2024-02-15 05:08:05
Reports of job cuts are increasing, and the unemployment rate is well above 2 percent once more. And yet the shortage of skilled workers remains great. If you are urgently looking for staff, you have to be more creative, as examples show.
Florence Vuichard and Stefan Ehrbar / ch media
There are more days off in the Swiss catering industry due to a lack of staff. Image: Ennio Leanza/Keystone
The popular Sunday brunch now takes place on Saturday. Because on Sundays, the branches of the Füger bakery in Mörschwil, Steinach and St. Gallen have been closed since October due to a lack of staff.
The traditional Aarau inn “Zum Schützen” used to be open seven days a week. Since August he has been taking a rest day on Mondays. He has also drastically reduced his catering operations. Better less, but perfect, is the operating family’s answer to the shortage of skilled workers.
Commuters who relied on bus 5, which connects Kriens with Emmenbrücke, have had to switch since November. The Lucerne transport company has stopped running line 5 due to a lack of chauffeurs, at least temporarily. There are also reductions in the timetable at the Zurich Transport Authority (VBZ). Since December and probably until the end of the year, trams and buses have only been running there every 15 minutes in the evenings from 8.30 p.m. until around 10.30 p.m. instead of every 10 minutes as before. This means the company saves 3 percent of all services on weekdays. The Rhaetian Railway is hit even harder: from March onwards, lines will be shortened and individual trains will be cancelled. One route will be converted entirely to bus operation.
The Rhaetian Railway has to reduce its offer.Image: zvg/Rhaetian Railway
The situation is also problematic in the retail sector. In the large SBB train stations, for example, where the railway enforces long minimum opening times, many shops have difficulty finding enough employees. This is a regular topic in discussions with business tenants, among other things because of the shortage of skilled workers, says SBB spokesman Moritz Weisskopf. Nevertheless, the SBB currently wants to stick to the long opening times so that the stations remain attractive.
There are still many vacancies in Switzerland
The call for personnel remains loud, and the shortage of skilled workers is a challenge for many companies. This is also reflected in the Swiss Job Tracker, with which the Economic Research Center (KOF) at ETH Zurich measures the number of jobs advertised online in Switzerland in real time. The index remains very high, even if it has fallen slightly over the past year.
At the same time, the headlines regarding mass layoffs are increasing: UBS, Migros, Post and numerous industrial companies have announced job cuts in recent weeks and months. The unemployment rate, which has oscillated around the 2 percent line for two years, rose to 2.5 percent in January, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco).
The unemployment rate in SwitzerlandImage: source: bfs, graphics: trs/ch media
Registrations for short-time work have also increased slightly, as Seco spokesman Fabian Maienfisch says. “We are assuming a further increase here.” In view of the rather negative economic development for some export-oriented companies, more companies are now likely to register for short-time work as a precautionary measure. “But that doesn’t mean that you actually have to apply for short-time work benefits,” adds Maienfisch.
Differences between industries
KOF labor market expert Michael Siegenthaler explains these supposed contradictions on the labor market primarily with the different developments in the various sectors: “Industry in particular is suffering from the global economic weakness,” emphasizes Siegenthaler. If the car industry in Germany came to a standstill, then the local suppliers would also have less to do. Wholesale, retail and the temporary market are also currently struggling with losses. This has been declining for months. “Workers with fixed-term contracts are always the first to lose their jobs, for example when things go badly in industry.”
The personnel situation in the hospitality industry has eased somewhat, as the KOF expert adds. The search for personnel is still a major issue, but the labor shortage is no longer as pronounced as it was a year ago. According to Siegenthaler, the situation is completely different in information technology, engineering or certain professions in transport. There is still a massive shortage of skilled workers here.
There are numerous reports of complaints from the healthcare sector. At the Spitex service in the city of Zurich, for example, the employees notoriously work overtime – until they quit, exhausted and disappointed. And thus further aggravate the situation. Recruiting staff remains difficult despite relatively good wages.
Patrick Siegenthaler, labor market expert at the Economic Research Center at ETH Zurich. Image: zvg/ETH Zurich
The expert’s conclusion: Despite economic dents in industry and trade, the Swiss labor market remains tense overall. KOF’s forward-looking employment indicator is “still high by historical standards,” as Siegenthaler adds. And it should stay high. The structural factors as a result of the “retirement of the baby boomers,” as Siegenthaler puts it, are too important. In other words: With the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 leaving the labor market, the shortage of skilled workers will become structurally greater.
Switzerland fills the demographic gaps with high levels of immigration, mostly from Europe. But in the future it will no longer be so easy, because, firstly, the other European nations are also suffering from a shortage of skilled workers. And secondly, political pressure on migration continues to increase.
Companies have to take new paths
So nothing will change quickly on the personnel front. Restaurants, hospitals and transport companies have to come up with ways to adapt their business and become more attractive as employers. And how they can also win over newcomers.
The Zurich transport company is currently trying to do the latter. They have launched a campaign to specifically target people over fifty to work on buses and trams. Studies show that the 50 plus generation is “vital and willing to perform” and that employers “have far too little on their radar” when recruiting, says the VBZ head of recruitment. The Zurich City Police, in turn, is expanding its recruitment pool by relaxing training restrictions – for example with regard to age and knowledge of German. While dialect used to be mandatory, standard German is now sufficient.
Sometimes companies have to offer more than just a job, as the example of the new hotel “Maistra 160” in Pontresina shows. The hoteliers added a staff house worth 11 million francs to the new hotel building. Without it, the hoteliers are convinced that the employees would not be able to stay in the posh Engadine town because they would not be able to afford apartments given the high rents.
Wage increases can also help with staff shortages. And sometimes it’s just the little things that add value to the place of work. The VBZ, for example, are trying to make work more attractive, for example thanks to more flexible scheduling with fewer long breaks in between – and, since 2023, thanks to the permission to listen to music while driving. Because it’s obviously better to travel with the right sound, as the experience of the Basel transport company has shown, where tram staff have been allowed to listen to music since 2022. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
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