These are the best Swiss employers 2022

On the evening of November 17, 2022, the 22nd Swiss Employer Awards took place at Lake Side in Zurich. This award for the best Swiss employers always marks the end of the annual benchmarking study, which was designed by icommit GmbH from Küsnacht ZH. The participating companies conduct an anonymous survey among their employees. The results are then evaluated and show where the company is doing well as an employer and where there may be "construction sites". The companies can also measure themselves against the best employers in their industry and use the tool for the development of their company as well as for personnel marketing. The Swiss Employer Award is supported by the Swiss Employers' Association and HR Swiss.

What makes the best Swiss employers

Speaking of "building sites": In a keynote speech, Sven Bühler, initiator of the study and strategic head at icommit, drew a picture of a "typical" corporate building. It has four floors: At the bottom is the "floor of resignation," one floor higher is the floor for the dissatisfied. Then comes the floor of the satisfied, and at the top the floor for commitment. This is determined by a motivating corporate strategy, by purpose and customer orientation, which employees can fully support. Satisfied employees, in turn, value the work content, the work-life balance and the collaboration. Those who are dissatisfied are usually dissatisfied because the general conditions are not right, explains Sven Bühler. In the worst case, this then leads to resignation: people disconnect and withdraw "into the basement," as it were. All in all, a very vivid picture, although the question might arise for the outsider observer: Is every corporate building ultimately built on resignation? For without the lowest floors, there would probably be no upper floors; probably incentive enough for companies to bring the lowest floors up to "commitment level" as quickly as possible... According to Sven Bühler, it was the following three dimensions of the work situation that had the greatest influence on employee commitment in all participating companies:

1. Corporate strategy, i.e. employees want to know where the company is headed
2. Work content, i.e. employees want to be able to use their knowledge and skills
3. Involvement of employees, i.e. employees want to be involved and have sufficient freedom to make decisions

Award-winning companies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

This year's survey is the largest Swiss employee survey, with a response of over 42,390 employees from 145 companies in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The scientifically developed questionnaire consists of around 60 questions and is completed on average by 75% of all employees in a company. As a result, the assessments are extremely representative and provide a differentiated picture of the working environment. A total of 48 companies were awarded prizes, and a further 38 companies received a quality seal. The latter companies outperformed the Swiss benchmark in at least one of the target variables - overall satisfaction with the work situation, commitment or resignation - but are not among the best employers in Switzerland and therefore did not receive a ranking.

This year's best Swiss employers (and those of Liechtenstein) in their respective size categories are: Camion Transport AG, Soudronic AG, Lenzburg Vocational School and Breitenmoser Fleischspezialitäten AG. New this year, the Swiss Employer Award awarded a fourth attractive chance to win. icommit, in collaboration with its long-standing partner HR Swiss, honored innovative work environment projects that have a positive impact on commitment within the company. The winner of the first innovation award for a modern working world 2022 is Thomann Nutzfahrzeuge AG with their forward-looking project: New Work - holistically understood, consistently lived. This project convinces with target-oriented measures in the areas of working time model, vacation model, additional benefit as well as proactive personnel development tool with artificial intelligence. Thomann Nutzfahrzeuge achieves high employee ratings in terms of key commitment drivers such as corporate strategy, dealing with change and work content. The second special award in the category Rising Star of the Year goes to Swissgrid AG this year.

The winners of the Swiss Employer Award 2022

Large companies category (more than 1000 employees)

1. Camion Transport Ltd
2. CONCORDIA
3. Bern University of Applied Sciences

Medium-sized company category (250-999 employees)

1. Soudronic AG
2. Foundation Lebenshilfe
3. Liechtenstein Old Age and Sickness Assistance (LAK)

Medium-sized company category (100-249 employees)

1. Vocational school Lenzburg
2. BitHawk AG
3. Careum AG Education Center for Health Professions

Category Small companies (50-99 employees)

1. Breitenmoser Meat Specialities AG
2. Heim AG Heating Systems
3. Vision-Inside AG

The complete ranking list and the presentations of the award winners are compiled here.