Health and safety in the workplace

Employee health

Having employees who are healthy and motivated over the long term is important to Swisscom. In line with its strategy, Swisscom therefore makes targeted investments in Occupational Health Management (OHM) initiatives and programmes. Swisscom completely revised its OHM strategy in 2015. In future, Swisscom will limit itself to clear focus areas, with physical safety being the top priority.

In order to increase the range of its measures, OHM appoints internal employees as ambassadors. These ambassadors work in different locations as contacts for employees on behalf of Occupational Health Management.

In the view of Occupational Health Management, cross-divisional cooperation with other departments and programmes, such as the Leadership Academy, Move! and Corporate Responsibility, plays a key role here.

The absence rate has fallen from 3.4% in 2009 to 2.9% in 2015. The rate of 2.9% during the year under review was slightly above the prior year. The increase is due to the flu outbreak in the first quarter as well as a slight rise in non-work-related accidents. The goal in 2016 is to once again reach 2.8% and, if possible, reduce the absence rate even further. Because of the slightly higher number of non-work-related accidents, Swisscom began a three-year non-work-related accident campaign in cooperation with SUVA. This campaign has a number of different elements, including the sale of protectors and helmets for various sports as well as several learning lunches on topics including hiking, head protection and proper walking technique. The individual offers were launched in 2015 as part of a pilot trial. They will be expanded and added to in 2016. Further details and performance indicators can be found in the table “Employees in figures”.

Swisscom continues to focus its occupational health management activities on prevention in order to promote and maintain employee health. In 2015, Swisscom tested MBSR offers (mindfulness-based stress reduction offers) in the form of courses and online courses as well as a bio-feedback method. There are also plans to introduce an online course on methods for dealing with stress as a pilot trial in 2016. Swisscom introduced new health checks for top management and intends to expand these offers.

In 2015, Swisscom launched an advisory centre (Care Gate) for questions relating to health and social issues as well as employability. Swisscom employees and managers can receive professional and confidential advice via telephone, email, videoconference and chat.

Swisscom actively supports the Compasso organisation as a member and sponsor. Compasso focuses on providing employers with information on how to deal with people with health problems. It is widely supported and is sponsored by the Swiss Employers’ Association.

Health and workplace safety

As set out in the collective employment agreement (CEA), Swisscom respects and protects its employees.

Under the overarching term “safety”, which includes occupational health and safety, Swisscom maintains a process-oriented management system. Safety is a part of the occupational health management system which ranges from a strategy for handling health risks at the workplace to the promotion of health and safety during non-working hours. Swisscom implements the statutory regulations consistently, thus protecting the health and integrity of its internal staff as well as external employees hired by its contractual partners.

The management system is based on Guideline 6508 issued by the Federal Coordination Commission for Occupational Safety (FCOS). There is a specific operational group solution for Swisscom, the focus of which is on work areas with a higher potential for risk. The “Safety at Swisscom” operational group was created and submitted to FCOS; this group is expected to receive official approval in 2016.

Swisscom fully implements codetermination rights. In doing so, the CEA grants the employee representative committees a right to be informed in terms of ergonomics (design of workstations and working environment), health protection and health care. The employee representative committees and social partners also have a right of consultation with regard to the prevention of work-related accidents and occupational illnesses and safety. Various Swisscom committees coordinate and organise training courses, initiatives and measures aimed at promoting safety and health protection in the workplace.

The risk of work-related accidents has declined over the past ten years. In the tertiary sector “trade and services”, the frequency of accidents has remained relatively stable and currently stands at 50 per 1,000 full-time employees. By comparison, Swisscom has a rate of 16 accidents per 1,000 full-time employees, which underlines that Swisscom manages its occupational safety in a serious and conscientious manner. Around 60% of the work-related accidents at Swisscom occur at cablex, which is involved in the areas of network construction, radio networks and in-house installation. However, in comparison with other companies in the electrical network construction/electrical installations sector, cablex’ accident frequency falls within the average range.

Move! and the Swisscom Games

Move! is a programme that promotes activities in the areas of health, sport and culture, such as football, skiing, climbing, aikido, tai chi and yoga as well as elocution, writing and stress management lessons. Employees can become Move! coaches or take part in an activity. Activities are conducted during the employees’ free time. Move! broadens horizons and brings employees from different areas of the company together. In 2015, 150 Move! coaches offered and supervised 300 activities.

Swisscom Games – Share the Spirit!

From January to June 2015, a total of ten Swisscom Games events were held throughout Switzerland, including nine regional events and the closing event with its established programme in Tenero. Employees were able to sign up for a team or an individual activity in the fields of Competition, Movement or Culture, or attend as a volunteer or fan. A total of around 7,000 employees took part in the Swisscom Games.

The Swisscom Games are a biennial event. They are a key networking opportunity for employees and an important part of the corporate culture. The next Swisscom Games will take place in 2017.