Swisscom

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Responsible employer

Swisscom offers employees a working environment that fosters their personal and professional development by setting them challenging tasks and allowing them to exercise responsibility. At the same time, Swisscom positions itself as a socially responsible employer.

Swisscom operates in a fast-moving and challenging market environment and has to continually adapt to technological innovations. Demographic and social trends are also increasingly influencing personnel resources. All these dynamic changes require progressive human resources management and a corporate culture and working environment that motivate employees to realise their potential in the context of the corporate strategy.
In a multimedia society, employees’ flexibility, willingness to change and specialist knowledge play a vital role in the implementation of Swisscom’s mission statement and the achievement of the objectives outlined in the corporate strategy. Customer trust is therefore key to staying competitive in the long-term and is the reason why Swisscom systematically aligns itself to customer needs. This calls for employees who can develop visions and work in mixed teams to put these into practice in a results-oriented manner.

Environment and objectives

Swisscom’s Group Human Resources Division is responsible for implementing a uniform HR and social policy throughout the company and formulates and promulgates Group-wide standards, guidelines and principles. The HR departments within each of the operating segments are responsible for implementing these and carrying out all HR functions from hiring new staff to employee departures. The Group Human Resources Division supports the Group Executive Board and Board of Directors on HR policy matters, such as terms and conditions of employment, salary system and diversity. It also recruits senior managers and conducts management development and succession planning in collaboration with the operating units. Group Human Resources is also responsible for professional and vocational training throughout the Group, and as such plays a key role at the company’s Swiss locations. In its dealings with the social partners and employee associations, Group Human Resources advocates the interests of the Group as a whole.
In order to meet future challenges, Group Human Resources plans its resource requirements from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, formulates key priorities in employees’ professional development and cultivates a management culture characterised by trust, esteem and performance orientation.

Staff development

Swisscom’s market environment is constantly changing. The company therefore makes targeted investments in professional training and development for employees and managers to improve their employability in the long term. Employees are supported in their development by a wide range of on- and off-the-job options as well as internal programmes and courses. Further training and development programmes on offer include professional, technical and management courses. Swisscom welcomes opportunities for further training and provides related financial support. In the year under review, staff spent 54,441 days on training and development in Switzerland.
In line with the results of the 2010 employee survey on “professional development”, initial steps were taken by Swisscom in 2012. For example, the management compass, which among things charts an employee’s development as a management task, is now mandatory Group wide. Also in 2012, the “You & your Boss” initiative rolled out throughout Switzerland to promote a development dialogue between management and employees so as to facilitate the agreement of medium-term development measures. Finally, Swisscom IT Services launched an integrated competence model coordinated with line management, as well as a suitable development tool to enable the company to more effectively address the projected shortage of ICT specialists.
Swisscom continues to develop its Performance Management System in line with requirements with a view to assessing and rewarding employee achievements. The basis of this system is the performance dialogue. Guided by the principle of “agreeing objectives, recognising achievements and following a development plan”, employees and line managers engage in dialogue in which they discuss future tasks, expectations and personal development. Commensurate with its strategic positioning as a trustworthy partner in the digital world, Swisscom formulated concrete demands on all employees. In 2012, line managers conducted a performance dialogue with 98.8% of all Swisscom employees in Switzerland.
The management and people review processes have been extended to organisational units below Group division level. They support both succession planning for key functions as well as the placement of talents beyond individual divisions. A mentoring programme also encourages professional and personal discussions between the talents and the members of the Group Executive Board, while the Leadership Forum offers an important platform for management issues.

Employee training in general and in the area of corporate responsibility

Swisscom is constantly training its employees. In 2012, employees covered by the CEA attended an average of 3.2 days (25 hours) of training and/or further development. Swisscom also regularly trains employees on a wide range of corporate responsibility issues. For example, Swisscom raises awareness of ecological and social issues among new hires at its Welcome Days, and the issue of Responsibility in the supply chain is addressed with buyers as part of its Lead Buyer Circles. In the year under review, Swisscom also trained 40 project managers and 90 specialist groups on the environmental parameters for new projects.

Corporate volunteering

Corporate volunteering is the term used to describe voluntary work carried out by employees for charitable causes. Swisscom encourages this commitment by allowing its employees to do this during paid working hours and offering them the chance to help out with various projects in the fields of nature (Nature Days), social responsibility (Social Days) and economy (Economy Days). 2012 saw Swisscom expand and further develop the Corporate Volunteering Programme so that employees can now dedicate from a half-day to two days of their working time to voluntary work each year. A total of 748 volunteer days were clocked up in 2012.

Staff recruitment

Recruiting new staff

Swisscom seeks individuals who are motivated and passionate about helping customers and who want to help shape the future of the digital world. At all company locations in Switzerland, Swisscom endeavours to give priority to people from the surrounding regions. This is why the percentage of local employees in all areas and at all hierarchical levels is exceptionally high.
83.7% of Swisscoms workforce are Swiss nationals. The remaining 16.3% are made up of employees from 88 different countries, including 5.1% from Germany, 3.8% from Italy, 1.6% from France and 1% from Spain.

Student interns and trainees

In order to attract talented and highly motivated graduates to the company, Swisscom maintains a wide range of connections with universities and schools of applied sciences. Attending relevant recruitment fairs and engaging in more advanced forms of cooperation such as guest lectures and workshops is very important to Swisscom. Many students gain initial professional experience at Swisscom during their studies either by working as interns or during the practical part of their Bachelors or Masters course. Over the last twelve months, almost 100 students have begun an internship at Swisscom, and a similar number of students has been coached through the practical part of their Bachelors or Masters courses by Swisscom employees. Once they have successfully completed their studies, graduates can embark on the first step of the career ladder at Swisscom through internships, the trainee programme or a junior position.

Vocational training

Two hundred and eighty-five young people began their apprenticeships with Swisscom in August 2012, of which 118 were in ICT jobs in mediamatics and IT. Swisscom thus assumes the responsibility of being Switzerlands largest trainer of ICT professionals. In 2012, Swisscom trained a total of 823 apprentices in technical and commercial apprenticeships. Additionally, 84 apprentices completed their training at subsidiary cablex. The training for the new Specialist in Customer Dialogue apprenticeship, introduced in 2011, is being expanded from the customer contact centres in German-speaking Switzerland to include Western Switzerland and will also be offered to apprentices starting in 2013 in Ticino as well.
In order to make the application process quicker and easier for students, Swisscom introduced an online application system for the 2012 intake of apprenticeships.
The Swisscom training model is geared towards independence and personal accountability. The aim of this is to support the personal development of the apprentices. They take an active role in devising their training so that it fits their individual priorities, apply within the company for different practical placements and learn from experienced employees during such placements.

Health and safety in the workplace

Employee health

Having healthy and motivated employees is very important to Swisscom. In line with its strategy, Swisscom therefore makes targeted investments in initiatives and programmes for Occupational Health Management (OHM). The Board of Directors, Group Executive Board and management staff have all contributed to the success of OHM, which has resulted in the staff absence rate being reduced from 3.26% to 2.86% since 2009. Swisscom aims to continue to reduce it to 2.1% by 2015. Further details and performance indicators can be found in the table Employees in figures.
As a result of this positive trend, the premium rates for work-related accidents, non-work-related accidents and the insurance for sick pay allowance were reduced as of 1 January 2012.
Through its involvement in the ConCerto project in collaboration with the Federal Social Insurance Office, Swisscom makes an important contribution to ensuring collaboration with the social insurance agencies is coordinated as effectively as possible. ConCerto aims to simplify and accelerate the professional reintegration of individuals after suffering health problems. The ConCerto-pro association was set up in 2012 with the aim of organising all domestically active employers, Federal Disability Insurance offices, sick pay allowance and accident insurers, and SMEs to adopt and comply with the processes it specified. The association also supports and coordinates the further development of reintegration issues together with partners on a national level (FSIO, SECO, associations and institutions). Swisscom heads up the association steering committee.
The number of disability cases in 2012 fell by 23% in comparison to previous years. In addition, 16 trainee positions and internships were again filled in close cooperation with integration partners. These positions are available to employees with health problems. OHM and, if necessary, social insurance agencies such as the Federal Disability Insurance office (IV) provide assistance and support.
Swisscom aims to extend the focus of occupational health management to include prevention (Health Promoting Leadership) to promote and maintain employee health.

Occupational safety

As set out in the collective employment agreement (CEA), Swisscom undertakes to protect the personal integrity of its employees and provide an appropriate level of health protection according to ergonomic principles. In terms of ergonomics (design of workstations and working environment, health protection and health care, prevention of work-related accidents and occupational illnesses, workplace safety), the CEA grants the employee associations the right of co-determination and the social partners the right of information. Various committees coordinate and organise training courses, initiatives and measures aimed at promoting safety and health protection in the workplace. In areas where workplace safety is particularly important for employees, Swisscom operates an integrated, process-based management system and is ISO 9001:2000 certified.
The criteria, processes and tools for regulating and implementing workplace safety and health protection are integrated in a quality environmental and safety management system. For example, Swisscoms subsidiary cablex follows Guideline 6508 of the Federal Coordination Commission for Occupational Safety (FCOS), which covers the ten elements of the operational safety system and ensures the measures necessary for safeguarding the health and safety of employees involved in installing infrastructure.

Move! and the Swisscom Games

Move! is a programme which supports activities in the fields of health, sport and culture. Employees can become Move! coaches or take part in another activity. Activities are conducted during employees free time. Move! aims to broaden employees sporting and intellectual horizons and give staff the opportunity to meet their colleagues from other areas of the company.
The Swisscom Games is an event that is held every two years. Employees have the option of enrolling for a team or individual activity in the fields of sport, culture and society. The 2011 Swisscom Games saw four events held in various regions throughout Switzerland in which a total of around 6,000 employees took part. The Swisscom Games are a key networking opportunity for employees and have become an important part of the corporate culture. The next Games will take place in 2013.

Diversity

Living Diversity @ Swisscom

Diversity Management is a concept that is extremely important within an international working environment. The aim of the concept is to recognise the special knowledge and skills that each individual brings and use them for the benefit of the entire company.
Diversity champions an open working environment, in which employees are treated with respect and everyone is free to develop and reach their full potential. Swisscom sees diversity as something it must commit to internally within the company, as well as externally with its customers and partners. As regards diversity, Swisscom feels obliged to ensure the well-being of its employees, thus ensuring that they have sufficient motivation to deliver an outstanding performance.
Swisscom opens up new opportunities for all staff and views the various aspects of diversity in their entirety.
Swisscom considers an equal gender ratio to be fundamentally important for the brand and for ensuring the success of the company. Swisscom has thus set itself the goal of increasing the number of women at all management levels from 11% to 20% in the medium term. Swisscom therefore operates special programmes to foster the development of talented female employees and seeks promising female talents both internally and externally.
In addition, Swisscom is increasingly championing the use of solutions that support the compatibility of family and career, thus creating a good work-life balance. In terms of diversity, it finds it extremely important to have a wide range of cultures within the company. Thanks to the wide range of approaches, ideas and skills possessed by all of our employees, Swisscom is an innovative and creative company. Eighty-eight nations are represented among the staff at Swisscom.
The average age of the population and hence the average age of Swisscoms workforce is constantly increasing, which poses opportunities as well as risks. Swisscom is addressing this issue with its Age Management initiative (see below).
Swisscom considers sexual orientation to be an important aspect of diversity. The companys corporate culture is shaped by openness and tolerance.
Swisscom does not differentiate between employees with physical or mental impairments and those that are not impaired in relation to the opportunities offered to and the potential of individual employees. Swisscom would rather build on the individual strengths and skills offered by each individual employee. No cases of discrimination were reported in 2012.

Age management

Swisscom is using age management to address demographic trends in good time and find innovative ways of allowing older employees to continue in active employment. Because the average age of employees, the wider population and therefore also Swisscoms customers is increasing all the time, the company set what is called BestAge projects. These projects focus on meeting the needs of older employees and older customers. The measures and programmes implemented in call centres and shops accommodate these needs. Older employees are serving and advising older customers. Further initiatives include in-house consulting, where older senior managers advise line management, provide coaching and allow others to benefit from their experience through involvement in projects. Older employees can also be used as quality assurance specialists in network construction projects.
Swisscom has been a member of the Swiss Demographics Forum since 2011. Currently comprising seven finance and service companies, the Swiss Demographics Forum is a platform whose aim is to compile and draw up basic principles for establishing sustainable and successful demographic management. In 2012, the members of the forum developed a variety of practical solutions that could be used by the participating companies.

Equal pay

Swisscom takes great care to ensure equal pay for men and women. The companys salary system is structured in such a way as to award equal pay for equivalent duties, responsibilities and performance. To this end, the individual functions are assigned to function levels according to their requirements and a salary band is defined for each function level. This stipulates the remuneration range for equivalent duties and responsibility. Pay is determined within this range based on the individual employees performance and experience. As part of its salary review, Swisscom grants employees who have performed better and are lower down the salary band a pay rise beyond the usual salary adjustments. This allows any existing wage disparities to be evened out on an ongoing basis. When conducting the salary review, Swisscom also checks whether there are any pay inequalities between men and women within individual organisational units and corrects them in a targeted manner.
Swisscom also uses the federal governments equal pay tool (Logib) to conduct periodic reviews of its salary structures to ascertain whether disparities exist between mens and womens pay. Previous reviews have revealed only minor pay discrepancies, well under the tolerance threshold of 5%.
In 2011, Swisscom joined the Equal Pay Dialogue, an initiative set up by the employer and employee umbrella organisations in association with the federal government to review equal pay. The positive outcome of the Equal Pay Dialogue confirms that Swisscom salaries conform to the principle of equal pay.

Employee satisfaction

In May 2012, Swisscom conducted an extensive survey to gauge the satisfaction of Swisscom staff. Around 80% of the workforce participated. The results show that there is a high level of job satisfaction and an extremely high level of employee commitment at Swisscom. The employees gave all of the areas under review a significantly better score than in the 2010 survey, and some of the scores were above-average when compared to other companies in the sector.
Below is a summary of the key findings:

The level of commitment shown towards Swisscom has risen in comparison to the 2010 survey (87 out of 100 points in comparison to 86 out of 100 points in 2010). This is an above-average result in comparison to other companies.
Job satisfaction has also improved, scoring two points more than in 2010 (73 out of 100 points).
Employees are enjoying their work and being part of their respective team, and consider Swisscom an innovative company and an attractive employer.
Employees were particularly critical of cost management and the opportunities for career progression.

In light of the employee survey results, the Group Executive Board has agreed upon the following course of action:

As a result of the pleasing results and a clear upward trend in employee satisfaction versus the 2010 survey, the decision was taken to forego setting up a Group-wide taskforce.
Instead, the Group Executive Board has decided to continue with all of the activities already initiated.

Employees in figures

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