Randstad Award 2022: The most attractive employers

On May 31, the award ceremony for the most attractive employer in Switzerland, the Randstad Award 2022, took place. The award, which is being presented for the 9th time by the staffing services provider Randstad, was held this year for the first time within the HR Festival in Zurich. In addition to the presentation of the award, unexpected developments of the Randstad Employer Brand Study were presented and current talent trends were discussed in an exciting panel round.

Google: Lost its nimbus as a top employer?

In the election of the most attractive employer in Switzerland, the cards were reshuffled, as it were, this year: Google was allowed to be evaluated again after three years in the Hall of Fame, in which it had made it through three place-one nominations in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and this time did not make it onto the winners' podium with fourth place. Ahead of the Internet giant are traditional Swiss companies: First place and thus the most attractive employer in Switzerland in 2022 is Rolex. It is followed by another watch manufacturer, Patek Phillippe Geneve, and chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli in third place. Flughafen Zürich AG is in fifth place. In addition, ten new companies have made it into the top 20.

"I expected the Covid 19 crisis to change the needs of workers. Although it seems obvious at first glance, it surprised me how high the topic of flexibility is on the agenda of employees. My experience shows that not only spatial flexibility, but also time flexibility as well as contractual flexibility have become very important," says Bernhard Hänggi, CFO Randstad Switzerland. But even despite times of crisis: The most important factors influencing employees in their choice of employer have remained largely stable over the past nine years. Attractive salaries and benefits, a pleasant working environment, job security and work-life balance remained the most important factors.

Employer reputation becomes more important

There have been changes in other areas. The "reputation" factor is the secret winner of the Randstad Award 2022; it has gained the most importance over the years. "So reputation is more important than ever when choosing an employer. Due to the current employee market, talents might allow themselves to be more choosy," Susanne Beer, HR Director Randstad Switzerland explains this development. "Keyword employer branding: a higher level of awareness is more than ever an essential door opener." By contrast, two points have lost the most relevance: The financial health of a company and the use of new technologies. "The fact that a company's financial security is no longer considered so important could be due to the fact that talents have become more self-confident with regard to finding a new job more quickly," Susanne Beer believes. As far as the topic of the latest technologies is concerned, the participants in the panel discussion also agreed: "It is no longer a decisive factor, as it has simply become a must for companies to use technology, to have a good ICT infrastructure," is how Bruno Zanella, Head of Human Resources at Flughafen Zürich AG, assesses the change.

Randstad Award 2022: The Top 20

Randstad Employer Brand Research, an independent study in the field of employer branding, is behind each ranking. Companies cannot apply to participate; they are selected for the study based on their number of employees. In addition to the company ranking, the results of the study provide information about the needs of employees and current trends in the market.

1. Rolex
2. Patek Phillippe Geneve
3. Lindt & Sprüngli
4. Google*
5. Zurich Airport Ltd
6. Swatch Group
7. SWISS
8. Pilatus Aircraft Works Ltd*
9. SBB CFF FFS
10. Raiffeisen*
11. Chocolate Frey AG
12. Stadler Rail
13. Migros
14. HP*
15. SR Technics*
16. Roche*
17. Swisscom*
18. KPMG*
19. Siemens*
20. Richemont*

*new in the top 20

Source: Randstad