Together with TaxWare AG and ALAN Software AG, FIVE Informatik AG is part of the FIVE Group, which is domiciled in Schönbühl BE. The portfolio of the group of companies ranges from digitization solutions, the optimization and automation of business processes, infrastructure and IT services to industry-specific software solutions such as TaxWare for tax and pension consulting or ALAN, an ERP for law firms and notaries.

"35 years ago, the foundations were laid for FIVE, which has since successfully held its own in the IT industry under my leadership," emphasizes Ulrich Tschanz, current CEO and member of the Board of Directors of the FIVE Group. "Now the time is approaching to hand over the company's fate into new hands. I am pleased to be able to engage an extremely competent and empathetic successor in Oliver Lyoth. The Board of Directors, the management and the entire FIVE staff are looking forward to working with him."

Oliver Lyoth will join T-Systems Schweiz AG on September 1, 2022, after more than 20 years in management roles, and will take over operational and strategic management from Ulrich Tschanz on January 1, 2023. "I would like to thank you for the trust you have placed in me and I am looking forward to the new challenge," explains the designated CEO. "I will be happy to contribute my knowledge and commitment and, together with the team, lead the FIVE Group into the future." Ulrich Tschanz will continue to be available to the company for dedicated projects and as a member of the Board of Directors from 2023.

Source: FIVE Information Technology

In the Tayloristically organized companies of the past, their areas stood largely unconnected next to each other - equal to columns. And each area had its clearly defined field of activity. Employees also had clearly defined tasks that were either defined in their job descriptions or assigned to them by their superiors. Today, this is different - "at least in those companies that provide complex services for their customers," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Georg Kraus from Bruchsal. As a rule, they have a network-like structure. And divisional boundaries and hierarchical levels? "They play an increasingly minor role in everyday work - especially because services are increasingly provided in cross-divisional and often even cross-company teamwork".

Complex structures require a different management style

In such an environment, traditional leadership, which is largely based on disciplinary power conferred by position, often reaches its limits, explains the management consultant Hans-Peter Machwürth, Visselhövede. Instead, so-called lateral leadership is gaining in importance, "which is based on trust and understanding and strives to connect the interests of those involved as far as possible by creating a common framework of thinking." This type of leadership, because disciplinary authority to issue directives is eliminated, must rely on other sources of power - for example

• a high level of personal authority and integrity or
• a proven expertise or
• targeted networking that strengthens its own informal power base.

According to the classic understanding of leadership, the term "lateral leadership" is a contradiction in terms. According to this understanding, leadership is inextricably linked to hierarchical authority. Despite this, lateral leadership is becoming increasingly important in companies. This is shown, among other things, by the study "Alpha Collaboration - Leadership in Transition; Perspectives for the Collaboration of the Future" of the Institute for Leadership Culture in the Digital Age (IFIDZ), Frankfurt.

Challenge: Winning approval

Lateral leadership means more than coordination, emphasizes IFIDZ Director Barbara Liebermeister. Coordination is primarily aimed at "aligning interests, tasks and activities, for example"; leadership, on the other hand, also involves "influencing people and organizations or organizational units so that they think and act in a desired direction.

The central goal of lateral leadership is to achieve one's own or higher-level goals (for example, of the company or project). Making a compromise can be one way to achieve this, explains Hans-Peter Machwürth. Not infrequently, however, the exact opposite is necessary for this - for example, when achieving the desired top results requires a clear decision between several possible solution paths.

In practice, leadership without authority often proves difficult - especially because the people involved in this process usually have (sometimes) divergent views and interests, for example, due to their different functions and positions in the organization. In addition, according to Georg Kraus, when far-reaching and momentous decisions have to be made, there is no one person who can say at some point: "This is how we're going to do it now - that's it; I'm taking responsibility for this." In lateral management, the opinion-forming and decision-making processes are often correspondingly lengthy, "since the approval or at least acceptance of all those involved must be sought.

Lateral leadership can be learned

Nevertheless, the topic of lateral leadership is gaining massive importance in companies. The reasons for this, in addition to the increasingly network-like structure of companies and advancing digitization, are that problem solutions designed in cross-divisional and cross-functional teamwork are becoming more and more complex.

However, the competence to lead laterally does not fall from the sky, it must be developed according to Hans-Peter Machwürth - both

• with experts and specialists who, in their everyday work, are repeatedly faced with the challenge of convincing other people of the advantages or risks of a possible solution due to their specialized knowledge, as well as
• for managers who want to or have to make important decisions as a team because they are dependent on the active support of their employees, other departments or external cooperation partners/service providers for their implementation.

However, it is important to keep in mind: "Lateral leadership requires certain personality traits," emphasizes Barbara Liebermeister. For example

• an appreciative attitude towards other people and
• the willingness to question one's own thinking and behavior.

Because without these basic attitudes, it is neither possible to open up other people's thought models nor to build up a relationship with them characterized by trust in order to achieve the desired effects.

To the author: Ramon Lacher, Darmstadt, is a freelance journalist. He specializes in professional and career topics.

The metaverse is predicted to have a great future: Gartner predicts that 25% of all people will spend at least one hour per day in the metaverse as early as 2026. The financial service Bloomberg estimates that the metaverse will have a market size of 800 billion US dollars in 2024, half of which will flow into the gaming market. Whether the development will be so positive also depends on whether payment processes run smoothly there, access to payment solutions in the Metaverse is seamless, and perhaps even traditional means of payment can be accepted.

This is an exciting topic for the payment industry, and one that the Swiss Payment Forum in Zurich on November 21 and 22 will also address. Here, current payment topics such as instant payment, DeFi, SWIFT and crypto transactions, Secure Swiss Finance Network and the development of the Metaverse will be discussed. A very special highlight is the keynote by futurologist Lars Thomsen. In his presentation, he will talk about the seven most important megatrends of the coming decade and about incremental and disruptive innovations.
For over 10 years, the Swiss Payment Forum has established itself as an industry meeting place. As the central information and discussion event for the financial services industry in Switzerland, it offers excellent opportunities to learn from the high-caliber presentations and make valuable contacts.

The organizer is Vereon AG, based in Kreuzlingen. In addition to the Swiss Payment Forum, the company organizes other top-class meetings, conferences and workshops on current topics from business and science. Proven experts from research, science, practice and politics present pragmatic solutions and groundbreaking trends.

More information

A new phase of life began for 840 apprentices on August 2, 2022: The young people began their training at an apprenticeship with SBB, BLS, Rhaetian Railway or one of the more than 50 partner companies of the login training association in the world of mobility. The introductory week, the so-called "lowo", marks the start of the apprenticeship. Here, the young people learn what to expect during their apprenticeship and get to know their trainers as well as tools and processes. Last but not least, they get to know their future "Gspänli". "Together with our partner companies in the mobility industry, we extend a warm welcome to the new apprentices and trainees. They can look forward to a varied and exciting training. During the training period, they will become professionals in their profession, grow as personalities and can look forward to very good career prospects," says Michael Schweizer, CEO of login.

Two newly designed vocational apprenticeships with "mobility" profile

The newly designed apprenticeship "Retail Specialist EFZ, Public Transport" will in future offer two career paths: Customer attendants drive in passenger trains, inform the guests, ensure punctuality and a safe travel experience; customer advisors work in the travel center, advise customers and arrange their trips. In addition, the vocational training program "Public Transport Specialist EFZ" has also been redesigned with a focus on "Mobility" and "Train Traffic Management".

Great satisfaction among learners

The fact that the apprenticeships are well received by young people is demonstrated by login's renewed certification as a "Great Start!" company. For the fourth time in a row, login 2022 has received the coveted award from the "Great Place to Work®" institute. In an anonymous survey, the apprentices and trainees confirmed their great satisfaction with their training place. One of the main features of the training programs at login are the diverse and attractive training forms and places, such as the Junior Stations, where retail trainees, accompanied by coaches, run their own station. In this way, young people learn to assume responsibility at an early stage and to think and act in an entrepreneurial manner.

login celebrates 20-year anniversary

This year login Vocational Training celebrates its 20th birthday. Since January 1, 2002, login has been the leading apprenticeship organization in the world of public transport and mobility. Since 2014, it has been a public limited company with the sponsoring companies SBB, BLS, RhB and the Association of Public Transport (VöV). In these 20 years, the training association has grown significantly: Today, more than 2,000 apprentices prepare for their degrees in over 25 different vocational apprenticeships at login every year. Since 2002, around 15,000 young professionals have been trained for the world of mobility. While login counted eight public transport companies among its customers at the beginning, today there are 58 including the sponsoring companies. The apprentices are given the opportunity to network across professions and to acquire their skills in different companies and departments.

Source: login Vocational Training AG

Green hydrogen will play a role in the future, but which one? At the first Power-to-Gas Congress in Jar 2021, the focus was on experiences, research reports and examples from Switzerland. More than 200 high-ranking representatives from politics, administration, research and industry informed themselves about the latest state of hydrogen technologies.

This year's congress now focuses on the experiences, solutions and lighthouse projects from abroad and the countries with pioneering roles in Europe, South America and the Middle East. Switzerland is represented in various international bodies on hydrogen technology and has signed a declaration of intent ("Political Declaration on hydrogen") for cooperation between the penta-countries (Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland) in the field of hydrogen. In the federal government's energy perspectives, hydrogen is considered to be useful above all in industry and to some extent in heavy road traffic.

But to what extent will hydrogen be an important energy source for Switzerland to ensure energy supply security and close the winter electricity gap? What is the role of domestic production and what is the role of imports of power-to-gas from other countries? What are the political framework conditions in the EU and Switzerland? How can we create attractive conditions for the production of hydrogen in Switzerland and how can we achieve attractive conditions for the import of hydrogen? These and other questions will be discussed at the congress in Spreitenbach on September 6, 2022.

The Power-to-Gas Congress is aimed at politicians at national, cantonal and municipal level, owners and board members of energy supply companies (EVU), waste incineration plants or wastewater treatment plants, but also at entrepreneurs and decision-makers from traffic, transport, logistics and industrial companies. The rich program will begin at 13:45, and will conclude with an aperitif. Speakers from Germany and abroad will talk about experiences and further developments of hydrogen as an energy carrier.

Registration and further information: https://energie-cluster.ch/events/power-to-gas/

The Swiss retail sector can look back on a mixed first half of 2022. According to the GfK Market Monitor, the non-food segment recorded a decline in the first half of 2022 and is 3.0% below the positive double-digit result of the previous year, which was impacted by the Corona crisis. Food/nearfood also declined by 7.4%. Still impacted by last year's lockdowns and reopenings for stores and non-daily products, the non-food result suffered larger losses, especially in March and April (last year's reopenings on March 1, 2021, led to particularly high deposits). May and June 2022 show a leveling off in this regard.

Different developments in the Swiss retail trade

However, the following markets recorded growth in the first half of 2022: The leisure segment, for example, continues to grow, and in the sports segment, e-boards stand out particularly positively. Also on trend are product groups such as sports nutrition, sports eyewear, camping articles and, over a longer period, e-bikes. In addition, increased travel activity continues to drive the recovery in the "luggage" product group. Clearly leading the way in terms of cumulative growth, the fashion market is recording considerable growth in the first half of 2022 and continues to recover in all areas.

By contrast, the home furnishings market and DIY are declining as of the end of June 2022. Home electronics is also declining. March and April were the months most affected, with a flattening out already apparent in May and June 2022. The greatest saturation is evident in cell phones, increasingly due to availability bottlenecks, especially for luxury devices. Saturation is still evident in some of the top performers of previous years, such as video game consoles and flat-screen TVs. However, some product groups are currently experiencing overstocking, which is leading to increased price pressure. Boosted by increasing travel activity, the photo sector is achieving growth. Online shopping is declining compared with the high prior-year results and is down 8 percent on a cumulative basis at the end of the first half of 2022.

Subdued economic forecasts

The economic forecasts are less good than last time. The GfK expert group has lowered its growth forecast for Switzerland to 2.6 percent in 2022 and to 1.9 percent in 2023 (sportevent-adjusted GDP). According to the expert group, the Swiss economy got off to a positive start in 2022, but the outlook for the international environment has clouded over. Risks for the global economy emanate in particular from the war in Ukraine and developments in China, the expert group says. The Swiss Federal Statistical Office also expects annual inflation of 2.5 percent in 2022 and 1.4 percent in 2023. By contrast, developments on the labor market remain positive: an average unemployment rate of 2.1 percent is expected for 2022; for 2023, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) anticipates an average unemployment rate of 2.0 percent.

Source and further information: GfK

125 men and women received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. Among them were graduates in Information & Cyber Security for the first time: 54 people completed the Bachelor's degree program launched in 2018. The HSLU responded to the high demand for specialists in the field of IT security by offering the program. The training enables junior staff to develop and operate secure IT infrastructures. Twelve graduates also received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree in Digital Ideation with a focus on computer science. Digital Ideation is a joint program offered by the Departments of Computer Science and Design & Art. In addition, 59 people graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems. Seven students received a Master's degree in Computer Science. The graduation ceremony took place on Friday, July 15, 2022, at the Theater Casino Zug. Eleven prizes for outstanding degrees, academic achievements and final theses were also awarded during the ceremony.

Excellent degrees and practice-related final theses

In the Information & Cyber Security course, Karin Blum from Altbüron LU received the CHF 1,000 prize for the best degree. A prize also endowed with 1,000 Swiss francs went to Joshua Drexel from Grub AR for an outstanding bachelor's thesis as well as for above-average performance throughout his studies. Drexel investigated the differential privacy method in his thesis "Differential Privacy - Data Protection by Technical Means". This cryptographic data protection approach is very efficient, but mathematically extremely demanding. It is therefore not widely used in industry. Drexel presented the topic in such a way that even people with little IT knowledge can understand it. They can then test their newly acquired knowledge in an exercise developed by Drexel. The exercise tool is to be used, among other things, in the HSLU's IT curriculum.

In the computer science program, Benjamin Fassbind from Zug received the regional Siemens Excellence Award 2022, worth 4,000 Swiss francs, for his bachelor thesis "Early Diagnostics of Keratoconus based on Cornea Data of an Anterior Segment OCT". Fassbind programmed an AI-based web application that automatically scans medical eye scans for signs of keratoconus, helping ophthalmologists diagnose the disease early. Keratoconus is a progressive thinning of the cornea. The earlier it is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat. Benjamin Fassbind's award automatically qualifies him for the national Siemens Excellence Award, which will be presented in spring 2023. The prize of 1,000 Swiss francs for the best Bachelor's degree in computer science was awarded to Tobias Heller from Weggis LU, and the prize for an outstanding Bachelor's thesis and for above-average performance throughout his computer science studies was awarded to Emanuel Buholzer from Lucerne for his final thesis "Stop motion with motion control photography". In it, Buholzer created a control program for a robot arm. Thanks to this digital control system, animation students at the HSLU's Department of Design & Art will in future be able to program camera movements for their stop-motion films easily and safely. The camera movements can also be simulated in advance in a 3D environment. The prize, sponsored by IBM, is worth 1,000 Swiss francs and includes a visit to IBM's research center in Rüschlikon.

Award-worthy work on discounting and hit displays

The prizes for the Bachelor of Business Informatics go to Lars Vognstrup from Rupperswil AG for an outstanding degree and to Marco Zehnder from Schongau LU. Zehnder developed an AI-powered dashboard for Siemens AG. With this tool, pricing managers in the company can better analyze and plan discount allocations in the "business-to-business" product business. These prizes are also endowed with 1,000 Swiss francs each.

The Zeix Award in the Digital Ideation course, worth 1,000 Swiss francs, went to Silja Bossert from Rothrist AG for her thesis "SchützenZeiger". In 300-meter rifle shooting, hit results are still printed on paper rolls or stand sheets. Shooters therefore often have an insufficient overview of their hit results. With the help of the mobile app "SchützenZeiger", they can read in their hits with their smartphone, evaluate individual statistics and share them with other users in a further step. The prize of 1,000 Swiss francs for the best bachelor's thesis and for above-average performance throughout her studies was awarded to Chiara Kühne from Winkel ZH for "Zäme - the Swiss breast cancer community": Kühne designed a community app for mobile devices. It helps breast cancer sufferers find women in the same situation, exchange experiences with them and receive emotional support.

Prizes for computer science graduates of the master's program

Graduates of the master's program in computer science also received awards. The prize of 1,500 Swiss francs for an outstanding master's thesis was shared by Mathis Fux from Glis VS and Pascal Wullschleger from Stansstad NW. Mathis Fux developed an app for pulse wristbands in his thesis "Detection of fatigue using IoT/wearables" on behalf of the Swiss Accident Insurance SUVA. The app's algorithm can determine the wearer's fatigue and stress level based on heart rate. In this way, the program is intended to warn people if, for example, they are driving too tired or are about to perform heavy physical work. Pascal Wullschleger, on the other hand, created a data analysis model for predicting medical diagnoses in his thesis "Recommender System Methods applied to Diagnosis Prediction on Electronic Health Records". The model is based on previous diagnoses of a patient. The model is intended to help insurance companies make better risk assessments. Wullschleger used a novel neural network for his work, which was commissioned by reinsurer Swiss Re.

Source and further information: www.hslu.ch

The WorldSkills 2022 should have taken place in Shanghai from October 12 to 17. However, due to restrictions caused by the Corona pandemic, the organizers had to cancel the WorldSkills Championships at the end of May. What tasted like a bitter pill for the 37-member SwissSkills National Team has since turned into "cotton candy." Instead of the WorldSkills in China's largest city, a decentralized replacement format will take place between September and November 2022 under the title "WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition." This solution had already become apparent at the end of June. Now it is definite. 15 countries are taking part and have adopted some of the 60 professions. Switzerland is hosting the largest contingent of the competitions. It is holding 13 of the 60 championships. The venues are Aarau, Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lucerne and Montreux.

37 young Swiss professionals at the WorldSkills Competition

From Switzerland, 37 young professionals will put their skills to the test at 34 world championships. Teams of two will compete in the disciplines of landscape gardening, automation and Industry 4.0. SwissSkills and the professional associations are now challenged in two ways. On the one hand, the 37 Swiss national team members must be prepared in the best possible way for their assignments around the world. On the other hand, Switzerland as the organizer wants to create the best possible conditions for all competitors, experts and their accompanying persons.

Major Swiss commitment

The fact that the decentralized "WorldSkills Competition 2022" can take place is due not least to Switzerland's commitment. Together with other national associations, SwissSkills has promoted this alternative format at WorldSkills International. André Burri, Managing Director of SwissSkills, is delighted: "It's great that over 1,000 young professionals from all over the world will now be able to showcase their skills at WorldSkills.

Burri is particularly grateful to the Swiss professional associations that helped to bring the 13 competitions here. "From the very beginning, we felt a very strong commitment from the professional associations, who wanted to make it possible to hold it in their industries." Burri said that the "WorldSkills Competition 2022" will give Switzerland an additional showcase for vocational education and training. Together with the 37 Swiss participants, it will demonstrate the value of a good vocational training system for the economy and society.

First the SwissSkills 2022 in Bern

Before the WorldSkills Competition takes place, however, there is another major highlight to come. Between September 7 and 11, the Swiss vocational championships "SwissSkills 2022" will take place in Bern. In 85 professions, 1150 young professionals will be competing for the Swiss championship title, and a total of as many as 150 apprenticeship professions will be presented. 120,000 visitors are expected, including over 60,000 in school classes.

Overview SwissSkills National Team 2022: https://www.swiss-skills.ch/worldskills2022

Every industry covets the shortage of skilled workers. There is hardly a company that is not looking for them. At the moment, job applicants are the ones who decide where to go, and they know their market value. Recruiting on LinkedIn is also becoming more and more important. However, a boring post à la "We are looking for ... Apply now!" no longer attracts qualified personnel from behind the laptop - especially not if the rest of the LinkedIn presence is not mature. Fruit baskets and foosball tables as benefits have not scored for a long time.

"A transparent insight into corporate values and everyday working life is what matters," says Philipp Schultz, Head of Content and Account Management at ReachIn Network, a specialist agency from Berlin, which is exclusively dedicated to 360-degree LinkedIn marketing. Potential professionals only see themselves at an employer when they personally find themselves in its presentation on LinkedIn. So a lot has to happen before the activation post. This is just as true for employers as it is for employees hoping to land their dream job on LinkedIn.

Who is who

Both companies and employees only make a commitment if they know something about their counterpart. If the company cannot be found on LinkedIn, this deters applicants. A company profile that is only partially filled out also inhibits trust. On the other hand, accounts of potential employees without any information about the resume and individual approach look unserious and do not arouse enthusiasm in the reader.

The disclosure of information is therefore a top priority. Transparent presentation of the company, including employee introductions, positioning on current topics, and news, breathe life into the account and inform both the company's own network and potential new team members. Employer branding also has a positive impact on the company's external image in this case - employees increase the reach of the company channel as multipliers.

Posts with network activation

The corporate page conveys the mission and work culture in a personal and transparent way? Does your own profile offer a wealth of information in text and images and show visitors past and present projects, interests, and commitment? Then it's time for hiring posts. Market participants advertise their skills and capacities as creatively as possible and with a clear point of view on what is probably the world's largest business platform.

Aesthetics also play an important role on LinkedIn, not just content. Posts with authentic images are an effective tool for acquisition. Unadulterated photos and graphics emphasize that appearance, post and performance match. "The less the post looks like a put-upon job ad, the better," explains the LinkedIn expert. However, if companies want to post pure job ads exclusively, the previous content of the corporate account must shine with originality.

The effective extra when recruiting on LinkedIn

Particularly effective: Employees share the posted job ad with their own comments. LinkedIn still prefers personal profiles in the outreach. In this way, the job post reaches many relevant addressees from the employees' network. "Sharing is caring" is not considered a to-do among friends and acquaintances without reason. Searchers also activate their network in this way and quickly receive tips about interesting offers.

In combination, parallel paid job ads on LinkedIn help to increase reach, far beyond company posts. The well-known "Hiring" banner also helps to fill jobs. It ensures a quick approach with a call-to-action factor.

I encounter this question all the time: "How can I get my people to take more responsibility?" The meaning is clear: when someone takes full responsibility, there is no blame, things get done faster, I can always rely on the other person, and so on. It is true that most people are happy to take on responsibility. It's just that it's constantly being taken away from them, even by their manager.

It's a lot like motivation: most people are motivated. They are only demotivated by others again and again, especially by their boss. So the critical question is: What are you doing to take responsibility away from your people without realizing it? Here are three key behaviors of how you train others to be irresponsible without noticing (and what you can do about it):

1. too many instructions

Rules, processes and instructions have their purpose. But at the same time, they reduce the sense of responsibility. Because not i have made this or that decision. But it was the process or the instruction!

It is better than defining rules and processes centrally to let those responsible work out the best ways together. The rule here is: as simple as possible for the majority of important activities. I often see that 80 percent of the effort is spent on the 3 percent exceptions.

2. know everything better

Every time you make the other person understand that you know something better or can still contribute something to his or her work results ("Why don't you do this and that?"), you take responsibility away from the other person. After all, the idea came from you, not from the other person.

Therefore: Accept results, even if you could do a little better. Your goal must be to increase the sense of responsibility, not to perform sham optimization for ego reasons.

3. not listening

By not listening well, you are giving the other person to understand that what they are saying is not important. So the other person will automatically take less responsibility. Because just: After all, it's not important.

Tip: Listen and ask questions, even if the problem doesn't seem that important to you. By asking good, open questions, you can develop the other person's thinking enormously so that they can take on more responsibility.

These three ideas require changing the manager's beliefs and behaviors. And therein lies the challenge. But it is worth it.

To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch

At the last General Assembly of the Swiss Association for Outplacement (ACF Switzerland), the members unanimously elected Carine Dilitz and Regula Mäder Steiner as new Co-Presidents. Together with current board member Roland Bartl Andreoli (Finance), they will form the new ACF Switzerland board as of June 1, 2022. While Carine Dilitz represents the association in French-speaking Switzerland, Regula Mäder Steiner is responsible for German-speaking Switzerland. They take over the leadership of the association from the previous president, Pascal-Laurent Favre, who during his 10-year term of office was constantly concerned with promoting and developing the association of the leading providers of career management and organizational development in Switzerland in a rapidly changing environment and also increasingly presenting the association in the media. "After ten years, it is time for me to hand over the leadership of the association to new hands, and I am very pleased that with Regula Mäder Steiner and Carine Dilitz we have been able to win over two outstanding personalities and experts from our industry to do so," explains Pascal-Laurent Favre on his resignation.

Outplacement market is changing

In the past ten years, the environment and the outplacement market have changed drastically, Favre continued. This is also reflected in the market study on outplacement and newplacement consulting published annually by the association. Digitalization, globalization and demographic change have led to far-reaching upheavals in human life realities and greatly changed ways of working, "including in our profession, key words being remote working and coaching," confirms the outgoing president. "The demands for support in professional reorientation are continuously increasing, and professional and modern outplacement and newplacement must position themselves much more clearly in the context of digitalization and increasingly offer individual solutions."

This is also the view of the Co-Presidents. Regula Mäder Steiner explains: "This is where the association and our members will continue to be challenged in the future. Topics such as demographic change, the shortage of labor, resulting market trends such as new work models, changed employment processes and generally new questions of the different generations about their own careers will bring great challenges for the Swiss labor market, both for companies and employers as well as job seekers. As an independent association of Swiss Career Firms, we would like to become more visible in this regard in the future and be available to politicians and the business community to answer questions with our expertise."

Increasing demands on modern consulting in outplacement and newplacement

In addition, the aftermath of the pandemic, war, rising energy and raw material costs, interrupted supply chains, inflation and the shortage of skilled workers are increasingly becoming a burden on the economy, presenting companies with growing problems in this regard. Co-President Carine Dilitz is therefore convinced: "There will be no quick return to the status quo ante, even in Switzerland, despite a high employment rate by international standards. Professional advice and support for companies and job seekers with programs and measures for successful reintegration into the Swiss labor market is therefore of great importance. A key concern is therefore that we as an association set the right priorities and want to get involved in the political process - increasingly also with partners and allies."

A brief portrait of the Co-Presidents

Carine Dilitz is Managing Director and Partner at Oasys Consultants. Together with Béatrice Elattar, she acquired the majority of shares in the company in 2021. She has 15 years of successful experience in management and organizational development as well as in supporting career transitions in an international, national and regional environment. After earning a master's degree in psychology and a post-graduate diploma in criminology, she completed her studies with an Advanced Management Program in Business Management. She is also certified in Emergency Psychology and has also participated in the recruitment process of Swiss Army officers through assessment centers. Carine Dilitz is a native French speaker, but is also fluent in English, German and Swiss-German.

Regula Mäder Steiner has been the owner and managing director of Mäder & Partner AG New Placement since 2009, with offices in Zurich, Basel, Baden, St. Gallen, Olten, Bern, Lucerne and Zug. She has many years of management experience in outplacement, leadership coaching and in supporting companies in change processes. As a member of the management team in Human Resources at the largest Swiss life insurance company, she was responsible for the development of internal outplacement. As an International Certified Coach and Assessor with a Master's degree in HR Management and a Bachelor of Science degree, she advises and accompanies teams and individuals in the areas of leadership and team development, 360° feedback, coaching for managers and specialists, assessments for all hierarchical levels and functions, and change management. Since 2005 she has been a lecturer at two universities of applied sciences in the field of human resources on the subject of change management. Regula Mäder Steiner is fluent in German, English and French.

Source: ACF Switzerland

Marc-Daniel Loretz takes over as Head of Service & Support at Canon (Switzerland) AG with immediate effect. He will report directly to the CEO, Markus Naegeli, and in his new role will also act as a member of the Executive Board of Canon (Schweiz) AG. His responsibilities include all service and support functions for the B2B business with a dedicated service organization across Switzerland. The Service & Support organization of Canon (Schweiz) AG ensures 24/7 operation of the print infrastructure and services of all business customers, print service providers and selected partners.

His focus as the new Service Director will be on the development of further service innovations. By introducing the first true flat rate for business customers in Switzerland, Canon says it has already ensured a fundamental simplification of the previously page- and format-driven service and billing models. A comprehensive local recycling program and remote management services are further milestones for Canon's sustainable services. Marc-Daniel Loretz takes over the position as part of a regulated succession to Andreas Schneider, who has been promoted to the position of Workspace Service Director at Canon Europe.

Marc-Daniel Loretz joined the senior management team at Canon (Schweiz) AG just over a year ago. He had been responsible for various roles as local service manager. Before joining Canon, he held various positions in Operations for ICT Services, Client Delivery and Customer Service Management. "We are convinced that, together with Marc-Daniel Loretz, we will be able to continue our current growth path with innovative services," says Markus Naegeli, CEO Canon (Schweiz) AG.

Source and further information: Canon (Switzerland) AG