Staff development

Staff development

Swisscom’s market environment is constantly changing. the company invests in targeted professional training for employees and managers in order to retain and improve their employability and the company’s competitiveness in the long term. Employees are supported in their development by a wide range of on-, near- and off-the-job training options as well as internal programmes and courses. In 2014 the various training options were brought together under the Group-wide Learning Centre and made available to all employees via their own dedicated learning space. Nearly half of all internal learning and training courses take the form of e-learning programmes which can be carried out any time and from anywhere. The courses cover technical, management and project management topics. As part of talent management, around 10% of the top performers from the target groups have completed a corresponding internal programme. On-the-job training options, including job moves and stages, are becoming increasingly important. Even now ­Swisscom fills almost 43% of advertised vacancies internally. It also welcomes opportunities for employees to attend external further training courses, providing financial support and granting time off for such studies. In the year under review, every ­Swisscom employee spent 3.8 days on training and development in Switzerland.

Swisscom management sees staff development as a crucial element of its management responsibility. Regular dialogue between employees and management is used as an orientation tool to heighten the general commitment to training and development in the digital world It also makes it easier to agree on and realise medium-term development measures. To assess and promote employee performance and development, ­Swisscom will continue to develop its Performance Management System in line with requirements. Performance appraisals are carried out according to fair principles and cover a wide range of criteria based on binding agreements on objectives. The ongoing dialogue between employee and management about the agreed objectives ensures they are met over the course of a year. Broad-based support for the performance and development evaluations is provided within the framework of twice-yearly calibration rounds among groups of managers, at which performance is systematically assessed and further development steps are defined. These rounds are also used to draw up succession plans for key functions and to place talents in specially-designed talent programmes and offer promising employees challenging positions beyond their individual departments so as to promote their development.

In 2014 ­Swisscom launched the Leadership Academy, which offers members of management the opportunity to get to grips with individual and collective management issues in a changing environment and enhance their expertise in dialogue with other managers.