SMEs," emphasizes Andrea Kleiner, head of business development at Mobiliar. "We support Swiss SMEs throughout their entire lifecycle: from start-up to business management to further development, for example in the area of innovation. So that the companies can concentrate on their core business."

Source: Furniture