Our experience working from home in Switzerland

swissinfo.ch

With the main office closed, SWI swissinfo.ch staff members are working from all over the country and discovering new ways to bring the latest developments from Switzerland to the world.

We are scattered across nearly all of the language regions in Switzerland and capturing the reactions to the crisis from wherever we are working – whether it is a small village in the countryside, a big housing complex in cities like Zurich or Geneva, or a tourist destination in the Bernese Alps.

Unlike the other units of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch has been publishing stories exclusively online for around 20 years, without a broadcast component. This has made for a relatively seamless transition to producing content for our ten language websites and more than thirty social media accounts from our home offices. Here’s a glimpse at some of them:

swissinfo.ch
Specialist in communications and marketing, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Video Journalist, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Russian editorial department, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Community Journalist, Swiss editorial department, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Portuguese Department, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Specialist in Communications and Marketing, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Spanish editorial department, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Deputy Editor in Chief, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Designer, Bern (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Archivist, Ittigen (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Swiss editorial department, Lyss (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
IT Assistant, Biel (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Video Journalist, Dompierre (Canton Fribourg) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Arabic editorial department, Courtion (Canton Fribourg) swissinfo.ch
Frontend Developer, Cormagens (Canton Fribourg) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Portuguese editorial department, Fribourg (Canton Fribourg) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Arabic editorial department, Marly (Canton Fribourg) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Swiss editorial department, Geneva (Canton Geneva) swissinfo.ch
Head of format development, Spiez (Canton Bern) swissinfo.ch
Journalist TVS tvsvizzera.it, Breganzona (Canton Ticino) swissinfo.ch
Journalist TVS tvsvizzera.it, Campione d'Italia (Italian exclave surrounded by canton Ticino) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Arabic editorial department, Solothurn (Canton Solothurn) swissinfo.ch
Photo editor, Möriken (Canton Aargau) swissinfo.ch
Data Journalist Intern, Wettingen (Canton Aargau) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Chinese editorial department, Dietikon (Canton Zürich) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Japanese editorial department, Zürich (Canton Zürich) swissinfo.ch
Community Developer, Zürich (Canton Zürich) swissinfo.ch
Video Journalist, Zürich (Canton Zürich) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Portuguese editorial department, Erlenbach (Canton Zürich) swissinfo.ch
Managing editor Audience + Innovation, Uster (Zürich) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, Swiss editorial department, Vals (Canton Graubünden) swissinfo.ch
Journalist, English Department, Lausanne (Canton Vaud) swissinfo.ch

While colleagues miss the communal coffee breaks and informal interactions, our laptops and the internet have allowed us to continue bringing our multilingual content to our readers wherever they are in the world.

Our latest readership figures show the extent to which that content from Switzerland has been used during the coronavirus crisis. Based on reader reactions and exchanges on social media, readers come from all over the world and different walks of life. The Swiss abroad, people with business ties to Switzerland, foreigners living in Switzerland, journalists from international media outlets, tourists, travel agents and scientists are some of the readers who have been using swissinfo.ch as a guide to the coronavirus situation.

Our news and in-depth reporting in 10 languages reached more readers last month than ever before as more people sought accessible and reliable information on the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis. These are the latest figures from the independent industry organisation Netmetrix:

Meeting the demands of such a varied readership requires a diverse team. Our staff is made up of people from almost all continents and a range of cultural backgrounds, as shown in the #StayHomeChallenge we posted on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Most offices in Switzerland are empty these days, as people work from home under government advice to slow the spread of the coronavirus. It's no different for swissinfo.ch staff, who have also set up their laptops in their living rooms and spare rooms to continue working, albeit in very unusual circumstances.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ We took part in the #stayhome challenge and compiled the clips our journalists have filmed to show how we're working in this time, and what else we're doing to keep our spirits up.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Can you work from home? How is it going?⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ #corona #coronavirus #socialdistancing #homeoffice #workfromhome #Swiss #Switzerland #stayathome #stayhome #stayathomechallenge #stayhomestaysafe #stayhomesavelives #covid19 #swissnews #letsfightcoronavirus #staypositive #stayindoors

A post shared by SWI swissinfo.ch in English (@swissinfo.ch_en) on Mar 28, 2020 at 6:27am PDT