Employees in Switzerland: Little emotional attachment to the company

The consulting firm Gallup has published the report "State of the Global Workplace 2023". A total of 122,416 employees were surveyed in 145 countries, of which 18,262 interviews were conducted in Europe (38 countries, including Switzerland). The results are representative of the workforce in each country. The latest edition of the report shows the impact of going from one crisis to the next: stress. "The world is in a multiple crisis situation, which employees also feel at work. Of course, stress at work can't always be avoided - but it's how you handle it that matters. Time pressure caused by tight deadlines can have a positive effect on performance, at least in the short term. However, if the exception becomes a permanent condition that managers do not cushion with support, it can make people ill in the medium term. In view of high stress levels, companies must keep a watchful eye on this. In the long term, stress is toxic for the corporate culture and thus also for economic success," says Marco Nink, Director of Research & Analytics EMEA at Gallup.

Emotional commitment of employees in Switzerland at a low level

Compared with their European neighbors, however, Swiss employees are still in a relatively good position when it comes to stress levels. 39 percent of European employees report suffering from stress, compared with 42 percent of respondents in Germany and a global average of 44 percent.

The perceived stress is no coincidence and goes hand in hand with a low emotional attachment of Swiss employees to their employer. Thus, at the same time, they exhibit a low level of emotional attachment. Only one in ten respondents (11 %) in Switzerland has a high emotional attachment to their current employer. Most Swiss people work to rule and have a low emotional attachment (79 %). And 10 percent have even quit internally and no longer have any attachment to their employer.

Gallup analyzes emotional employee loyalty on the basis of twelve factors that flow into a so-called engagement index. "We know from our long-term research that low emotional employee loyalty is a challenge for companies in times of employee shortages," says Nink. "That's because it promotes a willingness to switch. Companies can counteract this with the quality of the leadership experienced. Employees who report good leadership feel less stressed and more engaged than employees whose emotional needs at work are overlooked," says Marco Nink, who as EMEA Lead Research & Analytics accompanies the European surveys.

Europe is giving away potential: no other region is less emotionally attached

In terms of low emotional commitment, however, the Swiss are in like-minded company in Europe. Europe has the lowest level of emotional employee commitment of all ten world regions (13 % compared with 23 % worldwide). Europe's large neighbors in particular also have low scores when it comes to emotional attachment. In the United Kingdom, the value of employees with a high level of emotional employee loyalty is 10 percent, in Germany 16 percent; France (7 %) and Italy (5 %) even score well below the European average. This means that the two countries not only bring up the rear in Europe, but are also among the nations with the worst scores globally. "Cultural factors are often cited as the reason for low emotional employee loyalty in Europe. However, the problem lies not in the work culture, but in the management culture. Our experience shows that in companies that actively work on the quality of the leadership they experience and the working environment, the emotional loyalty of their employees can be significantly increased," says Gallup expert Marco Nink.

Opportunities on the labor market are perceived as promising

At the same time, many employees in Switzerland continue to rate the current chances of finding a new job as positive in the medium term. Thus, almost every second respondent (46 %; -2 %) states that it is a good time to change employer. Although this figure is slightly below the European average (56 %), it shows that employees have confidence in the labor market overall. "When employers actively promote emotional attachment and care about the well-being of their employees, they not only reduce their stress, but also strengthen their own competitiveness and employer brand, in addition to their health and performance," says Pa Sinyan, Gallup's managing partner in EMEA. "However, when low emotional engagement meets high stress levels and at the same time the chances of finding a new job are rated well, the openness to change employers increases."

Source: Gallup