Swiss employees want more vocational training

Working conditions vary widely across sectors, with catering at the bottom of the ladder, says the survey. Keystone

Nearly half of employees surveyed for the fourth Good Work Barometer said their employer did not do enough to encourage continued training. 

This is the case particularly for low-qualified workers, but also older workers who are often left on their own with regard to training and risk being pushed out of the labour market, according to Gabriel Fischer of employees’ federation Travail Suisse, which led the Good Work BarometerExternal link.

The study also found that flexible working patterns are eating into leisure time, while employees find it harder to reconcile their work and private lives. 

“Flexible working time is organised in a very unilateral way, to the detriment of health and a good work-life balance,” says Fischer, economic policy head at Travail Suisse. 

Some 40% of employees surveyed said they were often or very often stressed by their work. 

Between 2015 and 2018, the percentage of employees who had no influence over their work hours rose from 13.1% to 17.8%, while the percentage that had a lot of influence fell from 29% to 24.5%, according to the Good Work Barometer. One third of employees cannot decide when they take their breaks, and the majority cannot decide at what time they start work, it found.  

The survey, carried out every year since 2015, is a collaboration between the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Travail Suisse and the Synia union.