What’s the mood in the Swiss workforce?
PwC’s latest workforce hopes and fears survey reveals that workers in Switzerland are ready to embrace new technologies and ways of working. But at the same time they’re feeling stress about their finances and the pace of change. A high proportion are considering a change of employer. How can employers respond? What’s needed is transformative, transparent leadership to inspire the workforce and instil confidence.
In April 2024, PwC surveyed 1,000 individuals in Switzerland who are in work or active in the labour market. This was part of a global survey of 56,600 people, one of the largest such studies ever undertaken. Both in Switzerland and globally, the sample was designed to reflect a range of industries, demographic characteristics and working patterns.
Here you’ll find the main findings for Switzerland.
Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2024
Swiss findings. Interested in downloading the report with all our latest findings?
Change: transformative leadership needed for a workforce open to new approaches but feeling overwhelmed
Workers in Switzerland expect multiple changes, especially in technology, to have a major impact on their jobs. While the vast majority are ready to adapt to new ways of working, they also have negative sentiments about change, feeling that there’s too much happening at once or and not understanding why change is needed.
The workforce also faces other pressures. Half say their workload has grown considerably over the past 12 months, and 46% say that they’re financially insecure.
Employers need to provide transformative leadership, including a vision for the future that people can engage with in their day-to-day roles. Employees need to be engaged and understand the case for change if transformation is to succeed.
Skills: upskilling opportunities and culture key to performance and retention
Workers in Switzerland seem restless, with 38% saying that they’re very or even extremely likely to change employer over the next year. Many feel that their jobs aren’t delivering what’s important to them, despite considerable flexibility: workers in Switzerland are more likely to be able to work remotely vs workers globally and over half are fully remote or hybrid.
Employers should respond by providing upskilling opportunities, not just to prepare for change but also to retain talent. Half of workers say the opportunity to learn new skills would play a large role in any decision to switch employer. At the same time, two-thirds aren’t getting enough opportunity to learn new skills at work.
Employers should also prioritise the employee experience and recognise the importance of fair pay and fulfilling work.
Employees in Switzerland want to utilise the skills they have and build new ones. To retain talent, employers need to focus on skills. This will require new thinking, including on who, where and how we recruit, the development opportunities we offer, and how we reward and recognise skills.
Generative AI: adoption promising but encouragement required
Employees in Switzerland see GenAI as a key to unlocking greater efficiencies. They’re bullish about its potential in terms of their creativity, efficiency, work quality and upskilling opportunities, and over 6 in 10 expect GenAI to increase efficiency in the next 12 months. On the other hand, workers in Switzerland are also more likely than their global peers to recognise the challenges of this disruptive technology.
The Swiss workforce is ahead of the global sample in terms of daily users (18% vs 12%). However, many workers in Switzerland are not yet using GenAI frequently—around one-third have never used it at work and another third only monthly or less. People generally have access to GenAI tools but may not understand the benefits and opportunities or how to use the tools.
Leaders should now be endeavouring to encourage greater GenAI adoption across workers and industries. They should give employees the freedom to innovate and foster responsible use.
The pace of adoption in GenAI in Switzerland is promising but most workers are still not using it frequently. Leaders need to make time for instilling confidence in GenAI and encouraging its use, within clear guidelines – and do this on an ongoing basis as GenAI evolves.
