Five trends for the Swiss world of work in 2024

Labor shortage: from bridging to sustainable management

Demographic change will continue in 2024 and will increasingly become a key driver of the labor shortage. At best, economic development may bring some temporary relief. However, the fact remains that significantly more people will leave the labor market in this decade than new workers will join it. Economists at UBS assume that there will be a gap of 220,000 to 250,000 workers on the Swiss labor market by 2030. It will therefore become a key task for companies to find, retain and retain qualified employees. It is no longer just a question of bridging a temporary shortage situation, but of developing strategies for successfully dealing with ongoing shortages.

Division of labor between man and machine is being renegotiated

While workers are scarce in many areas, others fear for their jobs. In many professions where knowledge work is paramount, artificial intelligence is increasingly putting employees under pressure. The systems are often still too immature to be fully relied upon. But routine tasks, such as simple research, summarizing texts or translations, are already working surprisingly well. What remains the preserve of humans - at least for the time being - is interpersonal, emotional competence. The division of labor between humans and machines will have to be completely redefined in many areas, which will be a highly relevant topic from both a technical and social perspective.

Offices as a meeting place

This year too, a good corporate culture forms the basis for job satisfaction and employee loyalty. But how much or how little closeness is needed? The end of the office has already been conjured up during the coronavirus pandemic. Working from home seemed to work just as well in many cases. In addition, employees could do without the inconvenience of commuting and companies could save on rental costs. In the meantime, however, more and more companies are calling for at least some form of compulsory attendance. After all, even if teamwork for operational tasks works perfectly digitally or in hybrid form, face-to-face interaction remains essential. Proximity, creativity and trust - central pillars of a successful corporate culture - require direct contact. The function of the office as a meeting zone is becoming even more important.

Cross-generational management approaches are becoming a success factor

Demographic change in the labor market is also reflected in the different expectations and lifestyles of different age groups. What is needed is a management approach that cooperatively integrates the strengths of different generations.

"Generational leadership is becoming an important success factor and is building bridges between the different age groups thanks to a flexible HR policy. This ensures a successful transfer of knowledge and takes account of different working styles.

Change becomes a habit

Change processes are never complete, but are constantly driving the further development of the working world. This also includes course corrections if a wrong turn is made. Thanks to an open culture of error, it is possible to learn from such situations and increasingly understand change as a normal state of affairs. After all, change, whether of our own accord or imposed from outside, will continue to occur in 2024 - and in every year that follows. Companies will become better and better at harnessing the power of these changes for their own benefit.

Sandra Bascha, Xing Communications Manager for Switzerland, summarizes: "Many of the current trends in the world of work will continue in 2024 and in many cases gain even more momentum. Dealing with the associated changes will increasingly become a decisive success factor for companies, and the key question is: can they translate the emerging forces into propulsion or will they allow them to slow them down?"

Source: www.new-work.se