the-way-we-work-hr-today_pwc-en_2017.pdf

The way we work – in 2025 and beyond
The aim of the survey “The way we work – in 2025 and beyond” is to help HR teams prepare
for significant shifts in the workplace. It identifies key trends in six HR areas and predicts what
the workplace might look like in the future.
www.pwc.ch/futureofwork-survey

2 The way we work – in 2025 and beyond
Contents Introduction and executive summary 3
Future of work and digitisation 4
Talent management 9
Compensation and benefits 13
Mobility 18
HR organisation 22
Culture and change 26
Conclusion 30
About the study 31
Contacts 33

How we work and the type of work
we do is rapidly changing. By 2025
many white-collar jobs will be – at
least partially – lost to robotisation
and automation, while demographic
shifts will bring extra pressures to
the workforce. HR teams are facing
challenges from Generation Y’s new
attitudes to work, fewer fulltime
employees and the pressure to deliver
quick solutions in an increasingly fast-
paced and unpredictable business
environment.
The aim of our survey “The way we work –
in 2025 and beyond” is to help HR teams
prepare for these massive shifts in the work-
place. It identifies key trends in six areas of
HR and predicts what the workplace might
look like in the future.
The study covers national and international
companies of different sizes based in
Switzerland, from a wide range of industries.
Over 200 HR professionals took part in the
survey. These include global heads of HR
from major companies, many other heads
of HR and business executives. The survey
and interviews with HR executives were
conducted in late 2016 and early 2017.
Here are the main findings of PwC’s research:
Introduction and
executive summary
Future of work and digitisation
Digitisation and automation will make 20 to 30% of jobs obsolete over the next 5 to 10
years, but only 16% of companies feel they are ready for that change. Demographic shifts
will have a tremendous impact on the composition of the workforce and working practices.
Talent management
Major trends seen in the market are increased flexibility at work, the ability to design
your own job, open and ongoing feedback plus diverse career models. 49% of our survey
participants think that employees will be working for more than one employer at a time in
the future. HR’s challenge will be to efficiently manage this diverse career landscape.
Compensation and benefits
Lifestyle incentives such as working from home and flexible working hours will become
important, plus a shift from individual to team and company performance bonuses. 50% of
our financial sector respondents say bonuses will become less important in their industry.
Mobility
Global mobility will grow in importance, particularly for large firms with more than 100,000
employees. Assignments will move to short-term projects of up to 3 months or a year. There
will be more cross-border commuters, living and working in different countries. We’re
also seeing the rapid emergence of employee mobility between different companies, as
organisations start to exchange talent on a temporary basis.
HR organisation
HR will become fully digital – not only in terms of applications and technology, but also in
the way big data is used to understand the workforce, equip employees with digital skills
and to develop new business models. HR departments will work with other companies as
part of a network, for instance for hiring and sharing talent. 81% say HR will follow the
trend of becoming a centre of excellence, with transactional work outsourced or processed
offshore.
Culture and change
Digitisation is seen as the most important driver for cultural change. Agility and the ability
for employees to embrace change are therefore vital. Developing a strong and compelling
company culture will become a differentiator and distinctive factor in engaging and
retaining employees, particularly for companies sharing employees in their networks.
These trends are likely to radically change the
way HR teams operate – not just in 2025, but
also today.
There is no crystal ball to predict everything
that will happen in 2025. But our survey can
at least provide a better understanding of the
trends, which we believe will have a major
impact on the way we work.
As ever, we welcome your feedback and
look forward to continuing the discussion
together. Please visit us on Twitter at
#pwcfutureofwork and add your comments.
Charles Donkor
Partner, People and Organisation
PwC, Switzerland

Digitisation and shifts in demo-
graphics are the two key issues that
our participants believe will change
the way we work in 5 to 10 years’
time. 88% cite technology break-
throughs and 74% mention demo-
graphic shifts. Most companies
feel they’re not yet prepared for the
changes ahead.
Digitisation
We’ve already seen the changes automation
has brought to blue-collar work. Visit the
factories of any manufacturing company and
you’ll find hardly a living soul there. When
this development started to accelerate in the
1970s, robots were denounced as “job killers”.
By now, we’ve learned to live with it.
But today we’re seeing similar changes for
white-collar workers due to the emergence
of big data and artificial intelligence. What’s
new about this technology is that it no longer
solely depends on the input of people, but
can learn, adapt and generate algorithms on
its own, known as deep or machine learning.
It’s also having a huge impact on how people
communicate, collaborate and work. Man/
machine interaction will become as common
as water cooler conversations between
human colleagues today.
Digitisation can be divided into five main
pillars (see above).
Digital transformation can only be
successful if these five pillars are addressed
simultaneously and decisively. We see that
the development of a digital culture is often
neglected. This is a pity, as digital culture
is the fuel that is needed to make the digital
motor run.
A recent PwC survey of more than 1,300
global CEOs backs up the importance of
digital change.1
77% of CEOs we canvassed
agree that digitisation, the introduction of
robots, Industry 4.0 and other technological
advances, are by far the biggest megatrends
they are facing. Creating value through
digital transformation is therefore seen as
vital for success.
Future of work
and digitisation
1
19th Annual Global CEO Survey, PwC, 2016
2
Technology at Work v2.0: The Future is Not What is Used to Be, Oxford University, 2016
Artificial intelligence and its
companions – a short definition:
Artificial intelligence
Machines that are able to learn and
solve problems on their own.
Machine learning
An advanced level of AI – machines
can learn without being specifically
programmed to do so.
Big data
Vast amount of available data waiting
to be processed and analyzed
Deep learning
Multi-layered algorithms that enable
machines to imitate human skills
Chatbot
Computer program imitating a human
conversational partner
Apps and
technology
platforms –
applications on
smart devices
and Cloud
solutions for
organisations
Robotisation
and
automation –
physical
machines or
virtual
applications
taking over
what were
formerly white-
collar human-
led processes
Deep learn-
ing and
big data –
algorithms
which can teach
themselves
and create
predictive
insights from a
vast amount of
in-house and
external data
Operating
model –
company
borders become
permeable and
organisations
build platforms
to interact with
different and
independent
market players
to create value
for customers
Digital
culture –
competencies
and behaviours
that enable
human beings
to leverage and
use digital
environments
to the max

So how many jobs
will be lost?
52% of our survey respondents say that
20–30% of current jobs will be replaced by
digitisation and automation by 2025. 14% of
respondents think that up to 40% of jobs or
more will disappear in the future.
These findings are lower, but still in line with
a 2016 report by Oxford University, which
concludes that about 50% of US jobs are at
risk from computerisation.2
Many jobs will not vanish completely, but
key task will be taken over by computers.
This move towards automation can be very
worrying in the workplace. But there’s no
point fighting it. Business leaders as well as
employees need to learn how to interact
with their “machine colleagues” to reduce
anxiety.
Our survey finds that smaller companies feel
they’ll lose fewer jobs than bigger companies.
This is understandable, as smaller companies
often also have smaller budgets to implement
new technologies. They also have a smaller
overhead, in nominal terms, which means
that there are fewer jobs replacable. However,
the pressure to reduce costs or increase
innovation will also force small companies,
sooner or later, to embrace digitisation to
stay competitive. They therefore need to
understand how machines will enhance the
productivity of white-collar workers.
HR should play a key role in identifying jobs,
which will or might be lost or partially lost
due to automation and offshoring. HR also
needs to help address concerns about man/
machine interactions and to start to develop a
culture and mindset in which this interaction
can be successful.
68% say their company
understands what
digitisation means
A significant majority of our survey
respondents, 68%, say they believe their
company understands what digitisation
means. 29% say their company does not.
Based on conversations with business and
HR leaders we believe that the former
number is overstated. We still encounter
a significant lack of knowledge and mis-
alignment in organisations when it comes
to formulating a common understanding
of digitisation and what it really means.
It’s interesting to note that even though 68%
of our survey say their companies understand
digitisation, only 57% of respondents think
their company has a clear understanding
of the skills employees will need for a digital
future (combined answers of completely
agree and mostly agree).
We believe that it’s especially important
for the workforce in Switzerland to rapidly
develop non-replaceable capabilities, such
as social and human interaction, machine
interaction, design and creative learning, the
ability to switch constantly from one team
to another (teaming) and project manage-
ment skills. It’s up to employees to be willing
to develop these skills. However, it’s the
responsibility of employers – i.e. HR – to
train employees and provide platforms to
develop the skills they need for the future.
5%
37%
42%
15%
1%
Completely
disagree
Mostly
disagree
Mostly
agree
Completely
agree
I don't
know
Survey question: In my company, we have a clear understanding of which digital capabilities will be needed of employees in the future. Please rate on a scale of 1-4:
“The advanced use of techno-
logy is already a requirement,
but it will become even more
important in the future.
As technology rapidly evolves,
we need to have people who
evolve with it.”
Christian Albrich
Chief Human Resources Director, Actelion

But only 16% believe
they are well prepared
for change
So are companies ready to deal with
that change? We find that even though a
large number of companies believe they
understand digitisation, there is still a sense
of hesitancy when it comes to getting ready
for it.
Only 16% think that their company is well
prepared to deal with the change. 56% say
their company is “somewhat prepared” and
28% think their company is not prepared at
all. Given the speed of change, these results
are worrying. We believe there is a clear lack
of urgency to get ready and fully embrace
digitisation. It’s part of human nature to
think that there’s always time to adapt later
and that being the “first mover” doesn’t
always pay off. This attitude, however,
not only disregards the challenge of the
“burning digital platform”, but also misses
the enormous opportunities it offers for our
firms, employees and country.
Demographic shifts
74% of survey participants say that
demographic shifts are a key factor for the
future of work. These trends include an aging
population, the fact that there are more
women joining the labour market and the
higher birth rate in Asia and Africa compared
to Europe, potentially providing more talent
from these areas of the world.
As retirement ages rise, companies will need
to prepare the workplace for an increasingly
elderly workforce. This includes making
manual working practices and environments
easier for older workers. In the professional
workplace it also means training older
workers to effectively interact with virtual
machines, and probably train them more
intensely than their younger colleagues.
HR departments will also need to help older
workers to adapt to the increased speed of
change. Change in work practices is becoming
faster and faster. But the older we get, the
more difficult it can become for us to change.
HR departments will need to address this.
Companies should rethink how to design
workplaces. Recreation is no longer
important just for software designers at
Google, Facebook and the like. In other
workplaces we need to think of recreation
areas as somewhere not just to be creative,
but where older workers can simply rest and
recover.
Furthermore, it will become increasingly
important for older workers to keep training,
even with their retirement well in sight.
Today, many workers stop training when they
reach 55 years of age, as they see retirement
as coming soon. But if they’re to stay fit for
work, older workers will need to keep
training – and training programmes will
need to reflect their different learning needs
and styles.
Working models will need to be adapted. Older
workers are more expensive for companies to
employ. So new approaches are needed to keep
workers in the workforce but at an affordable
price. At the same time, older workers will also
need to adapt and give up some of the benefits
they have enjoyed in the past.
The younger generations will have their own
impact on the work environment. By 2025,
Generation Z, today’s children and teenagers,
will be flocking into the workplace. Their
expectations at work are even more distinctive
than those of today’s Generation Y or millen-
nials. Generation Z are full digital natives and
expect multiple access routes to information
they need for their work. They feel at ease
only communicating through digital tools,
and have fewer interpersonal communication
skills. They want not just regular, but constant
feedback – as this is how they were socialised,
especially with the virtual and online environ-
ments they grew up.
28%Not prepared
16%Well prepared
56%Somewhat prepared
“At Mobiliar we’re already being
supported by robots. We’re
very happy with our progress,
even though we’re still in the
testing phase.”
Nathalie Bourquenoud
Head of Human Development, Mobiliar
Survey question: In relation to anticipating the expected changes in the way of working. I think my company is:

A friendly millennial environment may be
fully digital, but it also needs to be engaging
and creative. Millennials will be drawn
to organisations that offer stimulating
atmosphere that creatively blends work and
life. They expect to work in communities of
mutual interest and passion – not structured
hierarchies. Consequently people manage-
ment strategies will have to change so that
they look less like the pyramid structures we
are used to today.3
Finally, given the multitude of generations
in the workplace, it’s increasingly important
for companies to find a way for different
generations to work together effectively.
Different generations need to understand
each other’s values and ways of thinking.
Companies will need to train different age
groups to work together well, providing
mutual support.
Companies can make up
for a sense of insecurity
Geopolitical and economic insecurity
are important trends. 41% of our survey
participants say that resource scarcity and
climate change are key factors for change.
39% cite shifts in global economic power.
This ties in with our recent CEO survey,
where 74% of CEOs said that geopolitical
uncertainty is one of their major concerns
and 50% were worried about climate
change.4
It’s clear that many stabilising factors are
perceived to be disappearing, not just in
terms of international politics, but also in
terms of personal and societal security.
International challenges such as the shift
in global economic power, concern about
terror attacks, regional conflicts and political
change are creating more uncertainty.
20 years ago personal stability came from the
family, membership of amateur sports clubs,
choirs, orchestras and other group activities.
Even a company offered stability as a place
where someone stayed from apprenticeship
until retirement. But that’s all changing. The
need for security, however, is still here.
Especially Generations Y and Z are expecting
their workplace to be more of a social
platform than it is today. We therefore see
that companies can and will play much more
of a social and caring role in the future.
They’re not only a platform to “exchange
labour for pay”, but should also offer
opportunities for social interaction beyond
work for their members. All of this will give
employees a sense of belonging, feeling safe
and being cared for.
The workplace will look
very different in 2025
Our survey also sees great changes in how
we work by 2025.
The expectation of remote working is in line
with one of our other recent surveys showing
that nearly half of HR professionals expect
20% of their workforce to be contractors
or temporary workers within a few years.5
Platform-enabled companies like Uber,
Airbnb and others employ only a small
fraction of their whole workforce ecosystem.
3
Millennials at work, PwC, 2011
4
5
The future of work – A journey to 2022, PwC, 2014; The Randstad Sourceright 2015 Talent Trend Report, Randstad, 2015
“As the world gets more digital,
we’ll need increasingly different
skill profiles.”
Jean-Christophe Deslarzes
Head of Human Resources, ABB
believe that employees
will be working for several
employers simultaneously.
However, this is seen to be
more difficult to achieve for
some sectors, such as the
pharmaceutical industry,
due to the need for patent
and research protection.
69%
57%
49%
say most of
our work will
be carried out
remotely, and
not in the office.
believe that career progression and hiring
will be heavily influenced by data analytics.

These may be extreme examples. But it’s
worthwhile for any company to build
scenarios about a future in which a much
smaller percentage – or perhaps even a
minority – of employees are employed full-
time. The future may arrive much faster and
be more drastic than we anticipate.
Alternative work arrangements and exchange
of talents between companies will make
organisations nimbler and more agile. They
will become more attractive employers as
employees ask for this flexibility. However, it
also puts high expectations and demands on
HR. How can multiple work arrangements
be managed efficiently? Who “owns” a talent
and takes care of his or her development or
employability, etc., if this talent is shared
between organisations? How can a distinct
corporate culture be maintained or created
if most talents are only around part-time?
Questions like these need to be addressed
by HR. But today we’re not seeing many HR
professionals actively working on compelling
answers.
Future skills for HR teams
What are the skills that HR will need in
future? According to new research from the
Institute for the Future (IFTF), PwC and other
institutions, there are several main areas of
HR capabilities needed in future:6
• Predictive data analytics – being
able to use people-related data to make
predictions about dynamics in the
workforce.
Skills needed: data analytics, predictive
modelling, programming, translating
analytics into business propositions.
• Digital HR – using digital tools for
interpersonal interactions.
Skills needed: ability to use digital tools
and applications for most employee
interactions.
• Digital employability – handling
robotisation alongside human
workforces, man/machine interaction.
Skills needed: ability to interact effectively
with virtual machines, skills to enable
co-workers to address digital anxieties.
• Virtualisation – building trust and
a lasting culture when most teams
are only working virtually and/or for
temporary.
Skills needed: ability to build and nurture
strong professional relationships through
use of virtual tools.
• Personalised employment –
managing complex and multiple career
plans efficiently.
Skills needed: develop personal career
plans, act as career coach for employees.
• Change agility – being able to adapt
quickly to new environments and engage
employees to do so as well.
Skills needed: strong culture transforma-
tion and change management capabilities,
strong human interaction skills, effective
communication skills online and offline.
• Organisational development –
HR organisations will become more
“fluid” and platform-based.
Skills needed: ability to design new
governance, organisational models and
processes that are agile and adaptive for
constant change, be deeply knowledgeable
of design principles of platform- and
network-based organisations.
6
Future Work Skills 2020, Institute for the Future (IFTF), 2011

The challenges facing talent
management, according to our
survey, are flexible working, flexible
career paths, contingency workers
and managing employees working for
multiple employers, not for just one
company at a time. The question for
the future is, therefore, who “owns” a
talent? HR teams need to ask whether
a talent “owns” themself, or if they
are “owned” by a company or by
multiple companies. HR teams will
then need to decide who takes the
lead in nurturing talent and helping
employees to train and develop.
A more flexible work
environment
It’s clear from our survey that employees are
expecting a much greater say in the way they
work. Increased flexibility at work (25%) and
the ability to design your own job (23%) are
seen to be the two major trends. In addition,
open and ongoing feedback and diverse
career models are also seen to be important
for the future.
This fits very much into what we found in
another PwC survey of milllennials at work.7
This shows that Generation Y expects an
engaging and creative working environment,
based on mutual interest and passion, with
less of a pyramid structure than the one we
work with today.
At the same time, we are seeing an increase
in part-time workers and outsourcing (i.e.
contracting external service providers or
individual consultants). We believe this trend
will continue due to the scarcity of talent on
the market and because people with creativity
and innovation skills will be highly in demand
in the future.8
All this means that managing talent will
become more complex.
Data and predictive analytics will become
critical in talent management to keep track
of availability, preferences of resources and
performance. Data analytics will become
particularly valuable when combined with
data from other parts of the business, for
instance from sales or finance. We also believe
that talent analytics will help employees to
make better-informed business decisions and
elevate the role of HR. This is in line with
the trend we’re seeing of HR becoming more
strategic while transactional work is tending
to be outsourced.
Predictive analytics in talent management
does not mean, however, that talent decisions
will be made by a machine. Not at all. But it
will be a very strong and solid basis on which
humans can make decisions on how to attract,
retain and develop specific talents.
How to manage flexible
career paths
In the future, we will see a strong shift from
vertical to horizontal career models or a mix
of both. Our survey shows that the most
common way today to offer flexible careers
is via open internal job market postings or
through a central career talent pool.
These measures, however, seem to work
mainly for companies with more than
100,000 employees. 13% of our survey
participants say that they don’t have any
flexible career paths available in their
company. Small companies, in particular,
which don’t have employees outside of
Switzerland, say that they often don’t propose
flexible careers to their employees or manage
flexible careers on a case-by-case basis.
We believe that the need for flexibility will
become greater in the future. Companies
will need to proactively manage talent and
be quick to adapt to changing needs. We
could even see the end of fixed employment
contracts as we know them today, with a shift
to fully variable workforce models. We’re
already seeing an increase in a contingent
workforce and the emergence of “talent
exchanges”, talents “owned” by a network of
companies for which they work at the same
time or consecutively.
Companies therefore need to propose
flexible career paths, including horizontal
and vertical career models, to attract and
retain young talents. The difficulty will be to
manage those different career models, ensure
equal performance treatment plus ownership
and coaching for the personal development of
employees.
Talent management
7
Millennials at work: Reshaping the workplace in financial services, PwC, 2012
8
20th Annual CEO Survey, PwC, 2017
“It’s extremely important in
today’s fast-moving world to
see change not as a threat
but as an opportunity to be
courageous and open to new
topics.”
“One of the areas we’re about
to explore with data analytics is
to track the path of successful
talents and leaders at Actelion
and then recreate their career
paths so that we find similar
talents faster.”
Christian Albrich
Head Global Human Resources, Actelion

“The inflection point will certainly
come when companies have more
people working form outside than
on a fixed contract. This will also
lead us to rethink our business
model.”
Christian Albrich

“Tracing talent
back”
Christian Albrich, HR director of biopharmaceu-
tical company Actelion, talks about challenges,
technologies and trends in talent management.
Overall, what do you see as your biggest challenges
to attracting and retaining the right talent in the
next 5–10 years? Where do you feel most equipped
or vulnerable and how are you planning to tackle
those challenges?
The biggest challenge is clearly to find people with the
right expertise to help develop our business. The heart of
our business is drug discovery and development. For that,
Actelion in most of our talent sourcing initiatives Actelion
relies on people who already have the required expertise.
Thus, our focus in on experienced hires.
Since we are operating in the pharmaceutical industry, we
look specifically for specialist profiles in the areas of medical
or clinical development, regulatory or research, which are
difficult to find. On top of the right training and experience,
they need to fit into our company culture and demonstrate
the relevant level of leadership capabilities. In short, we are
looking for the T-shaped professional – one who has the right
technical skills, experience in the scientific field and at the
same time the breadth, meaning the right organisational
awareness and connectedness to the business and its
environment.
How do you ensure that the right talent want to
work for Actelion and not for your competitors?
We are unique in terms of the scale and size of our
organisation, as well as our marketing capacity throughout
the world. That is why we compete with different companies
in different geographical areas. The high level of science
as well as our dedication to finding drugs that make a real
difference to patients helps a lot in attracting the right
talent. Candidates are also sensitive to the relative size of the
company, which helps them to have an impact in their role.
And what do you do to ensure that people are
willing to stay with the company?
What we have learned over the years, is that our people
are motivated to stay because of the content of their work.
Of course, compensation and benefits are also important and
are competitive on that scale. People are driven mainly by
the content of what they do; the scientific environment and
the portfolio of drugs they are working on. That is the main
reason why we have been able to retain most of our people.
Our turnover is relatively low compared to the industry.
We try to provide people with an environment that makes
sense for them, which is also easier because we are a smaller
company. In a smaller developing company, employees get
given more responsibility faster. People have many contacts
internally or externally, so they see the immediate effect of
their work.
Do you have flexible career paths at Actelion and
if so how are they managed? How do you support
individuals in their career progression?
In terms of career development, we propose a broad set
of opportunities – with traditional vertical movements, but
also by enriching the existing roles or via expert career paths.
As already stated, people with scientific backgrounds are
driven by the content of their work. Some of them might not
strive to become traditional team leaders. Therefore, we offer
development opportunities in deepening expert knowledge
of their domain as well as opportunities to develop in project
teams.
We have also dramatically increased the number of
international assignments across the globe. We really push
people to move around and rotate between countries and
functions. The main drivers for supporting international
careers are business needs as well as the personal interest and
development of people. This ensures that we have a pool of
people tomorrow who have a portfolio of skills that we can use
for either vertical or horizontal career moves. Subsequently,
these individuals effectively help our business achieve its
strategic goals. Another positive effect is the development of
cultural awareness of employees, which is very important if we
talk about the future of talent.
What we also do regularly is to rotate people between
locations to share knowledge for a specific business project or
topic. For example, someone from the USA might be coming
for one month to headquarters and in exchange someone from
here goes to the USA to learn how a specific topic is handled in
that entity. This exchange of employees is managed in a very
pragmatic way, since we are a very agile and lean company.
How do you reconcile the flexibility in career paths
that you offer with the administrative workload?
We rely a lot on the people themselves to come up with
ideas and proposals. We do not have a masterplan behind
this and handle it as it comes in an opportunistic way. When
it comes to changing country, there is a particular financial
impact. However, we are willing to pay this price, because
there is this double advantage, as I stated earlier: it helps with
the development of our people, while also developing our
business.
Christian Albrich

Actelion has grown very fast over recent years,
and is not a small start-up company anymore. This
means that the more you grow, the more processes
need to be institutionalised. What do you do as an
HR organisation to maintain this entrepreneurial
spirit?
One of the useful things we have as an innate part of our
organisational design is the limited number of hierarchical
levels. We try to stay as flat as possible, because we want
to make sure that managers are also involved in projects
and operations. We believe that this helps to keep the
entrepreneurial spirit alive. Another approach that helps
us to maintain this culture here is to allow people to make
mistakes. We look for people who are initiating projects on
their own. Some efforts might not go well all the time, but
experimentation is allowed and tolerated.
What do you see as future skills and competencies
for talents and leaders to remain successful?
As the entrepreneurial spirit is very important to us, this is
something we look at during recruitment interviews. We also
look at how hands-on and flexible people are. Furthermore,
the passion people have for their job, no matter what their
job is, is an important factor in the sourcing of candidates. We
believe that passion and entrepreneurship are closely linked.
The skill of being agile in many aspects is also very
important. On the one hand, it is the ability to face the
unknown and learn from it. On the other hand it is agility
relating to the scope of responsibilities or organisational
awareness. The advanced use of technology is already a
requirement now, but it will become even more important
in the future. As technology evolves rapidly, we need to have
people who evolve with it.
Looking into the future, do you think that the
exchange of talents between companies will be
feasible, and how will Actelion manage this?
Yes, I think this is definitely feasible. We have already
exchanged talents between some of our Contract Research
Organisations (CROs) and Actelion. This was done
intentionally to exchange ways of working and experience.
Overall it was very successful experience.
If we look into the future, it will become more common
practice, but also a big challenge in terms of administration
and data protection.
I also think that the number of contract and freelance
workers will increase. There is still a way to go before we
inverse proportions between fixed and flexible contracts.
Specifically in the life science industry, the life cycle of our
product is very long (between 7 and 12 years) and we need
a stable workforce that follows the process of the entire life
cycle. However, that inflection point will certainly come, and
companies will have more people working from the outside
than with a fixed contract, which will also lead us to rethink
our business model.
Many studies have shown that the availability of key
skills remains a challenge for organisations, with
fierce competition for talent. What measures have
you already and/or do you plan to take to address
this at Actelion, particularly in the context of the
mass immigration initiative in Switzerland?
We are exposed internationally and therefore need to also
to represent that in our workforce. For instance, we need to
attract to Switzerland people not only from the EU but also
from the USA and China, for example. This is a challenge due
to the current restrictions. However, the collaborating with
Swiss authorities to manage specific cases works very well and
we have always found a good solution. Whatever happens in
the future with the mass immigration initiative, I hope this
spirit stays as pragmatic and positive since half of our here at
headquarters are currently not from Switzerland.
Data and technology provide increasingly
important tools for talent management. Which
innovative technologies and tools do you already
use or plan to implement at Actelion?
Predictive people analytics is something that we started
recently. We believe it is necessary to complement process
and intuition with analytics. However, in my opinion, HR will
never be fully dependent on analysis of big data only. The
human factor will always have to be and should be necessary.
One of the areas we are about to explore with data analytics
is to track back the path of successful talents and leaders at
Actelion and then remodel their path so that we find similar
talents faster.

On compensation, our survey is
pointing yet again to a more complex
picture for HR teams. Lifestyle
incentives are becoming more
important, meaning HR will need a
deeper understanding of employees’
lives and needs. Appraisals are also
increasingly based on qualitative and
not just quantitative results.
A flexible job with
meaning and impact
Lifestyle incentives are clearly becoming
a more popular way of incentivising staff
in comparison to base salary. However,
base salary is still important to our survey
respondents. On the one hand, lifestyle
incentives allow employees to satisfy their
individual preferences, whereas base salary
provides a certain stability and security.
89% of participants in our survey say that
lifestyle incentives, such as working at home,
flexible working hours or extra holidays
will become more important over the next
5–10 years. 73% say that base pay is impor-
tant. These views are shared across all sizes
of company, big and small.
Only a few of our survey participants, 22%,
see long-term incentives – such as shares and
options – as a useful tool for a wider employee
base. These are often used for executives
rather than for all employees as they’re aimed
at keeping key personnel within a company
and demand administrative resources.
These findings are very much in line with
what we have found in other surveys. Our
survey of millennials in financial services
finds that jobs with meaning and interest are
key to retaining talent.9
Generation Y want to
combine work and personal life and are not
willing to work punishing hours anymore.
Companies will need to adapt to fit these
expectations.
We also believe that pay is as much about
fairness and recognition as it is about
incentives. The need for open, clear and
ethically strong reward strategies, such as
equal pay, will become more important as
companies move from hierarchy models to
more flexible career models. Generation Y
is more demanding and more willing to
change employer if they feel that the reward
strategy is not aligned with job expectations,
or simply is unfair.
From our client work we’re also seeing that
it’s important to clearly communicate reward
strategies to be effective. A reward strategy
needs to be understood by employees in
order to work and so a reward strategy can
only achieve its goal if it’s transparent and
clearly communicated. We also believe
that fixed contracts will be more and more
appreciated – as flexible and freelance work
becomes more the norm.
Shift from individual to
team performance
It’s clear from our survey that teamwork
is also becoming more important. 63%
of our survey participants say that team
performance will increase in importance.
41% say that the importance of individual
performance will decrease or stay the same.
This is what we are also seeing with our
clients. Many companies now encourage team
rather than individual performance.
A team’s success can be measured by
qualitative performance, such as how
effectively it works together, how it lives its
company values as well as by quantitative
performance in terms of market penetration
achieved, financial targets hit etc. 72% of
our survey participants also believe that
qualitative performance measurement will
become more important in the future.
We’re already seeing many companies
moving away from classical performance
ratings linked to bonus payments. Some
companies such as General Electric or Adobe
are focusing on company or team goals rather
than individual performance.10
Appraisal systems in the context of
performance management are changing too.
Ongoing conversations and check-in meetings
are replacing annual appraisals. Frequent
forward-looking performance discussions and
coaching are also proving to be productive.
Feedback now comes from peers and not
just from managers11
and is also based more
on qualitative rather than quantitative
information.
Compensation
and benefits
9
Millennials at work: Reshaping the workplace in financial services, PwC, 2012
10
https://clearreview.com/performance-management-trends-for-2016
“I would like to see ‘recognition’
being further developed in
reward systems. I believe that
effective recognition, whether
monetary or intangible,
engages the workforce and
contributes to higher business
performance.”

Survey question: I think that by 2025 the importance of bonus compared to fixed salary will:
We welcome this move. Relying on quantita-
tive performance criteria in the past led to
unethical behaviour and/or non-compliant
sometimes practices, especially in the
financial services industry. So recognising
the importance of values and qualitative
behaviour, which is not just based on financial
results, will become critical in the coming
years.
Bonuses face an uncertain
future
It’s unclear from our survey how bonuses will
develop, with a relatively evenly split view
from our survey on what will happen over the
next 5 to 10 years. 34% say the importance
of bonuses will decrease, 33% say the
importance of bonuses will increase and 27%
think it will stay the same.
But there’s an interesting insight from the
finance industry: 50% of our finance sector
replies say that the importance of their bonus
will decrease compared to their base salary.
This is perhaps to be expected. Bonuses have
been one of the most politically charged
areas of new regulation since the financial
crisis. Policymakers are keen to eliminate
incentive arrangements they believe could
encourage misselling or excessive risk taking.
The financial sector is also facing public
criticism over the level of remuneration and
type of behaviour it seems to reward,12
while
institutions now have to justify the bonuses
they pay.
Bonuses may also be losing out to the
growing desire for lifestyle incentives rather
than financial incentives.
However, bonuses are still key for CEOs and
executive management. CEOs and other
executives of SMI and SMIM companies
receive 50% to 65% of their income in
variable pay, such as cash bonuses or equity-
based long-term incentive plans. Small-cap
executives receive a smaller amount of
variable pay, but it’s still significant at 40 to
50%.13
New financial incentives
Half of our survey respondents say that
negative interest rates will lead to new
financial incentives within the next 2
to 5 years. But there’s no clear view of
what those new incentives will look like.
Bigger companies, with 50,000 to 100,000
employees are more uncertain than smaller
companies. This may be because smaller
companies can be more innovative, flexible
and less bound by regulation. We believe,
however, that negative interest rates do
offer new opportunities, for instance to
provide employees with advantageous loans,
preferential terms for investments or financial
support.14
The right rewards strategy for employees
of the future needs to include the following
elements:
• A bespoke remuneration system tailored
to corporate strategy and culture, but also
adapted to the flexibility and work-life
balance wishes of employees.
• Tailor-made benefits offering,
acknowledging the new set of expectations
and needs for young workers (including
flexible working, job sharing, increased
focus on lifestyle benefits).
• Link pay to team and business
performance and move away from the
traditional individual annual performance
process linked to bonus.
• Promoting entrepreneurial behaviour
by employees by participating in the
company’s success.
• A well communicated, clear and ethically
strong reward strategy based on the
company’s vision and values.
11
https://clearreview.com/performance-management-trends-for-2016
12
Smarter incentives: Turning the regulatory shake-up to your advantage, PwC, 2013
13
Executive Compensation Corporate Governance, PwC, 2016
14
Smarter incentives: Turning the regulatory shake-up to your advantage, PwC, 2013
34%Decrease
33%Increase
27%Stay the same
6%I don't know
“To maintain focus on the long-
term success of the company,
Executive Committee members
are required to build up a
holding of ABB shares that
is equivalent to 4 times their
annual base salary, and for the
CEO it’s 5 times.”

“Culture of
performance”
Jean-Christophe Deslarzes, HR chief at ABB, on
principles, challenges and trends in compensation.
A compensation system is an important factor in
attracting, retaining, and motivating key people.
What are the compensation principles at ABB and
how do they best fit with corporate culture, long-
term vision and the strategy of ABB?
At ABB, the Executive Committee (EC) and Board
certainly considers the Group’s compensation system as a
very important factor in attracting, motivating and retaining
people with the talent necessary to strengthen ABB’s
position as a global leader in power and automation. Our
compensation system is driven by the principles of being
balanced, competitive, market-tested and performance-
driven with comprehensive key performance indicators
(KPIs). We link compensation to the Group’s Next Level
strategy as well as the People strategy through ambitious
targets, robust performance management and sound balance
between company and individual performance. In order
to attract suitable talent, annual base salaries are usually
set between market median and upper quartile. This is a
statement of intent in line with what we consider ourselves
to be – an industry leader. Ambitious targets are set in the
Group’s annual and long term planning processes, and
variable pay aims at upper quartile when these targets are
met. All performance metrics support the development of
earnings per share (EPS) and cash return on investment
(CROI) and cover financial, operation, change and behaviour
aspects of the leaders. By “measuring” the entire chain of
value delivery, we make operations “tangible” and thus
provide the basis for rewarding performance in a fair and
objective manner. At the same time, this comprehensive
coverage allows us to assess whether the financial results
achieved are supported by the right way of doing things.
In addition, our compensation mix and levels are tested
annually against benchmarks that include ABB peers and
appropriate markets in which we operate.
As we strive for our vision of providing power and
productivity for a better world, the above principles support
our corporate culture, which is best articulated by the
following value pairs: safety and integrity, customer focus and
quality, innovation and speed, ownership and performance,
as well as collaboration and trust.
Overall, what are the biggest challenges you see on
the horizon for rewards? Where do you feel most
vulnerable and how are you planning to tackle
those challenges?
Firstly, as the world gets more digital, increasingly
different competency profiles are needed. The 4th industrial
revolution i.e. the Internet of Things, Services and People
(IoTSP), requires different and additional competencies
and experiences and traditional compensation and benefit
schemes may become challenged. At the same time, the
“millennium generation workforce” will soon have to be
attracted, motivated and retained. The questions to answer
will thus be how our workplaces will have to evolve, in order
to live up to the new expectations and perspectives of this
younger workforce. In turn, our reward system will have to be
revisited to make sure we also remain an attractive employer
to this population.
Moreover, I see an increasing pressure for more
transparency in compensation reporting from external
stakeholders. The challenge is that if this is not approached
in a responsible way, it may be counterproductive to
business. For example, the pressure to release financial
targets embedded in our incentive plans might compromise
a company’s desire to safeguard its business plans from the
competition. One way to tackle this would be to have more
active and open dialogue in our stakeholder engagements.
How do you link compensation to performance
(“What”) and behaviour (“How”)? What do you see
as future trends?
Let me first address an important principle behind our
idea of performance. We believe that appropriate behaviour
makes an important contribution towards sustainable
excellent performance. That’s why we develop and articulate
the behaviour that we want our staff to exhibit and then
cascade it throughout our organisation, along with the
necessary training and development workshops. These
behaviors, which we call “Values in Action”, are based on
the value pairs that I mentioned earlier: safety and integrity,
customer focus and quality, innovation and speed, ownership
and performance as well as collaboration and trust.
When it comes to linkages to compensation, our short-
term incentive (STI) is the key element of our compensation
system, driving both results (the “What”), and Values in
Action (the “How”). Our STI comprises a group scorecard
(GSC) and an individual “line of sight and individual” (LSI)
scorecard. The proportion of GSC and LSI is appropriately
weighted for different levels of staff in the organisation. As
they have a wider span of control, the senior managers have
a higher proportion of the GSC and, conversely, managers
further away from top management have a higher proportion
of the LSI.

The GSC measures group performance and the KPIs
include a top line measure, an earnings measure, a cash
measure, and a customer measure. So we can say that the
emphasis here is on results, and, specifically, group results.
The LSI scorecard on the other hand comprises four groups of
measures in respect of the individual or his or her operating
unit – financial, operational, strategic initiatives and behaviour
measures. So here, there is a mix of results and behaviour,
which results in the overall performance. The idea is to
reinforce the view that financial outcomes are driven by
strong operational performance, aligned with our strategy and
executed with the right leadership and behaviour.
Besides the STI, our other compensation elements also
support the drive for performance and appropriate behaviour.
For example, an important consideration in the granting of
annual salary increases and the size of awards of long-term
incentives is an assessment of the individual’s performance
and potential.
Going forward, I would like to see “recognition” being
further developed in our rewards system. I believe that
effective recognition, whether monetary or intangible,
engages the workforce and contributes to higher business
performance. I see recognition as a means to create a culture
of appreciation of desired behaviour towards organisational
objectives through acknowledgment from colleagues, peers
and leaders.
While compensation systems are complex to grasp,
all stakeholders need to understand them. Proper
communication and transparency are key. How
do you expect the dialogue with shareholders and
other internal and external key stakeholders to
develop in future?
Since 2012, ABB has been engaging key external
stakeholders like investors, shareholders, proxy advisors
and analysts in order to maintain a dialogue regarding our
compensation strategy and practices, as well as to glean
valuable feedback from them in order to improve our system.
While understandably there may be differences of opinion,
the aim is to communicate the business rationale, so that our
compensation report is read from a perspective that seeks to
understand our business drivers rather than from a desire to
check off a list of remuneration features. I expect the extent
and intensity of such engagements to increase as relationships
are strengthened through previous engagements.
At the same time, effective communication with our
internal stakeholders is important too. Here, I am thinking
of our employees and their line managers where potentially
complex and sensitive subjects, like the evaluation of their
job grades, need to be communicated in a simple, structured
and transparent manner. Our “touch points” with employees,
namely the line managers, HR business partners and service
center providers, need to be adequately trained and equipped
as well.
Only a strong board can implement an effective
compensation system. What is your view on
the future role of the board and compensation
committee in particular?
I think that a strong board has the experience from other
companies and a solid understanding of the perspectives of
external stakeholders as well as of the management. I see the
role of the compensation committee as pivotal in fostering this
understanding. For example, meeting external stakeholders
together with management is an excellent way of hearing all
perspectives in an open dialogue, and enables compensation
committee members to better represent the interest of
shareholders and balance them with management’s views. The
“old” paradigm of a compensation committee being a mere
“overseer” will partly give way to one where the compensation
committee is more of a “coach” and an “influencer” to
management, in addition to the obvious governance role of
preparing recommendations for the full board’s decision-
making.
We are now 2 years on from the introduction of
VegüV. How do you assess the impact of these new
rules and where do you see the trend going?
In short, the VegüV prohibits severance payments,
payments in advance and commissions for certain MA
transactions. ABB is fully compliant in this respect and we
see no major issues in its implementation. It supports the
fundamental philosophy of paying for performance.
We observe a general rise in long-term equity
incentives in SMI companies in the last 10 years.
What is the role of equity compensation and
ownership at ABB and how do you foresee this in
the future? Are you expecting any new creative
equity vehicles?
The Board aims to align EC members’ interests with those
of shareholders. To maintain focus on the long-term success of
the company, EC members are required to build up a holding
of ABB shares that is equivalent to 4 times their annual base
salary, and for the CEO, 5 times. This is a requirement that is
higher than market practice and ensures that executives have
“skin in the game”. We see equity compensation as a means
to earn this equity and currently our long-term incentive
plans are settled in shares (with an allowance to part-settle
in cash in order to meet tax obligations). Not only senior
executives at ABB have an equity-related long term vehicle in
their compensation package, but also the top 800 employees.
Furthermore, all 135,000 employees have the opportunity to
participate in an advantageous stock ownership plan and thus
become and remain ABB shareholders.
Thinking about the aging society, low interest
rates, pressure on pension funds and other pension-
related issues, what kind of solutions do you picture
for the future (e.g. flexible retirement age, invest-
ment plans such as 1e plans, equity plans, etc.)?
ABB is not alone in facing these challenges and our
employees too need to be made aware of this changing land-
scape. For this reason, among others, we are moving towards
a more flexible design for the benefits we provide to our
employees. In this way employees can tailor the benefits to their
individual needs and the stage of the life cycle they are in.

One of the benefits typically offered by ABB is pension
plans, which are mostly defined contribution plans. ABB
encourages its employees to enroll in such plans where this is
not mandatory, and to save as much as possible by providing
a company match to the amount the employee saves. We also
offer low-cost investment vehicles in some countries where
employees can defer variable compensation elements or make
voluntary contributions. In an increasing number of countries,
ABB offers flexible retirement, from early retirement to late
retirement, typically in the range of 62–70 years of age.
Digitalization has a huge impact on the future
business model of ABB. How is that mirrored in
your reward strategy?
The younger generations have different needs, expectations
and aspirations going beyond salary and bonus. Do you rather
see this as a challenge or an opportunity? (please explain)

Mobility will become much more
complex than today. Mobility will
take place not just from headquarters
to subsidiaries but also between
different countries. There will be a
wider range of mobility programmes,
from project work to very short-term
assignments, very long-term and
continuous long-term assignments.
We’ll also see more mobility between
companies sharing talents. All
of this will require more efficient
management by HR teams.
The larger the company,
the more important global
mobility will be in the
future
Our survey shows that global mobility is
becoming increasingly important, particularly
for larger firms. 73% of respondents working
in companies with more than 100,000
employees think that global mobility will
be more important in the future. These
assignments can include setting up a new
office, placing a key manager on location
or simply using global mobility as a tool
to increase employer attractiveness or
development opportunities. We also predict
that there will be a 50% increase in global
mobility by 2020.15
Mobility will move to
short project-based
assignments
Our survey shows that global mobility
projects are likely to get shorter, with
employees working abroad on assignment
for up to 3 months or a year. Our survey
also predicts an increase in the number of
“commuters”, employees living and working
in different countries.
This trend certainly fits the constantly
changing business landscape and caters for
the flexibility of Generation Y. Short-term
assignments also make it easier to integrate
employees back home and easier to measure
return on investment (ROI), as this can be
linked to the success of a project.
The challenge will be to make sure teams
have the right employee in the right place
at the right time, with all the necessary
immigration, tax and social security measures
in place too. Companies will need to create
new policies and programmes to be “mobile-
ready” for instance using job “swaps” between
two employees in two countries.16
Otherwise
assignments may become time-consuming and
a heavy burden for business and HR teams.
We believe it’s also important to consider
assignments based on business strategy and
not just cost, as is often the case. The increase
in local skills in many assignment countries
has reduced the need to send employees on
long-term assignments. However business
strategy is still very important in any global
mobility decision.
Data analytics and
digital mobility
technology will be key
Only 10% of our survey participants say they
align business strategy, talent management
and workforce planning systematically. This is
a number, which we expect to grow.17
Global mobility programmes are costly,
particularly when entire families are
relocated, while return on investment (ROI)
can be unclear. They can be complex, for
instance achieving new quota requirements
for women with international leadership
experience. This will influence companies’
strategic direction and therefore their global
mobility decisions. Companies also need to
be ready to respond to immediate business
needs. All of this requires close monitoring of
who’s ready to go on assignment.
However, very few companies appear to
be doing this. In a recent mobility report
we found that only 9% of international
employers canvass their key talent annually
to find out which employees are ready for
a mobility assignment. Almost 30% of
international employers have no process in
place to know which employees are ready for
a mobility assignment.18
Mobility
15
Talent Mobility: 2020 and beyond, PwC, 2012
16
Is your organization “mobile ready”, PwC, 2016
17
Survey of Global Mobility Practices, PwC, 2016; 2016 Global Mobility Trends, BGRS, 2016; Talent Mobility 2020 and beyond, PwC, 2016
“We’ll certainly put more
emphasis on Global Mobility
as a way to grow and develop
talent…But to develop that,
it’ll be very important to offer
opportunities to young talent to
work abroad.”
Karsten Breum
Chief Human Resources Officer, Panalpina

Compliance, costs and
immigration controls
will be the main mobility
challenges in the future
Our survey finds that costs related to the high
Swiss Franc and immigration controls are two
main areas that are seen to be challenges for
mobility over the next 5 to 10 years.
Financial services and consulting are mostly
concerned about the high Swiss Franc.
Switzerland has one of the highest salary
levels in the world. In our client conversations
we’re also hearing the challenge of raising
salaries of new employees arriving in
Switzerland to meet minimum local wage
levels. These salaries are often charged back
to a local region and this can negatively
influence the results of local companies.
There is also concern about immigration
controls, particularly from the health
sector, which relies heavily on international
employees. Ensuring immigration compliance
processes are mobile-ready can be challenging.
One solution, we believe, would be to set up
a centralised immigration team within your
company to build up specialised knowledge,
coupled with strong data management.19
Nevertheless, 65% of our survey participants
say that Switzerland will become an even
more attractive assignment location for
employees in the future, due to high salaries,
political stability and the high quality of life
(combined answers of completely agree and
mostly agree).
19
Is your organization “mobile ready”, PwC, 2016
20
Talent Mobility: 2020 and beyond, PwC, 2012
Completely
disagree
3%
I don't
know
9%
Mostly
disagree
23%
Completely
agree
14%
Mostly
agree
51%
Survey question: I think the attractiveness of
international assignments for employees coming to
Switzerland will increase. Please rate on a scale
of 1–4:
“We’ve already seen that
long-term assignments are
decreasing slightly and instead
there’s an increase in short-
term assignments. That’s mainly
because younger colleagues
want an experience rather than
long-term assignments.”
Karsten Breum
“We predict that
there will be a 50%
increase in global
mobility by 2020”20

“There’s a lot
more dialogue”
Karsten Breum, HR Director of logistics group
Panalpina, and Adrian Englert, Corporate Head
of Compensation and Benefits at Panalpina, talk
about challenges and trends in global mobility
management.
Research by PwC has revealed that organisations
see their talent strategy as an increasingly
important component in a globally mobile
workforce.
What role will the talent strategy play in your
global mobility management going forward?
In the future we’ll certainty be placing greater emphasis on
global mobility as a vehicle for encouraging and developing
talent within our multinational organisation. We operate in
more than 70 countries, and naturally need an international
way of thinking and an international understanding of our
industry and the field in which we do business. To develop
this approach it will be very important to give young talent
the opportunity to work abroad. So it’s much more about
encouraging and developing talent than about filling gaps. I
will be arguing for Panalpina to be doing this more in future.
How do you in your industry see development in
terms of global secondments?
In the past it was the company that informed the employee
that there was a secondment opportunity in a particular
country. The total package was good enough for the
employee to work there for several years. Now there’s much
more of a dialogue, with both parties discussing their goals
and expectations throughout the entire secondment. We’re
offering employees support tailored more closely to their
perspectives and family circumstances. Employees may be
seeking a change for different reasons. On the employer side,
the question is more often what investment it wants to make
to fill a position.
How do employers have to change their current
behaviour to make global mobility more successful
in the future?
Globally mobile staff are a group of people we now have
to look after much more actively. The main thing is to be
open and transparent, and manage mutual expectations
with the aim of avoiding surprises and disappointments. For
these reasons we have to communicate proactively to make
sure that things develop in line with our expectations. It’s
important for employees to always be kept in the loop so that
even after the secondment is over we can benefit from their
experiences and continue to harness and develop their talent.
That way we keep our people motivated.
What destinations for secondments are set to gain
in importance at Panalpina?
Southeast Asia is going to be a powerful driver of growth.
This will certainly include markets such as Bangladesh,
Myanmar and Cambodia, where there’s a lot of potential
for us. I’m also convinced that there’s plenty of potential in
Eastern Europe. We’re seeing powerful growth in some of
these countries, particularly those with the political stability
to attract investment. Latin America is another interesting
market where we also see good development and growth
opportunities, and where Panalpina is likely to be even more
strongly represented in the future. The circumstances in
Russia are fairly difficult at present, and it’s hard to predict
how they’re going to develop over the next five or ten years.
The same applies to Africa.
While we’re on the subject, what are the main
challenges you see for Panalpina and its staff in
terms of secondments in Africa?
You’ve got to remember that the situation and dominant
corporate culture varies a great deal from one African
country to the next. You have to take many different things
into consideration. The first is the general preconception
about working in Africa. It’s not a part of the world that most
people are necessarily familiar with. In certain parts of Africa
there are problems with security, and the whole culture of
doing business is very different from what people in the West
are used to. In this regard you have to make sure that people
are properly prepared and aware of the type of problems,
challenges and compliance issues they could come up against
in a region like Africa. The second point to consider is the
unpredictability. In Africa we have to contend with a lot of
unforeseeable developments. It’s part of daily business. The
future is a tricky question. I think that Africa has rightly
been attracting a lot of attention for a long time. But these
are growth markets. The question is how quickly Africa can
develop its potential.
How would you rate the impact of digitisation on
global mobility management, for example in the
form of mobile app technologies?
Geolocalisation and geotagging are certainly things that
have proven to be beneficial in the past. In some African
countries we’re able to use an app to pinpoint the location
of staff on secondment. This means that in the event of
instability we’re able to find out in real time where our people
Karsten Breum

are, and if necessary help them with evacuation. Systematic
data analytics can also be used to help make secondments
as successful as possible. We’re mainly interested in two
things: We want our staff to do a good job in their position,
and we want them and their families to find their feet in their
new surroundings. If one of these two boxes isn’t ticked,
the secondment is very unlikely to be a success. Apps will
definitely play a growing role in this. The technology will help
us when it comes to providing information and administrative
tasks such as filing tax returns. But there’s no doubt that
settling in requires hard work, especially on a social level. For
this reason human interaction is still very important.
Can you outline the desired profile for an employee
on secondment in the future?
I’d certainly welcome greater diversity among the staff we
send on secondments abroad. Our talent development should
reflect the regions of the world we operate in. So for me it’s
just as important that young Brazilian, Indian, Chinese and
Hungarian talent see Panalpina as an attractive employer and
get the opportunity to work abroad. People on secondment
still primarily come from developed countries, because
that’s where the organisation is headquartered. In the future
country managers could also come from Brazil, India, China or
Hungary. It’s about the availability of talent and giving these
people equal opportunities to be successful in an international
environment.
How are compensation packages for people on
secondment set to develop?
I think it will be much more personal than it is now.
Traditionally a one-size-fits-all approach was taken to many
secondments. Now the package will tend to reflect supply and
demand and the specific assignment – within the company’s
guidelines, of course. There are basically two different
scenarios for a secondment. The first is where we send staff
on secondment so that they can develop. The second scenario
comes into play when we want to bring very specific product
know-how or experience to a country. Under the second
scenario the number of potential candidates is generally
limited, and we might have to persuade the person to accept
a job in a more difficult working environment.
Gender and diversity statistics show that female
employees are usually under-represented in the
global mobility community. How important is
gender diversity management in this context?
In terms of gender diversity, assignments abroad are
apparently not very attractive for women. So far the logistics
industry hasn’t succeeded in attracting and retaining women.
This also applies to Panalpina, and it’s a situation that’s
reflected in the global mobile workforce. We’re working with
universities to change perceptions. But that takes time. Is
gender diversity important for me? Yes, for two reasons. If
you’re unable to attract women to your organisation or retain
and develop them, you’re missing out on a large part of the
talent pool. The other reason it can be important to address
gender diversity is that women can bring a different dynamic
to leadership teams.
Do you think that your global mobility programme
will yield the desired return on capital? What needs
to change for the returns to be greater in future?
It would be a disaster if the answer to this question were no.
The answer is yes, I think it’s a profitable investment. Naturally
you have to evaluate the extra costs that international
secondments entail each time. You have to be sure that the
additional expense is worth it. Either you believe it’s going to
be very difficult to find someone to replace this person, or you
do it to build your pipeline of talent. Usually the second case
involves a lot less investment, but it’s an investment that will
definitely be worthwhile.
How do employers have to change their approach to
make global mobility more successful in the future?
It’s vital to create a dialogue and offer support throughout
the entire secondment process. Usually mobility experts
are involved at both ends of the process, recruitment and
debriefing, but there’s no ongoing dialogue during the
secondment itself. This task is usually given to the local line
manager or HR people. We believe it’s essential to continue
this dialogue to make sure the process adds value. Globally
mobile staff are a group of people that you have to “manage”
actively, and this also has to involve the organisation at home.
We need to manage expectations so they know why they’re
there and for how long, and know when we’re going to initiate
the dialogue on their return home. The more effectively you
can manage expectations, the more likely you are to avoid
disappointments, resignations or conflicts of interest. The
main thing is to be open and transparent. It’s about listening to
your staff, not just moving them around like pieces in a board
game. If, for example, their family isn’t managing to settle in,
we also have to address that issue and respond. Even if they do
settle in very well, we have to think about the options too. The
more transparent and proactive you are, the more options you
have; otherwise you run the risk of being without alternatives
because you haven’t prepared a successor. So you need clear
answers to the questions of why you need a mobile workforce,
and what the benefits are from both the organisation’s and the
employer’s point of view. Bringing all these things together
requires work.

Digitisation is going to be a huge sea
change for HR organisations. But
most HR teams vastly underestimate
the impact of digitisation on their
own work and on the organisation
they serve. They also think of digitisa-
tion in too narrow terms – thinking
digitisation means just apps and new
technology, while undervaluing the
impact and worth of automation,
robotisation and big data to their
company. HR teams are also failing to
understand the importance of trans-
forming company cultures into digital
cultures.
Is the Ulrich Model
outdated?
Creating an “agile organisation” is becoming
increasingly important. Organisations need
to adapt more quickly to new conditions for
products, services, systems and processes. HR
will need to restructure too in order to help to
achieve this change and to become agile itself.
Survey participants are evenly split over
whether the Ulrich Model will still be relevant
in 2025. David Ulrich created the model in
the 1990s, to separate HR policy-making,
administration and business partner roles.
35% of our respondents think it will not be
the operating model of the future, 34% think
it will be and 30% are not sure. Interestingly,
more HR executives think it will be outdated
(45%), than their HR team members (28%).
This ambiguity towards the prevailing HR
operating model may be due to the fact that
after almost 30 years, HR organisations are
still struggling to reap all the benefits of the
Ulrich Model.
Our survey also shows that companies
will be increasingly reaching outside to
create collaborative networks of companies
working together, for instance to hire or share
staff. More than half (57%) of our survey
respondents say that they will be generating
value in the future through multiple business
networks, such as strategic cooperation with
other companies.
The majority of HR professionals are
confident that their organisation is ready to
deal with the upcoming changes. 58% say
they are agile enough to cope (combined
answers of completely agree and mostly
agree), with 39% saying they are not
(combined answers of completely disagree
and mostly disagree). Interestingly, a higher
percentage of smaller companies (83%) say
they are ready for change. This is perhaps due
to flat hierarchies and less complex decision-
making.
HR will be more strategic,
less transactional
HR is often seen as a passive, service-oriented
support function. But given the demands
of tomorrow’s workplace and business
environment, HR is at a crossroads and will
need to change tremendously.
This understanding of change has been
clearly embraced by our survey participants,
who see change as a chance to enhance the
role of HR. 79% say that HR will become
a centre of excellence by 2025 while HR
transactional tasks will be outsourced.
HR organisation
Completely
disagree Mostly
disagree
7%
32%
Mostly
agree
42%
Completely
agree
16%
I don't
know
4%
Survey question: My HR organisation
is agile enough to adapt swiftly to future
developments. Please rate on a scale
of 1-4:
“Change is a permanent
feature of our business,
and to stand still is to step
backwards.”
Hans C. Werner
Group Leader of Human Resources and Member
of the Group Management Board, Swisscom

This view was shared throughout all sizes of
company and industry, but particularly voiced
in finance, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
health care, consulting and the public sector.
The survey also reveals that HR will
need to change and be agile to meet new
requirements such as coaching, HR analytics
and digitisation as well as the ability to lead
change. We agree with this and believe that
the future role of HR professionals will need a
more proactive mindset and focus on business
strategy. This will include a wider people
remit, incorporating and influencing other
aspects of the business beyond HR.
Few companies have
teams dedicated to
new trends such as
digitisation
Even though more than half of our survey
participants say that they are ready for
change in the workplace, 70% say they do
not have any dedicated HR staff or teams
for new trends such as digitisation, culture
transformation or organisation design. The
smaller the company, the fewer dedicated
resources there are for these topics.
Instead, their dedicated staff members or
teams are still tied to topics such as change
management or HR compliance. 45% say
they have a person or team responsible for
change management and 47% say they
have a person or team responsible for HR
compliance. This is a trend that seems to run
through all industries and sizes of company.
We often hear from our clients that HR is still
not strategic enough. Key future business
requirements, such as fostering innovation,
supporting growth, analytics and workforce
planning, MA or instigating culture
transformation, are not sufficiently met. Such
strategic topics are mostly only occasionally
addressed by HR organisations.
We believe that in the future, there will be
a function within HR focusing exclusively
on selected business priorities, bundling all
relevant HR expertise to provide a concerted
support to the business.
As such, the future HR organisation could
look like this:
• Cloud applications covering all HR
processes to create effective employee
and manager self-service online.
• Employee applications give the workforce
an “Amazon”-like experience during their
interactions, including:
–
– A very easy-to-use application
–
– Recommendations of what employees
with similar profiles have done or
accessed, for instance training they
have completed or looked at
–
– Ratings and comments
–
– Chatbots – convenient voice-led
interaction with machines
• All possible transactional work is
outsourced or processed offshore.
• Traditional Centers of Expertise (CoE)
like Talent, Performance Management,
HR Reporting, Systems, Reward , etc.,
are complemented by CoEs for Predictive
Analytics, Culture Transformation,
Employee Community, Lifecycle Manage-
ment and others.
• Strategic business partners support line
management and sit in leadership
boards.
• Dedicated teams or professionals are
established within HR for some key
business priorities, for instance innovation
in research, bundling all relevant HR
expertise, to offer a one-stop solution.
“In today’s fast-moving times,
it’s extremely important to see
change not as a threat but as
an opportunity, to be brave and
to embrace new topics.”
Hans C. Werner
Group Leader of Human Resources and Member
of the Group Management Board, Swisscom

“Orchestrating
change”
Swisscom HR director Hans C. Werner talks
about challenges and trends in organisational
development and the role of HR.
Swisscom’s 2020 strategy rests on three pillars:
building the best infrastructure, offering the
best experiences, and realising the best growth
opportunities. To what extent can the present or
future organisation of Swisscom facilitate the
achievement of these three objectives?
Our corporate structure is heavily geared towards
our 2020 strategy. With divisions for infrastructure and
customer experience and a specific unit for digital business,
we’re able to cover various aspects that are essential to
delivering our strategy. We’re also constantly reflecting and
regularly consulting with management on what we need
to be addressing in the retail, SME and business customer
segments. But besides our structure, the main pillars of our
future development will be our technological backbone and
innovatory power.
Swisscom has gone through two fairly substantial
reorganisations in the last three years. What role
did HR play in developing and implementing these
reorganisations?
Key to the success of transformations of this sort is the
interplay and involvement of all the relevant stakeholders.
So we place the emphasis on getting staff involved early on
and keeping the phase of uncertainty as short as possible.
HR’s main role at the development stage is acting as a
sparring partner for managers and as an “advocate” for
staff. When it comes to implementation we see our role
as orchestrating organisational changes for employees,
making sure communications work as well as possible,
mitigating the aspect of change that is often perceived as a
threat, and getting the right mindset across. But sure, major
organisational changes like this first have to be processed.
Nowadays change is an integral part of our business, and if
you stand still you take a step back.
What are the core components you consider in
change processes?
For us it’s essential that in the midst of internal change
we don’t lose our focus on customers, and that if customers
notice any change at all, it’s that we’re are up differently in a
positive sense – for example the customer has fewer people
to deal with following the change. It’s just as important to
carefully weigh up how urgently a change is needed. Is it
sufficient, for example, to simplify only certain processes, or
are major organisational changes necessary? Restructuring
always also creates upheaval and uncertainty within the
organisation. You have to keep this phase as short as possible.
In HR we see our role as providing managers with close and
effective support with implementation.
You always have to weigh up the optimum time for the
organisation to implement changes of this sort. It’s like
walking a tightrope: on the one hand the organisation needs
a stable framework and backbone. On the other hand you
also have to create a platform for growth opportunities to
develop, even if this also involves uncertainty. So we’re
constantly having to ask how urgent it is to initiate a change
process. It’s essential not to underestimate the importance of
having a good feel for when this readiness for change is there
and when the right moment is. Depending on the situation,
your strategy might be running ahead of the maturity of your
organisation, and you won’t be able to go about closing the
gaps this creates until later on. Or you might have the wisdom
and foresight to proactively address issues that aren’t yet
completely ripe for the picking in strategic terms, but which
you see as potential problem areas going forward.
What’s Swisscom’s stance on new methods
of collaboration, innovative platforms and
crowdsourcing?
We’re very open to these things. Having said that, they
don’t all work equally well in every area. To assume the
substantial operational responsibility involved we need
perfectionists and people to drive the process. There are
certain safeguards we have to comply with. But especially in
the innovation and product development environment, we
consciously allow more freedom of discretion. This is the only
way of unleashing the power and potential to harness new
ideas to make sure we and our offering continue to develop,
and of getting customers closely involved in the development
process. If we want to improve the customer experience we
have to dismantle old processes and pull together across
corporate boundaries. Here we’re already having a lot of
success with collaboration based on scrums and tribes. At the
same time we have select, specially trained teams working
on pilots to test new management models such as Holacracy.
We’re learning an awful lot in the process: what works for
us, what can be transferred to other areas, and how it can
be combined with other approaches, many of which already
exist. This is an exciting development.
What skills do you believe are essential for
employees to keep pace with changes in the
employment market?
I think that especially in our fast-moving times, it’s
Hans C. Werner
Group Leader of Human Resources
and Member of the Group Management Board, Swisscom

extremely important to see change as an opportunity rather
than a threat, to be fearless, and to be open to new things.
It’s all about keeping yourself fit for the employment market.
As an employee I have to keep evaluating where my journey
could take me, what path I’m on, and what new path I intend
to take. At Swisscom we place great emphasis on a culture
of development so that our staff can systematically gather
experience and train on an ongoing basis.
How do you at Swisscom deal with the fact that role
profiles are changing, and that the skills you now
need will be different in, say, five years’ time?
We’re a great believer in shared responsibility when it
comes to keeping fit for the employment market. It’s essential
for both parties, the organisation and employees, that people
stay permanently on the ball and actively shape their own
development. We use a well-founded strategic approach to
HR planning that helps us evaluate what skills and knowledge
are needed when and where within the organisation. In a
forward-looking, proactive environment, leadership teams and
employees assume responsibility for themselves at an early
stage, and plan scenarios over a longer timeframe. They think
about the influence these scenarios will have on job profiles,
what changes are necessary, and what action is required to
create new areas of work. In more than 90 per cent of these
instances, a solution is generally found that enables both the
employer and the employee to move forward.
Do you at Swisscom have in-house organisational
experts dedicated to business development and
organisation design? If so, what is their role in
organisational development projects?
Yes, we have experts of this sort. Our entire HR organisation
is geared towards transformation and development. Business
partners, transformation agents and transformation coaches
account for a large part of this. They’re brought into ongoing
projects as required, acting as advisors. Last year we modified
our HR business model. This also involved cutting jobs. In
many cases following a reorganisation of this sort you see a
situation where only top management is getting the support
of HR business partners. We deliberately opted for a different
approach and made sure that middle management would also
continue to get support with their issues. Often managers have
less experience in change processes and daily HR business,
because in most cases they have operational duties in addition
to their management role.
How do you make sure HR staff have the right
business know-how?
Our HR people regularly visit teams in the business units
to experience first-hand how they work and what challenges
they face on a daily basis. That’s always very exciting for
me. The kind of experience you can gain, for example, from
accompanying a service technician for a day, is incredibly
valuable. Our HR business partners are also part of the
management team, and get to experience the business first-
hand in this way.
Traditional career models could soon be a thing of
the past. People are predicting the rise of project
and part-time work on a freelance basis. Even so,
roles must have clear responsibilities as well as
management structures and processes to support
them. How is Swisscom preparing for this?
We’re permanently monitoring and thinking about the
changes taking place in terms of career models and job
profiles. Only recently this prompted us to modify our job
architecture, and change and streamline our management
structure. But these new models of collaboration will
undoubtedly require more adaptation as time goes on. The
questions that are arising are exciting and challenging: What
will job profiles look like in a holacracy? How do you evaluate
a job under a holacracy? How much is this work worth in the
marketplace? All these questions will be of key importance in
the future. We’re entering uncharted territory. HR will have
to operate flexibly and independently of fixed structures.
There will be additional challenges, especially from the point
of view of employees, who understandably want answers to
questions concerning key things like their role, compensation,
the KPIs and their bonus. But from an employer’s point of
view, information like this is not so easy to define once you no
longer have standardised pay bands and other criteria to go by.
Here there are still clear discrepancies between the way career
models are traditionally handled and the challenges that await
us with future models.
Do you think that in 2020 or 2030 the role of HR will
be to actively shape organisational changes within
the company?
Let me quote Mr Daimler from the beginning of the last
century: “Global demand for motor vehicles will never exceed
one million, if only for a lack of chauffeurs.” I believe that
we’re at a similar point now to Gottlieb Daimler back then.
We don’t really have any idea of what’s to come. I beleave in a
dramatic increase in offerings in connection with digitisation,
self-service technologies and data analytics. Data analytics will
enable us to foresee developments early on and take proactive
measures. In return we will naturally have to make sure we use
these data appropriately and avoid breaches of confidentiality
between the organisation and its employees.

We believe that the value of culture
is underestimated and is therefore
not nurtured enough. Every
company has a culture, like everyone
hasa character, good or bad. But
organisations are neglecting to
improve their company culture.
This is unfortunate, because culture
has a huge impact on attracting and
retaining talent as well as helping
employees to feel engaged in the
workplace.
Corporate culture is the key to tomorrow’s
success. It’s built on a delicate mix of values,
behaviour and mindset. It should be checked
continually and developed step by step. But
any change needs time. You’ll need to define
your core company values and ensure you
have the buy-in from corporate management.
Begin any change with a pilot, start with
groups of employees who will be positive
to change and make sure throughout the
process that your culture change programme
is aligned to your corporate strategy.
Digitisation and change
Our survey identifies digitisation as the most
important driver for change in company
culture.
Digitisation originated in the late 1990s with
the short-lived but still influential dot-com era
and has only gained sustained momentum in
the last few years. It’s therefore not surprising
that a clear understanding of a digital culture
is still in its “beta” version. However, at least
some core elements of the digital culture can
now be identified:
• Rigorous collaboration beyond silos
and company boundaries.
Using crowd knowledge and know-how
to develop products, services and/or
accelerate sales.
• Embracing a “failure culture” as a
consequence of risk-taking.
To be agile and flexible decisions have to
be taken quickly. Not all the consequences
of decisions can be thoroughly assessed
beforehand. It’s therefore acceptable to
fail from time to time. However, if you fail,
you need to fail quickly, learn from it and
move on.
• Organisations are in “constant beta”.
They’re always running pilots and
constantly improving newly developed
solutions. Products and solutions are
quickly disseminated to potential
customers to test. Customer feedback is
used for continuous improvements.
• No hierarchies are replacing flat
hierarchies.
This is not only in terms of structure but
also in terms of mindset and behaviour.
Good ideas don’t recognise titles or salary
grades. Therefore, all ideas, suggestions
and contributions are welcomed regardless
of rank. This leaves everyone feeling
entitled to challenge everybody and no one
feels offended by it.
• Ambiguity is accepted as a given.
Nothing is black or white anymore. People
accept that the world is in a state of flux.
Core foundations and presumptions can
change quickly and organisations need to
be able to adapt with the same speed.
• Share and you shall be given.
Accept the fact that only open businesses
that allow the exchange of intellectual
property will be successful in future. If
you share with the market other players
will share with you and everyone will win.
This attitude and mindset of openness,
transparency and selfish altruism will
ensure future success.
This certainly mirrors what our recent CEO
Survey tells us. 69% of CEOs say that it’s
more difficult for business to gain and retain
trust in a digitised world and 93% of CEOs
say that it’s therefore important to have a
strong corporate purpose that’s reflected
in their organisation’s values, culture and
behaviour.21
But how you introduce digitisation is also
very important. From our project work we
see that successful digital transformation
depends very much on a successful change
in culture and attitudes. It’s not just about
technology. Digital transformation will only
be successful if employees alter their mindset
as well as understand and embrace new
technology.
In our survey participants say that change
initiatives in their companies are for the most
part clearly communicated (70%) and have
clear leadership buy-in (68%).
Culture and change
21
“Robots are already providing
Mobiliar with support ...
Our goal is to use this
technology to offer a range of
services. We are very pleased
with our progress so far,
although our robot is currently
still in its test phase.”

In our project work, however, we also see
that the cultural change of digitisation
is often left too late and introduced with
too little thought. People often think that
cultural change happens faster than it does
in practice. They often expect results after a
year, when change usually needs at least 3
years to become fully visible.
Agility
Survey participants list the ability for
employees to change, the encouragement
of agility in all business processes and the
quick adoption of new technologies as being
important topics.
We believe that self-organised and agile
teams will become the norm. We’re already
seeing agile teams starting to move into more
traditional work environments and we believe
that this is a trend that will continue with the
growing use of contractors and freelancers.
However, finding agile staff still seems to be
a challenge. According to our recent CEO
survey, CEOs list adaptability as one of the
most important skills they need in the future
but they also say that creative and innovation
skills are some of the most difficult to find.22
Here too HR could and should play a role in
defining the specific skills and capabilities
required to be innovative and creative,
identify alternative sources to recruit these
talents and help to create an environment in
which these talents want to stay and thrive.
Company culture as a
key differentiator
63% of our survey participants say that
company culture will grow in importance.
This is based on the assumption that by 2025
most companies will be working in networks
and sharing employees and resources.
A distinct company culture will therefore
be crucial to differentiate a company and
make it attractive for talent. If employees
are working for different businesses at the
same time, then they will have the chance
to make direct comparisons and be more
likely to switch employers if they don’t like a
company’s culture. If a company cannot bind
an employee by a full-time contract, then
they will need to attract and motivate talent
through culture instead.
This is backed by another survey showing
that 60% of business leaders feel culture
is more important than strategy or an
operating model for long-term success.23
We’re also seeing that Generation Y want to
work for socially conscious organisations,
rather than putting so much emphasis on
their pay packet. They also want to identify
with their company culture. This will mean
that companies need to create a strong and
competitive corporate culture to retain their
younger talent, particularly in an increasingly
fluid talent market.
22
23
The 2013 culture change management survey, Strategy, 2013
Less important
14%
More important
63%
Stay the same
23%
Survey question: Assuming that companies will work more/exclusively within business networks in 2025, company culture will become
“The future will centre on
tasks, roles and projects. The
required tasks will be identified
and profiles will be generated
using this information, regard-
less of conventional roles.
This increases flexibility for
employees, while also reducing
hierarchical structures. More
work will be done as part of
teams, based on an order or
a project.”

“HR sees itself as
being in the lead”
Nathalie Bourquenoud, Head of Human
Development at Mobiliar, on the drivers of cultural
change and the role of HR.
How would you describe Mobiliar’s corporate
culture?
The culture within Mobiliar is very highly developed in
two areas in particular. Firstly, we’re firmly committed to
simplicity. We’re uncomplicated, clear and understandable.
Secondly, we have a pronounced customer focus – partly
thanks to our general agencies, which operate locally, very
close to customers, flexibly and autonomously. In the event of
a claim the specialists can respond with expertise and agility,
which helps in terms of customer focus.
The culture at our management offices is somewhat different.
Unlike the general agencies, the office in Bern is a large
organisation with over 2,000 employees. Here there’s more
of a feeling of a 300% solution culture. Everything has
to be thought through in detail and be more than perfect
before it gets implemented. We’re working on combining
this perfectionism with greater agility, particularly when it
comes to projects. The big challenge is how to maintain the
present level of quality while establishing a culture of making
mistakes that allows us to try out new things.
Because Mobiliar has been successful for so many years, it’s
not always easy to break out of established ways. This success
is the result of our staff’s commitment and the way they
work. But we can’t rest on our laurels. We have to prepare
for the issues of the future, including digital transformation.
So in terms of culture we have to negotiate a path between
the distinctive quality that makes Mobiliar so successful and
an emerging need to respond rapidly to new situations with
agility and a willingness to change.
What is Mobiliar doing to increase the
“psychological pressure” so that there’s a greater
willingness to change within the organisation?
To keep on coming up with things that get customers
excited you need innovative ways of thinking and innovative
solutions. So for us the key is to highlight the requirements
and changing habits of our customers to make the urgent
need for change clear within Mobiliar. That way we can
get our people out of their comfort zone. We’re constantly
showing our people how customer behaviour is changing
and how personal customer contact will evolve in the future.
Customers want to be able to use other channels as well as
having personal contact with the general agencies. What we
need is a multichannel strategy that enables communication
any time via any medium. Customers expect the flow of
information to be adapted to the new possibilities – for
example they’ll no longer accept a form as the only standard
format.
What will be the decisive factors driving cultural
change in your industry?
Digital transformation and big data will be key drivers
of corporate culture. We have to apply new methods
that allow us to analyse data adequately, even if these
capabilities aren’t yet completely mature. Digitisation will
also change customers’ insurance needs. Take self-driving
cars or properties with state-of-the-art building technology:
innovations of this sort are having a major impact on people’s
needs and expectations in terms of their insurance. An
insurance company has to constantly keep up with new needs
as customers develop new ways of behaving and thinking.
A particular challenge is striking a balance between good
personal contact with customers and the steadily growing
desire for things to be handled electronically. We are noticing
that customers often prefer to take care of as many steps as
possible electronically without a lot of personal contact. But
in the event of a claim, many customers seek and value direct
personal contact with their advisor. It’s crucial to manage this
tightrope walk between electronic approaches and good, old-
fashioned personal contact properly. This requires redefining
your unique selling proposition.
What will be the most important steps as your
organisation prepares for the future?
An important aspect will be building up the necessary
pressure. This is done primarily by showing the changes
taking place with our customers. We’re doing this partly
by communicating and raising the awareness of our staff –
familiarising them with the issues by ensuring a transparent
flow of information and showing them important
strategic goals. Naturally our communications channels
are geared to digital; for example we also get messages
across via video.
But physical changes are also a key factor. It’s hard to change
employees’ attitudes if they don’t see any changes in their
working environment. For this reason we’re also adapting
the physical work environment. We’re building a new world
of work by removing as many walls as possible in our office
spaces and creating different zones where people can go
to concentrate, to share, to get things done, to reflect, and
so on. This way the change takes place in people’s physical
experience of their working environment as well as in
their heads.

What will be the key competences in the future?
We’ve talked a lot about whether the competences that
will be required in future are only technical, or whether they
also encompass values and behaviours. We’ve come to the
conclusion that the most important competence in the future
will be a willingness to change. We believe that flexibility,
curiosity and openness to change will be key elements in the
job profile of the future. We also see great opportunities in
interdisciplinary approaches.
Another major focus is encouraging staff to take responsibility
for themselves and develop entrepreneurship and self-
management skills.
How are transformations handled within your
organisation?
The HR department sees itself as being in the lead. In
our HR strategy we’ve set down our vision of how Mobiliar
can continue to be successfully managed in ten years’ time.
Actions are developed on the basis of this vision. At workshops
with the line we can find out precisely what the personnel
requirements are and develop HR strategies for specific areas.
This way we assure effective strategic personnel planning.
Assuming that we’ll be increasingly working in
networks in the future, what do you think the
implications are in terms of the importance of
corporate culture?
In the future we’ll definitely be working more with partners
and networks. Mobiliar is very much on this track. Last year,
for example, we got involved in the Scout24 online platform,
which has gained a strong position in property and cars,
two core areas for Mobiliar as well. This type of partnership
is a great way of harnessing synergies and driving our own
development forward.
The trend for networks means we also have to build new
competences. Given that alliances of this sort are often formed
on the basis of equal partners, skills such as influencing also
become more important. When one partner doesn’t have the
right to tell the other one what to do, you have to shift the
focus. In situations like this Mobiliar tries to show the added
value that comes from cooperation.
Employment relationships will be different in the
future. Permanent jobs will tend to be less common
and give way to flexible contracts. How do you view
this trend?
I’m convinced that we’ll no longer have traditional
functions in future. Sooner or later the current set-up, with
functions and job descriptions, will disappear. In the future
everything will revolve around tasks, roles and projects. It’ll be
about defining what tasks have to be completed. On the basis
of this information profiles will be created, independent of
classic roles. This will give staff more flexibility but also lead
to flatter hierarchies. There will be more work in teams on the
basis of a specific job or project.
Looking forward to 2020: how many robots will be
working at Mobiliar in comparison with the overall
staff?
No one can say for sure precisely how things will be in
2025. We’re working on the assumption that in comparison
with now we’ll have made a quantum leap in terms of
intelligently networking people, machines and things – and
that the forms way work is organised will also have evolved.
This means that as an organisation we already face the
challenge of going down innovative paths to make sure that
our people are equipped for the digital world of work, and that
we make optimum use of the potential of new technologies for
the benefit of our customers

It’s clear that HR is at a crossroads
and change is a permanent feature
of the profession. But as Hans C.
Werner, Head of Corporate Human
Resources at Swisscom says,
“…standing still is a step backwards.”
We asked our survey participants to envision
the future of work in 2025. However, we
think the answers we received reflect
the world in 2020, rather than beyond.
Nevertheless, it’s a clear mandate for HR to
change – not only in the way it operates but
also in the way it supports the business.
Our recommendations are:
Conclusion
• Companies need to start building a vision of how the new world of work could look.
This should be influenced by what’s happening internally, what other companies
are discussing and what trends are influencing people in business. Based on this,
companies need to build a small number of possible scenarios. For instance, what if
only a small proportion of your employees will work full-time? What if 50% of your
current professional jobs will be automated in 5–10 years? What if you share a large part
of “your” talents with other companies? Companies then need to discuss the possible
implications and devise a step-by-step roadmap for the future of its work journey.
• There should be greater use of data analytics to track a more complex HR picture, Data
analytics should ideally be linked to data from other parts of the business, to feed into
strategic decisions for the company and potentially elevate the role of HR. HR needs to
build an understanding and vision of what people analytics should look like and how it
can start preparing for it today.
• Company culture will become more important, not just because of the demands of
Generations Y and Z, but also to differentiate a company from its peers when sharing
talent within a collaboration network.
• Digitisation is not just about changing technology, it’s also about changing attitudes.
So we recommend parallel programmes to introduce a change in culture as well as a
change in technology. We also recommend this should be done in good time to allow
mindsets to change over years, not months.
• New systems need to be put in place to create and monitor new forms of incentives, such
as lifestyle incentives – based not just on quantitative measurement but also qualitative
measurement and peer feedback.
• Centres of excellence should be set up to help with the more complex and individual
landscape we are seeing in HR, for instance to understand immigration for global
mobility assignments or to help coach and train for more flexible careers, or to support
employees in further training and learning.
• Get ready for change. Rethink how you allocate your own resources; whether you have
enough dedicated staff assigned to digitisation or to flexible working and whether your
HR organisation is agile enough to face change.

Our PwC Survey “The way we work –
in 2025 and beyond” was carried out
in collaboration with “HR Today”.
We surveyed over 200 HR professionals
from all over Switzerland, including
many heads of HR and business
leaders. We also conducted in-depth
interviews with the global heads of
HR from ABB, Actelion, Mobiliar,
Panalpina and Swisscom. The survey
was conducted in the autumn of 2016,
the interviews between
autumn 2016 and
early 2017.
About the study
Number of HR professionals surveyed,
all based in Switzerland:
Role in HR
Company’s current employee headcount in Switzerland
5% other executive function
13% other management role
6% other
21% Head HR (executive function)
10% HR administration/support
(i.e. transactional services)
28% HR specialist (e.g. recruiting,
compensation benefits, talent
management, mobility, HR technology,
payroll, etc.)
17% HR BP or regional/divisional
HR Manager
20% 1–50
15% 51–150
16% 151–300
6% 301–500
10% 501–1000
12% 1001–3000
12% 3001–10’000
9% more than 10’000
202
participants

Company’s current global employee headcount
Industry
17% 1–150
9% 151–500
14% 501–2000
17% 2001–10’000
12% 10’001–50’000
5% 50’001–100’000
17% No employees abroad
4% Information unavailable
5% Over 100’000
2% construction industry
3% engineering and production
6% IT/electronics
3% communication and media
1% luxury goods (watches, jewellery, etc.)
4% metal industry
10% public sector
2% tourism/food service industry
4% transport and logistics
19% other
5% education
5% chemicals/pharmaceuticals
9% consulting
3% energy sector
13% financial services
7% healthcare
1% food and beverages
3% wholesale and retail

Authors
Charles Donkor
People and Organisation
PwC, Switzerland
Alina Slobodjanjuk
PwC, Switzerland
Katia Cremer
PwC, Switzerland
Jasmin Weisshaar
PwC, Switzerland
Interview
partners
Head of Human Resources
ABB
Christian Albrich
Head Global Human Resources
Actelion
Karsten Breum
Chief Human Resources Officer
Panalpina
Hans C. Werner
Group Leader of Human Resources and
Member of the Group Management Board
Swisscom
Head of Human Development
Mobiliar
Your partners for
the future of work
Hans Geene
Leader People and Organisation
hans.h.geene@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
Christian Buchert
Global Mobility
christian.buchert@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
Pascal Dewarrat
Global Mobility
pascal.dewarrat@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
Charles Donkor
Human Capital Consulting
charles.donkor@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
Robert Kuipers
Reward
robert.kuipers@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
José Marques
Reward
jose.marques@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
Robert Schulze
Global Mobility
robert.schulze@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
Gill Sivyer
International Organisations
gill.sivyer@ch.pwc.com
PwC, Switzerland
© 2017 PwC. All rights reserved. “PwC” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, which is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each member firm of which is a separate legal entity.

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