Back to the overview
This white paper is the Adecco Institute’s second annual report on Demographic Fitness in Switzerland. The study continues the examination of whether companies are preparing for the onslaught of retirements and shortages of new graduates that an ageing population implies. The Adecco Institute Demographic Fitness Survey, launched in 2006, has gathered information on more than 8.500 companies in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The data gathered in these surveys provides the first quantitative insights into the extent to which European companies are preparing for the phenomenon of an ageing population. For all industrialized nations, long term demographic change is a powerful and irrepressible force. Population and workforce ageing will reshape our countries in ways that we are only beginning to grasp. Demographic trends in Switzerland are similar to those in the rest of Europe: as people live longer and reproduce at increasingly lower rates, the overall age of the population is rising. The Adecco Institute Demographic Fitness Survey focuses on the impact of this change on companies, who will be faced with a shrinking pool of young people entering the workforce, and a growing pool of older workers. For countries with ageing populations, the only segment of the workforce that will actually grow in the coming years will be older workers: the cohort of those fifty and older. Our survey assesses the effectiveness of companies in the five major areas that impact their ability to attract and retain workers: Career Management, Lifelong Learning, Knowledge Management, Health Management, and Diversity Management. Our Demographic Fitness Index (DFX) assigns each firm a score based on their performance in each of these areas, from which we derive a country-wide score. Scores are based on an index of 100 to 400 points. Swiss firms scored 172 points, down 2 points from their 2007 score of 174 Over 80% of Swiss firms scored less than 200 points. These results indicate that Swiss companies have significant work to do to increase their ability to attract and retain workers in an era of demographic change.
The objective of the survey is to raise awareness that demographic trends will compound existing talent and skills shortages and to encourage forward-looking firms to take sensible, concrete steps that will help them to compete, innovate and produce in an evertougher global business environment.
Key findings from our 2008 Swiss Demographic Fitness Survey include:
- 50% of Swiss firms have taken no action to analyse the age structure of their workforce, indicating Swiss firms have not yet fully embraced the issue of population ageing, and its impact on the workforce.
- Swiss firms are demonstrating a commitment to offering individual career programs, with 61% of Swiss firms offering this Career Management tool (up from 43% a year ago); this is particularly notable given that Swiss firms place relatively less emphasis on Career Management than firms in other European countries.
- As with Career Management, Swiss firms put relatively little emphasis on Health Management in comparison to other European companies, but are notable in one area: fully 37% of Swiss firms offer healthy catering to employees, vs. 25% for the big 5 European economies.
- Swiss firms, like firms in other European countries, are optimistic about the likelihood of youth solving skills shortages issues. With a shrinking number of new entrants coming into the workforce, we don’t share this enthusiasm. However, fully 89% of Swiss firms (vs. only 58% across Europe) see their own Human Resources function as a key to the issue of skills shortages – reflecting a recognition that companies themselves will be driven to take steps to address these shortages.
- Swiss firms have a healthy attitude toward older workers, in all likelihood influenced by the number of older workers who remain in the workforce in Switzerland. 86% of firms rank their older employees as ‘as good as or better than’ younger employees in efficiency and productivity, and 90% rank older workers as ‘as good as or better than’ younger employees in motivation and commitment.
Download entire study
English
French
German
Back to the overview