Persistent cost pressure led to a strategic and organisational redesign at Swisscom IT Services last autumn. The company is now aiming to alleviate the impact of the resulting need to shed staff. According to IT human resources manager Roger Fistarol: "Employees will be able to participate in an alternative working time model. If they decide to do so, the number of people affected by the job cuts will be reduced by fact that staff will change the percentage of time they work compared to full employment (100%)".

Under this model, staff will reduce their working time voluntarily by 10 or 20%. They can take the reduction in the form of additional days off or as shorter annual working hours. In the first two years, Swisscom IT Services will pay a substantial share (50% in the first year, 45% in the second) of the loss of earnings associated with the shorter working time. Staff participating in the model will forego 1% of their next negotiated salary increase.

Implementation will depend in individual cases on whether adoption of the model is operationally feasible. The part-jobs freed up by this solution will be used to retain positions threatened by redundancy. Employees and employees' associations were involved in the development of the model.

The alternative working time model is a further addition to past measures such as teleworking, part-time working and mobility allowances. At the same time, the move allows Swisscom IT Services to contribute towards improving its employees' personal work-life balance.

Berne, 23 February 2004