04.03.2025
There is still an acute shortage of skilled workers in many industries. Alexander Fust from the Swiss Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (KMU-HGS) identifies strategies companies can use to boost their appeal as an employer and recruit skilled workers. You can also find our guide “Recruiting specialists” in this article, complete with details and tips.
According to a study by economiesuisse and the Swiss Employers’ Association, in ten years’ time there will be a shortage of around 460,000 full-time employees in Switzerland. Even now, there is a shortage of qualified labour in many areas. Depending on the industry and economic situation, companies are reporting difficulties in filling vacancies with suitable skilled workers.
This can have serious consequences for them. When companies lack skilled workers, they risk no longer being able to accept orders, which means a decline in revenue in the long term. Moreover, a shortage of staff has an adverse effect on productivity and innovation, which further impacts a company’s competitiveness. Companies have little or only a limited effect on a number of factors that cause a shortage of skilled workers, such as demographic and economic changes. But there are still ways to get a handle on the situation. We discuss this with Alexander Fust from the Swiss Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Gallen.
Alexander Fuss works at the Swiss Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (KMU-HSG)
There is no panacea that works in all industries. However, the first important step is to analyse the root cause of the shortage within your own company. Ask yourself: is it the result of our company having high staff turnover in general because we have to replace lots of employees who are retiring, because lots of apprentices leave the company after finishing their apprenticeship and move on, or because we’re just unable to recruit new skilled workers? Performing this analysis helps companies respond appropriately.
A long-term course of action can be to invest in training to attract young people to the company. This is especially important in niche areas where companies need to train their own specialists. Another medium to long-term factor is employee development. For one thing, you have to ensure your staff remain up to the job, and you have to support them along the way. You can do this with training and education, and also by enabling them to take the next step in their career. This does not necessarily have to be a management career in the conventional sense. You can also give staff additional roles, give them more responsibility. This is a possibility in most companies.
An inexpensive and highly effective method is to use “Employees recruit employees” schemes, which is when employees receive a bonus when people they have referred are still employed by the company after the probation period and/or after a year. The cost-income ratio here is very good. When a company’s own employees bring in new staff, this is a valuable mark of confidence. In particular for SMEs that may not have a big marketing pot for employee branding, it can be helpful to consider what the three most important reasons are for employees working there, or what the USP is.
It is worth doing a deep-dive. For example: if your employees appreciate your company’s culture, ask them what makes it so special. Perhaps they like the team spirit in your company, or maybe it’s your company’s culture of appreciation. Give your employees the opportunity to explain why they like working for you on your website. Maybe it’s that daily coffee and croissant with the rest of the team, the praise they get from their manager, the challenging and varied work they do, or the option to work from home. This is credible and will attract other employees looking for this employer USP.
A quick application process. Young people in particular, being so used to social media, expect a quick response. If an applicant has to wait two or three weeks to get a response, or has to follow up themselves, companies are wasting potential. A good tip is put yourself in an applicant’s position: what sort of people are we looking for? Where do they want to be approached? Is it on TikTok, a job platform, networks in Switzerland or abroad, at trade fairs, etc.? How do we go about contacting people so that it’s right for our target groups? This could be through a website or WhatsApp so that applicant barriers are removed.
The overall economic situation has a major influence. Companies from economically thriving industries are keen to grow and are on the hunt for qualified, experienced staff with specific expertise and an entrepreneurial mindset. Other companies, by contrast, are under economic pressure, and may be forced to cut back on skilled workers. Age structure can be a particular challenge for companies looking for skilled workers. Companies with lots of older, soon-to-be-retired employees need to look at how they can go about fostering young talent. In addition to investing in training, one approach can be to offer older employees opportunities early on to continue working at the company even after reaching retirement age. Another factor to consider is salary: industries offering especially high salaries attract employees away from industries with lower salaries. The issue of artificial intelligence is also becoming increasingly relevant.
The shortage of skilled workers has increased the pressure on companies to increase automation. After all, a company struggling to find skilled workers needs other solutions. This is where artificial intelligence comes into play, although I don’t yet see it having a broad impact in the sense that certain jobs will cease to exist as a result. Still, AI is an important issue when it comes to the further development of existing employees. Companies should ask themselves what skills will be needed in the future, and how employees can pick them up.
We have already looked at the topic of culture. Companies that foster a culture of appreciation are at an advantage. And the good thing is that the occasional “thank you!” or “good work!” costs nothing. If companies consciously shape their culture, however, they have to sanction unwanted behaviour in this working community. This is tied to management. Another possible strategy is to cultivate your network and to remember that even staff who have quit can be good ambassadors. It’s also a good idea to be present on the channels where your target groups actually are. This helps raise your company’s profile and raise awareness among the skilled workers you want to recruit.
With a modern recruitment policy, you increase your chances of recruiting specialists for your company. This is where a change of perspective helps: companies now apply to talented potential employees – and not the other way around.
Tips:
When searching for specialists, expand the pool and explore new avenues to tap into untapped potential.
Older specialists offer invaluable added value for companies thanks to their professional experience, specialist knowledge and established networks. Even if they may be a little more expensive where social security is concerned, it’s worth taking a closer look instead of rashly setting aside applications from older candidates. How can they enrich your team? There are also employees who would like to continue working after retirement. Offer them flexible and customized solutions. Perhaps they prefer part-time work or a gradual reduction in working hours?
Returnees to the labour market, for example after family leave, bring valuable skills to the table. A family-friendly working environment is an important key to supporting a return to work and professional development. Flexible working time models, part-time options and hybrid forms of work create the leeway required to better reconcile work and family life. For example, ask yourself: what are we doing to appeal to people returning to work? Which working time and reintegration models can we offer? What is the specific policy for providing personal support and induction training for people returning to work? Are our job adverts and descriptions worded in such a way that they appeal to people returning to work?
If people are absent from work for a long period for health reasons, whether due to illness or an accident, there is a risk that they will leave the labour market completely. With integration management, you can help employees to return to their everyday working lives, as soon as they are willing or able to do so. This, too, is an opportunity to gain valuable expertise. Successful reintegration requires the cooperation of the employer, the employee, the disability insurance (DI) and the regional employment center (RAV).
Looking beyond national borders can be another measure to combat the shortage of skilled workers. However, legal restrictions must be observed in this regard. Support new employees from abroad with onboarding. Language courses, cultural integration services and team events can help to integrate new colleagues into the corporate culture more quickly and to create a sense of belonging.
By offshoring or nearshoring, companies can access a larger pool of qualified professionals without bearing the costs and challenges of hiring and training new employees on site.
With offshoring, companies engage the services of specialists in distant countries, often on other continents; with nearshoring, they engage the services of external employees or teams in neighbouring or nearby countries.
Don’t forget to keep an eye out internally for talented employees that you can make fit for specific positions by boosting qualifications in a targeted manner. This will help you attract the right talented employees for your company and retain them in the long term.
The chances of recruiting qualified workers increases with a package of appealing benefits. Companies needs to ask themselves the following: how compelling is what we offer to potential new employees?
Possible leverage:
Another measure is to train (more) apprentices and support employees with further training and retraining, either financially or with in-house programmes.
Position yourself as an attractive employer to become more appealing to specialists. Employer branding, which is essentially about conveying a distinctive and authentic image as an employer, contributes to this. A successful employer brand begins with clear positioning. Consider:
Strong employer branding is not superficial image building, but is based on a credible corporate culture. So get feedback from your existing employees: what do they appreciate about their workplace? Which aspects could be improved? An honest assessment of the workforce is a valuable tool for raising your employer profile.
Thanks to digitization, you can increase your company’s efficiency, automate processes and make collaboration easier. This can help to reduce the need for labour and to deploy existing staff more effectively.
To retain specialists in the long term, you should give them prospects. However, professional development does not necessarily mean a new position – it can also be achieved by taking on new projects, changing departments to broaden the range of experience, taking on greater responsibility within the team or supporting and encouraging young talented employees. Supporting further training geared towards acquiring new skills can also help to retain skilled workers.
Our guide containing valuable tips on how to successfully find and retain qualified staff is available in compact form as a PDF.
