The Swiss economy on the way to more flexibility

In spring 2015, SBB, Swisscom, Microsoft Switzerland, Mobiliar, Swiss Post and Witzig The Office Company founded the Work Smart Initiative.

From Home Office Day to a broad-based Work Smart initiative

A lot has happened since the first national Home Office Day in 2010 and the transfer to the Work Smart Initiative last year: Numerous new partners support the initiative, and many companies are aligning themselves with the Work Smart Charter. A variety of tools as well as events support companies and organizations in sustainably changing their own work culture in the direction of more flexibility and in benefiting from the insights of others.

The Work Smart Initiative

In spring 2015, SBB, Swisscom, Microsoft Switzerland, Mobiliar, Swiss Post and Witzig The Office Company founded the Work Smart Initiative. By promoting flexible forms of work, the initiative aims to achieve the following goals:

1.  Creating motivating framework conditions for highly qualified employees
2. Better tap the labor market for skilled workers
3. Using resources and transport infrastructures more smartly

Currently, 79 Swiss employers have signed the Work Smart Charter, committing to these three goals.

Of the approximately 4.65 million employees in the Swiss economy, 1.12 million people, or around a quarter, already work flexibly. 2.62 million employees cannot yet work flexibly due to their job, infrastructure or company regulations. So far, 79 companies have signed the Work Smart Charter, expressing their commitment to Switzerland as a flexible place to think and work.

The new studies by the University of Zurich and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland focused on two questions: How has the Swiss economy changed specifically since the last measurement in 2014 and what methods are available to successfully shape the transformation of work culture?

Findings:

• Of the 4.65 million people employed in the Swiss economy, 1.12 million, or about a quarter, already work in a largely flexible manner.
• 2.62 million employees cannot (due to their job or technical infrastructure) or are not allowed (due to company regulations and/or management culture) to work flexibly.
• 11 % of employees could already work flexibly by virtue of their job, but do not have the technology to do so (4 %, constant compared to 2014) or do not have permission to do so (7 % compared to 8 % 2014).
• Only 6 % of the employed do not want to work at all and only 3 % of the employed want to work less flexibly.

Biggest obstacles to flexible working

It usually happens that team collaboration requires physical proximity (54 %). Other important areas where there is less flexibility relate to data protection and confidentiality (38 %) and company regulations, which do not allow flexible working or only in exceptional situations (36 %).

There are numerous approaches for the transition from presence models to flexible forms of work with corresponding target agreements that have been tried and tested in the Swiss economy. These include comprehensive methods such as "participative management" as well as focused methods "directives and social guidelines". In practice, these approaches are often combined. The application of the methods and their combination should be made consciously and adapted to the corporate context. Nevertheless, there are still many gray areas.

The studies and practical examples will be presented during Work Smart Week from September 12 to 16.

http://www.work-smart-initiative.ch