Flexible employment models and the Swiss Employment Flexibility Index
Last month we published an article about the current focus on the demand for more flexible employment models (working part-time, working temporary jobs or interim projects, working as a freelancer, home office possibilities, etc.) and the newly introduced Swiss Employment Flexibility Index (click here for the online article). In addition we launched a survey among our candidates and other contacts to determine which flexible employment models are most in demand.
Asked about their employment status, the results show that 25% of the survey respondents are currently unemployed and little over 80% are looking for a new job, of which 70% actively and the remaining 30% not very actively. 18% of the respondents are currently not looking for a new job, however, most of them (80%) would be interested in a change for the right opportunity. The main reasons for changing jobs are getting more exciting tasks (71%), more responsibilities and a higher salary (both 57%). More flexibility (flexible hours, home office, etc.) would be a reason to change for 43% of the respondents, ahead of a better work-life balance (29%) or a better manager (25%).
This is also reflected in the following table, which compares respondents' current situation to employment options they are willing to consider for their next job:
As we can see, the majority of employed respondents are working in a full-time and permanent position. Nonetheless, many of them would be willing to give this up for a part-time and / or temporary position or project. More than half of the respondents (54%) would even consider not working for an employer at all, but fully independently. Being able to work from home a few days per week also seems to cater to the demand for more flexibility. The majority is willing to consider it for a few days per week (increased flexibility), but not for all work days (reduced flexibility). Some other factors may play a role as well though, in explaining why the majority would not prefer to work from home all the time. Examples are the lack of personal contact or interaction with colleagues at the workplace or the ability to separate work and private life easily. A commute can actually help to leave work both literally and figuratively. It offers a distraction and gets you ready to concentrate on other things when getting home.
In conclusion, working from home a few days per week is the preferred option when it comes to flexible employment models. However, working as an independent freelancer, working part-time and working on a temporary basis are not far behind and we expect the gap to become even smaller in the future. In the next part we will take a closer look at the supply side of part-time and temporary positions.
The Swiss Employment Flexibility Index – August Update
On the benchmark day in August a total of 116,973 jobs was advertised by companies and recruitment agencies. This was an increase of only 1% over July (July showed an increase of 2% over June). Of the jobs advertised in August 7908 were temporary & interim positions, representing 6.8% of the total (vs. 6.3% in July). This represents an increase of 7.8% over July (vs. an increase of 5.4% over June). The number of temporary & interim positions published by companies decreased quite strongly (12%), whereas agencies published significantly more such roles, taking them to 9.3% of the all roles published by agencies (vs. 8.5% in July). Higher level positions (leader jobs) made up 5.7% of all temporary & interim vacancies (6% in July), compared with 14.3% for permanent jobs.
As last month, the numbers differed significantly across the country. Similar to last month the German part saw an overall increase (1.2%) of vacancies and added 10.3% temporary & interim roles. The French part however, moved in opposite directions compared with last month: an overall decrease of vacancies (-4.1% vs. +1.9% in July) and an increase of temporary & interim roles (+2.2% vs. -4.6% in July). This takes both regions to a temporary & interim proportion of 7.1% of the total, which is not surprising given the summer period's increased demand for temporary staff in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Looking at the number of part-time positions published, for which only company data are considered, it can be seen that full-time (100%) jobs make up the largest part of all job offers (77.4%). Jobs with a workload of 80-90% make up around 9% of the total, whereas jobs with a workload of 40-50% and 60-70% each account for approximately 5.5%. 20-30% jobs come in last with approximately 2%. Jobs with a workload below 20% were not considered for this statistic.
The number of part-time offers published by companies decreased by approximately 5% from July to August, whereas the number of full-time offers decreased only slightly. As a result the ratio of part-time to full-time vacancies decreased even further than in July. Among part-time offers, the proportion of temporary & interim positions remains higher than among full-time offers (3.5% vs. 2.0%).
The flexibility coefficient is calculated by taking the average of the percentage of part-time offers and the percentage of temporary & interim offers. The increase in the number (and ratio) of temporary & interim roles offset the decrease in the ratio of part-time to full-time roles only partially, causing the coefficient to decrease to 0.147 (0.149 in June and July).
About the index
In line with the increasing demand for flexible employment models, talentzip created the Swiss Employment Flexibility Index (Arbeit-Flexibilität Index, Index de Flexibilité d'Emploi) to provide an overview of the supply side (i.e. the number of positions published). The first data sets for the index were collected in June and July.
Using data collected on the first work day of each month, the index will track the number of part-time and temporary job offers on the Swiss market and a dedicated coefficient will be calculated to represent the market's overall flexibility. The number of positions offering home office possibilities is impossible to determine at the moment as this information is not an integral part of most job specifications and is often discussed as a separate benefit or on request of a candidate. However, perhaps we will see this option added as an additional search filter on job boards or career sites in the future, in which case we will be able to measure the number of corresponding positions.
In case you have any questions or comments about the survey and the index or in general, please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Disclaimer: the data come from an external source and the figures and percentages mentioned should by no means be interpreted as 100% accurate. Especially part-time jobs can appear more than once in the statistic, thereby distorting the results. A role advertised with a 60-100% workload for example, will appear in the 60-70, 80-90 and 100% categories. Overall, these effects are likely to be averaged out. Nonetheless, caution should be exercised when interpreting the abovementioned results and talentzip cannot be held liable in case the numbers or calculations prove to be inaccurate.