Swiss Employer Award 2018: These are the winners
On September 19, the Swiss Employer Award was once again presented in Bern. The award is based on a scientifically based questionnaire that was completed this year by a total of 46,100 employees in 140 companies.
First, there was a bit of a wait at the Paul Klee Center in Bern, where this year's Swiss Employer Awards ceremony was to take place. After a delay of about 45 minutes - some of the speakers at the HR congress that had taken place earlier must have overrun their speaking time - the award ceremony was able to begin. And in "unbernian" speed this was then also pulled through.
Smaller companies have more satisfied employees
Beforehand, Sven Bühler explained some of the findings of this year's employee surveys. He is the managing director of the survey and consulting institute icommit GmbH, which is responsible for conducting and designing the survey. "The digitalization and globalization tsunami has arrived in more and more companies," is Sven Bühler's first comprehensive conclusion. And one consequence of this, he says, is that more and more is being fundamentally questioned in companies. However: The Swiss Employer Award study clearly shows that employees still want clear leadership. However, this leadership must be able to communicate credibly, appreciatively and transparently to the workforce, as the survey results also show. "Strategy is the most important topic in connection with commitment," explained Sven Bühler. Looking at the individual questions, the answer "The management exemplifies the company values" makes the biggest difference in the rating between the best and the most critically rated employers. "Management has sufficient contact with employees" and "There is a good spirit in this company" follow directly behind. Only one economic aspect, namely "The company can look to the future with confidence," is equally important to the respondents. Another conclusion of the survey: Employees in smaller companies tend to be more satisfied than in large ones.
Increase resilience
On the other hand, the employees surveyed were less optimistic about future prospects, job security and the responsiveness of their employers to external changes. Accordingly, the promotion of resilience in companies is becoming more important. VUCA, an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity, also means there is no longer 100 percent certainty, he said. "Management can only prepare for as many eventualities as possible. Correspondingly, companies and also employees must be resilient today. This is why resilience and its promotion are playing an increasingly important role," says Bühler. Resilience in the company can be strengthened in a targeted manner. This is shown by the change in the behavior of the management of many companies. Management communicates much more openly, promotes a culture of trust, active ideas, and personal responsibility. In addition, there are fewer and fewer ready-made recipes and solutions. "Today, leadership means setting guidelines or setting an example of clear values, thus creating a framework within which employees can move more freely. This also goes hand in hand with a change in incentives that promotes the "we" instead of the "I. All of this strengthens the company's resilience," Bühler believes.
Recognize own construction sites
Award winners and all the other companies that took part agree: A neutral employee survey can tell a lot about the state of the corporate culture. "We can now see better how we compare with other companies," says a representative of a medium-sized service company that took part for the first time this year. They can also see where they still need to catch up and where there are "construction sites". Thomas Ulrich from CASCADA Hotel & BOLERO Restaurante, the winner among the small companies, says: "The main ingredient in our recipe for success is our in-house Kaskade values. We cherish these among ourselves, which leads to a great atmosphere across departments." Petra Tscharner from the Baumann Koelliker Group, the winner among the large companies with over 1,000 employees, adds: "We live a family-like, helpful as well as positive corporate culture - a traditional down-to-earth company with pizzazz and heart."
The winners of the Swiss Employer Awards 2018
Category 1000+ employees:
Category 250-999 employees:
Category 100-249 employees:
Category 50-99 employees:
More information: www.swissarbeitgeberaward.ch
