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The Adecco Institute presents the second Demographic Fitness Index for Swiss companies; they rank last in the comparison of 8 countries
Zurich, Switzerland – 12 June 2008:
Swiss companies handle demographic change differently from their European neighbors. Apparently, the Swiss status as a non-EU member state and the entrepreneurial focus on the service sector have resulted in different views and reactions. This is clearly demonstrated in the Demographic Fitness Index compiled for the second time for Switzerland. The results of the Demographic Fitness Index, a survey among 500 Swiss companies, have been presented today by the Adecco Institute and by Adecco Switzerland.
When comparing the 8 countries in the survey (the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland), Switzerland scores worst and ranks last compared to its penultimate position in the first survey 2007. Despite this bad preparation for demographic change at company level, Swiss firms encounter the fewest difficulties in filling vacancies with their favorite candidates compared with the other countries. Due to the favorable conditions for employees (low unemployment rate, high wage level, low tax burden), companies can apparently afford to be more optimistic concerning the consequences of demographic change than other countries, i.e. in respect of an ageing workforce and a lack of skilled workers.
Conversely, Swiss companies do not make use of the potential value added that could be realized through a targeted preparation for demographic change. Due to the advantages of the location, which make the recruitment of qualified personnel easier than in other countries, companies in Switzerland are more likely to consider employees as infinitely available and replaceable. Yet, there is a marked awareness among companies of the importance of demographic change: 65% of the large companies in Switzerland consider this to be a major challenge, more important than globalization (46%) and technological progress (54%). However, on average, the Swiss companies surveyed consider it less important in 2008 than in 2007. In 2007, demographic change had still been named the single most important challenge for all companies in the survey (no other country estimated it that important), while in 2008, this problem ranked behind globalization and technological progress.
“Demographic change is affecting Switzerland as it does the other countries surveyed. In Switzerland, too, there are more and more older employees and fewer young ones who follow suit. However, Switzerland manages to compensate for those deficits through immigration, and more successfully so than any other country, in particular by recruiting specialists from around the world. Even so, Swiss companies should not rely on a continued flow of sufficient workers from abroad. They must step up their efforts in keeping their own personnel fit to be able to deal with demographic change on their own“, said Wolfgang Clement, Chairman of the Adecco Institute and former German Minister of Economics and Labor.
By 2020, there will be one fifth fewer workers aged 30 to 44 years than in 2000 in Switzerland, and one third more workers aged 50 to 64 years. The group of people between 60 and 64 will see an increase of 50%. The share of those under the age of 19 of the total population will shrink by 16% during that same period. In 18 months’ time, more than half of the Swiss workforce (55%) will be over 40. Despite this development, Swiss companies do not encounter great difficulties for the time being in the field of finding adequate candidates. 82% of the companies surveyed claim that they find the skills they were looking for, 84% also indicate that they manage to fill the intended number of vacancies (77% the previous year) and 91% manage to recruit applicants for the intended location – all of these are top scores in the comparison of the 8 countries surveyed.
Given that Swiss companies have hardly been affected by the consequences of demographic change yet, they have not made any progress concerning the analysis of their age structure– the prerequisite for a successful adaptation to workforce ageing. Half of the companies do not know about the age structure of their workforce (compared with an EU average of 30%). The number of companies that claim to have conducted a full and complete analysis of their overall age structure has even dropped from 33% a year ago to only 25% this year. The other countries in the survey have, in part, made major progress in terms of the analysis of the age structure of their workforce: Germany managed to improve its results from 38% to 53%. Companies there consider demographic change more important than during the first survey.
The Demographic Fitness Index (DFX): Switzerland scores 172 of 400 points
On the basis of a set of evaluation criteria in five major areas that impact personnel policy, the Demographic Fitness Index (DFX) measures the extent to which firms are preparing for demographic change. The results are presented as an index between 100 and 400 points. The following areas are covered in the survey: career management, lifelong learning, knowledge management, health management and diversity management.
This is the Adecco Institute’s second survey, covering eight countries (the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland) with a sample of 500 companies per country, of all sectors and sizes. The aggregate of the company results is country index. Switzerland scored 172 of 400 index points (174 the year before) and only ranks last among the eight countries in the survey. The average score of the eight countries is 181 (182 the year before). The individual country scores (previous year’s results in brackets): UK 186 (189), Germany 186 (181), Netherlands 183 (181), Belgium 182 (185), Italy 182 (186), Spain 180 (185), France 174 (172), Switzerland 172 (174). From a Swiss point of view, the positive result in terms of planning horizons for their personnel needs for professionals and executives is good news. In general, Swiss companies score better than the other countries and plan 16 months (13 the year before) ahead for all staff, and 20 months for professionals and executives. A positive change can also be seen in the field of lifelong learning: the time dedicated to advanced training schemes per employee increased from 4.3 to 5.5 days on average. However, it remains below the EU average of 6.2 days.
“If there were a ranking of the eight countries in the survey as to who was the ‘best employer’ – as there is in companies – Switzerland would probably win. Swiss companies benefit from the appeal of the location, in particular from immigration. However, this also involves a quite a risk, namely in the field of the companies’ readiness for demographic change, which leaves a lot to be desired. In this area, the companies tend to be very complacent about their future and do not fully exhaust their productivity potential“, said Donna Murphy, Managing Director of the Adecco Institute.
About the Adecco Institute
The Adecco Institute, founded in 2006 and based in London, is a think tank on the future of work; it is committed to facilitating discussions on the topic of work and employment. Through research as well as white papers and forums for discussion, the Adecco Institute provides forward-looking approaches to help companies and economies raise employability and employee satisfaction at work.
www.adeccoinstitute.com
Media contact:
Shepard Fox Communications,
Axel.Schafmeister@shepard-fox.com, Tel.: +41 78 714 8014.
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