According to the OECD, Switzerland's employment rate continues to rank among the world leaders. Job prospects remain very good. According to the latest labor market survey by Robert Half, 71 % of Swiss companies would like to hire new employees. At the same time, however, 70 % of the 100 HR managers surveyed fear that key employees will sign with another company in the next twelve months. But before signing, applicants willing to switch should check the new employment contract carefully. The specialized HR service provider has compiled the most important legal and strategic aspects in terms of drafting employment contracts in a checklist. A well-negotiated employment contract helps to regulate mutual requirements and wishes before the start of an employment relationship. Below are six points that employees should pay particular attention to in the employment contract.

1. Form of the contract: The individual employment contract is not subject to any formal requirements and, with the exception of apprenticeship contracts, can also be agreed orally. Nevertheless, it is advantageous for the employee to conclude a written contract. Oral side agreements are also not advisable. These should be included in the contract in writing in appropriate clauses.
2. Job Title and Area of Responsibility: In the employment contract, the job title should appropriately reflect the employee's role in the company and his or her scope of duties and responsibilities should be clearly defined. This is because the position in the company determines which services the employee has to provide and whether the employer may assign additional activities. The larger the scope of duties, the greater the flexibility that the supervisor can demand in case of doubt. The employee should therefore check whether the employer can assign him areas of responsibility whose tasks he cannot or does not want to fulfill.
3. Work location: The employment contract must include the place where the work is usually to be performed. It is also legally permissible to specify several locations or an area. In the case of a company with several locations, the employee should therefore ensure that a specific place of work is specified. If a corresponding passage is missing, the employer can demand the change between the different company locations. In the case of travel-intensive jobs, the employee's willingness to travel on business and the amount of time required for such travel should be recorded in writing. The same applies to the possibility of working in a home office.
4. Compensation, bonus and other benefits: The employment contract should list the remuneration and all other entitlements to which the employee is entitled or which were promised in the salary negotiations. In addition to salary, these include allowances (overtime, shift work, etc.), special payments (Christmas bonus, vacation pay), contributions to the company pension, company car or local transport tickets, stock options, capital-forming benefits or bonus payments. If salary increases have been agreed, for example after the probationary period or periodically, this should also be set out in writing.
5. Working hours & vacations: The weekly working time for employees in industry, for office personnel, technical employees and sales personnel in large retail businesses may not exceed 45 hours. For all other employees, the maximum weekly working time is 50 hours. Possible deviations such as the mandatory acceptance of overtime, working of overtime or shift, on-call and weekend duties should be documented. This also applies to agreements on the flexibility of working hours, such as the establishment of fixed attendance times or the management of flexible working time accounts. If the annual vacation entitlement is not specified in the employment contract, the employee is only entitled to the legally prescribed four weeks (five weeks up to the age of 20). Collective bargaining agreements often grant employees over the age of 50 a higher vacation entitlement. It is advisable for both parties to the contract to mention restrictions on the application for vacation in the employment contract. In this way, parents can plan their vacation for school vacations, while employers can impose a general vacation ban for boom periods.
6. Non-competition: A non-competition agreement is quickly signed before starting work, but it can have a decisive influence on the employee's future career. The non-competition clause in the employment contract prohibits the employee from competing with his former employer after termination of the employment relationship, either for a third party or as a self-employed person.

"When drafting the contract, the applicant should ensure that the wording is clear and, in the event of any discrepancies, consult with the HR department or the future boss. In principle, making requests for changes is not an affront to the new employer;" comments Sven Hennige, Senior Managing Director Central Europe & The Netherlands at Robert Half. "If you are polite and firm, but not inflexibly demanding, you can discuss your requests openly and constructively. If the applicant has good arguments for his requirements and shows a willingness to compromise, he has a good chance that the employment contract will be changed according to his own needs and at the same time demonstrates important social skills for the future role in the company."

Source: Robert Half

Whether it's sand for concrete, steel, food or fossil fuels, our everyday lives rely heavily on natural resources.

The topic of resource efficiency is one of the goals of the UN's Agenda for Sustainable Development. A new report of the organization now shows how the consumption of natural resources has accelerated over the past four decades.

The figures are impressive: since 1970, the global population has doubled, but the economy and thus also material consumption have more than tripled. Per capita consumption of natural resources has increased from 7 tons to 10 tons during this time.

And a strong acceleration can be observed during this period, especially since 2000, which correlates strongly with China's industrial and urban transformation: the nation's construction and economic boom is gobbling up unprecedented amounts of steel, cement, energy and building materials.

The UN warns that the increasing consumption and transport of materials will intensify climate change, increase air pollution and reduce biodiversity. And last but not least, non-renewable resources will eventually dwindle - and this could lead to global conflicts, the UN says.

"We must urgently address this problem before we have irreversibly depleted the resources that keep our economy running. This is a profoundly complex problem, one of the greatest tests of humanity to date. It requires that we fundamentally rethink the extraction of natural resources," says Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, co-leader of the UN International Research Panel.

Whereas in 1970, 22 billion tons of material were extracted from the earth each year, today the figure is 70 billion tons. At the same time, the richest countries consume on average ten times more resources than the poorest. If the economy and the population grow as forecast, the 9 billion people in 2050 would need 180 billion tons of material every year.

At the same time, material efficiency has barely increased over the past 20 years - in fact, it has tended to decline since 2000. The UN attributes this to the fact that production has shifted from efficient countries such as Japan, South Korea and European states to much less efficient countries such as China, India and the Southeast Asian region.

Decouple growth

The world therefore urgently needs to use fewer primary resources, according to the report. This can only be achieved by decoupling economic growth from resource consumption. This requires "well thought-out strategies and rules," according to the UN. This is to be achieved with investments in research and development as well as improved rules and financing.

Today's customers are looking for the causal as well as the genuine. Employees expect not only materially good employment conditions. Rather, they want to sense a company's original values: expressed through art, creation, power and communication. This corresponds to the new management paradigm of dual management.

The third force

The management consultant and author understands the K-factor as the third force in a company besides knowledge and money. According to Leonhard Fopp, the success drivers of art, creation, power and communication would give rise to a new corporate dynamic. However, these supposed soft factors are by no means "L'art pour l'art," as the author continues. Rather, creative impulses and interpersonal energy are the breeding ground for a greater ability to learn and innovate, which in turn have a noticeable impact on operational earning power. This enables sustainable and resource-conserving growth.

Paradigm shift necessary

In order to let the K-factor fully blossom, the author considers it necessary that companies do not work exclusively for profit maximization, but rather that a paradigm shift takes place towards more intuition and emotion in business management. To this end, Leonhard Fopp postulates a return to the entrepreneurial essence (elemental force or DNA) and, in addition, the use of symbols and archetypes in communication. In this way, the skilfully staged corporate image enables a clear profile on the market with a positive aura.

Leonhard Fopp's publication is not just a theoretical treatise, however. In addition to countless application examples, the reader learns in a series of interviews with well-known entrepreneurial personalities what it means in concrete terms to use the K-factor in one's company, or to live it. In this way, the reader gains insight into the professional and intellectual world of well-known entrepreneurial personalities such as Michael Pieper, Michael Ringier or Reinhold Würth, among others.

The author

Leonhard Fopp, Dr. oec. HSG, is the owner of DYMAS AG, a specialist in the dynamization of companies and Chairman of the Board of Continuum AG, which supports entrepreneurial families and family businesses in succession planning. He is president of the FBA Family Business Association, former president of ASCO (Swiss Association of Management Consultants) and author of several management books and many articles.

More information: www.leonhard-fopp.ch

There is also often resistance to DR in the cloud. Here are a few best practices that smart CIOs have used to set up DR plans for the cloud. The tips come from Commvault, a global leader in information management and enterprise data protection.

1. Be active! If you are not driving disaster recovery yourself, you are risking company assets on a daily basis. Better understand DR planning as a business objective and make sure your colleagues are actively aware of the plans.
2. Assess the risks! DR planning should always start with a risk analysis. Determine the most likely risks and from that point, work out how best to mitigate the risks. Example: What backup does your business need in the event of a power outage?
3. Prepare for the "safety card"! You may face headwinds because there are concerns about whether the cloud is as secure as on-premise solutions. When someone plays the "security card," CIOs have to counter: everything is a question of trust. After all, the enterprise works with third-party vendors every day, and there is never a 100% secure interaction between you and the vendors. There should be no distinction here.
4. Don't forget the end devices! Mobility is now a top concern for CIOs. Because suddenly, the loss of corporate data due to the loss of a personal device is another possible scenario. At the same time, companies face a problem: they don't want to store personal data on in-house servers, but they need to implement DR for their mobile devices in any case. CIOs can solve this by developing employee usage policies that establish a framework for how the company handles an employee's device.
5. Free disaster recovery testing from its stigma! DR testing can undermine the morale of the team responsible for DR testing and plans. Beware of this. Make it clear to your team up front that you expect trouble and testing is essential to uncovering it. In the long run, it helps to build a culture where DR testing is as normal as other test runs.

Source: www.commvault.com

The daily stream of commuters stems from a pattern from the Industrial Revolution, when people first had to travel to work where the machines were: to the factory. Today, we still commute to these "factories," even though nearly half of all workers could do their jobs from anywhere. We can no longer afford this automatism. Commuting to the office every day for no compelling reason is like buying strawberries flown in in February: an ecological and economic nonsense. The Mobility Pricing concept report presented by Federal Councillor Leuthard therefore proposes the increased use of home offices. But anyone who already uses home office knows that this brings its own problems: the mixing of private and work life, distractions, inadequate infrastructure and dwindling social contacts.

Commute no longer than 15 minutes

The VillageOffice cooperative aims to bring work back to where we live. This not only reduces CO2 emissions and eases the burden on infrastructures, but also strengthens local communities and enables flexible workplace models that increase employee satisfaction and employer attractiveness. The new approach is accordingly: a professional, shared work environment that can be reached within 15 minutes from home. A place where people can work and network without first commuting halfway across Switzerland.

Active contribution to the 2030 Agenda

This change takes time and an ecosystem that connects all the necessary stakeholders. It is therefore the goal of the VillageOffice cooperative to create this ecosystem. As a partner project of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the initiators have committed themselves to making an active contribution to the 2030 Agenda with this approach. The cooperative is presided over by David Brühlmeier. "I commuted from Fribourg to Zurich for nine years and was very annoyed by the loss of time. My solution back then? We need faster trains!" he recalls of his own commuting experience. Over time, he says, he then realized that as a society we need to ask ourselves whether commuting makes sense at all. "With over 2.4 million people able to work regardless of location, the answer is clearly no," he states clearly today. "We are currently experiencing an upheaval like the last time we saw it with the industrial revolution. I would like to make my contribution to shaping this new society in a positive way. This requires new forms of work and new organizations. We are implementing both with VillageOffice."

www.villageoffice.ch

Hotels in particular should take the pulse of their customers. Satisfaction is relative. Exposed companies like hotels cannot avoid measuring satisfaction and at the same time taking measures against possible customer losses.In the digital age, positive reviews not only help to retain existing customers but also, perhaps even more importantly, to win customers.

Therefore, business owners need to think about how to collect guest reviews as effectively as possible. Here we come to the actual topic, the customer survey.

The right customer survey

In fact, with a well-designed customer survey, you can get a lot of feedback in a very short time on topics that are conducive to the company's success. Just don't be deterred, a successful customer survey is not witchcraft. Here we have compiled some important tips for successful customer surveys:

What should my customer survey look like?

The key to a successful customer survey is first to have a concrete idea of the answers you would like to get from your customers. It is equally important to formulate straightforward questions in simple language to be understood by the respondents. According to Guiseppe Rossi, an expert on the topic, Creating Customer Surveys, swapping out a single word can lead to a completely different survey result!

For him, there are two main criteria to consider in order to get reliable results from customer surveys:

1. accuracy

For the most accurate customer survey possible, you should

• -Create questions that provide valid data in a reliable way.
• -limit yourself to questions that all your customers can answer.

2. relevance

For relevant results from surveying your customers, you should:

• -Be familiar with your own questions.
• -know your objective as well as what information you need

to achieve these goals.

Incorporate these core ideas into your questionnaire. Not only will you get more concrete feedback, but you will also increase the conversion rate of your customer survey at the same time, as respondents are more likely to feel addressed.

Adhere to the structure

When structuring your customer survey, the main thing to keep in mind is the scope. No one likes to fill out endless surveys. So don't be too greedy for as many answers as possible. Think about how many questions are really necessary and how long it will take to fill out the whole questionnaire.

The best thing to do is to put yourself in the role of a typical customer and answer the survey yourself first. Research, possibly together with your marketing team, which feedback you are aiming for and stick to the KISS principle (Keep it short and simple).

-> Delete every single word that is not absolutely relevant to your customer survey!

More information about experience and analysis in evaluation management can be found at

http://ww.customer-alliance.com

Every quarter, at least 900 Swiss candidates are surveyed by PageGroup. According to the PageGroup Confidence Index, Swedish job seekers are the most confident about their own professional future. They are followed by German candidates. The survey, conducted between April and June, reveals that Swiss job seekers have seen their own expectations drop since the "franc shock" and subsequent economic fallout. Some results:

• 49% expect their area of responsibility to change positively in the next few months - 53% in German-speaking Switzerland, 48% in French-speaking Switzerland.
• Two-thirds (65%) expect their work-life balance to deteriorate. Swiss job seekers under 30 are thus more pessimistic than the rest of continental Europe.

Only 38% of Swiss candidates under 30 expect an improvement in this respect, compared with 48% in Germany. The majority of Swiss (58%) do not expect a salary increase within a year, compared to 55% last year. However, compared with the European average (37%), Swiss job seekers are more confident about developing their own skills (41%).

"Those who seek jobs, find jobs"

Almost half of Swiss candidates are optimistic about finding a new job in the next 3 months. This is significantly above the previous year's results (38%) and above the European average of 45%.

Job seekers' confidence depends significantly on gender, age, and region:

• Men are more positive than women about the future labor market situation. Some 67% expect an improvement in the next 6 months. Among women, the figure is only 59%.
• Candidates under 30 are the most confident about salary increases and they are optimistic about finding a new job in the next 3 months.

Candidates in French-speaking Switzerland are more confident than German-speaking Swiss in finding a new job within less than 3 months. Xavier Chauville, Executive Director at Page Personnel (part of PageGroup), states: "The study shows that younger job seekers are particularly confident about their value in the labor market. They are confident they will find at least an equivalent position and salary with a new employer. Younger candidates' expectations regarding work-life balance, training and salary are realistic. They are fully aware that they will have to work longer and harder to achieve this."

About the PageGroup Confidence Index: The data basis for Continental Europe was formed by responses from 13,300 candidates in Q1 2016, and data from 15,700 candidates was collected in Q2. At least 900 Swiss candidates are surveyed each quarter. The study is evaluated on a quarterly basis.

www.michaelpage.ch

"Despite all the talk about life-work balance, it doesn't look like we actually have it," says psychologist Stephanie Morgan.

Although employees in England work much longer hours on average than they already do and are under stress at times, many employees still "enjoy" their work. Around two out of three employees in the BSA study even state that they do not see pay as the most important means of their work.

A comparable survey was already conducted in 2005. Back then, just 49 percent would go to work even if the money was unimportant to them. Now, there are 67 percent more willing. "Despite all the talk about life-work balance, it doesn't look like we actually have it either," says psychologist Stephanie Morgan of London's Kingston Business School, commenting on this development.

Worldwide phenomenon

It is not only in the UK that workers are increasingly under high stress levels (pressetext reported): http://pte.com/news/20130620004). The researchers therefore wonder about the respondents' statements. "It could be that job satisfaction stems from fear of financial problems. On the other hand, work circumstances have changed, so people are willing to work more," said Kirby Swales of the NatCen Survey Centre (http://natcen.ac.uk).

Finally, the respondents of the study were asked to state whether they feel secure in their job. There is a major contradiction here. In contrast to the sharp increase in job satisfaction, the feeling of safety has not improved at all. "It seems that it is increasingly easy to accept working more and experiencing stress," comments Kurby Swales of the NatCen Survey Centre.

More information about the study conducted can be found at

http://bsa.natcen.ac.uk

After 17 stages in 16 months, the time has finally come tonight: The solar airplane Solar Impulse 2 has officially circumnavigated the entire globe.

However, the team describes the last leg as the greatest challenge: no-fly zones, weather conditions and thermals mean that pilot and adventurer Bertrand Piccard and his crew are once again particularly challenged.

Nevertheless, Piccard calls the launch in Egypt an "emotional moment": this is where he landed in a balloon in 1999 after the first non-stop flight around the world, this is where his dream of completing another round-the-world flight began - using only solar energy: "I'm very excited to be so close to the goal, but unfortunately there are still so many people we need to motivate until our world is powered entirely by the same clean technologies that Si2 uses," Piccard explains.

To make the dream a reality, Bertrand Piccard, a physician and explorer at heart, teamed up with André Borschberg, an engineer and experienced entrepreneur. Both men took turns piloting the Si2 around the world, but perform different roles in the project. Piccard is responsible for the project vision and political influence, as well as finding partners for funding and technologies. Borschberg assembled a team that designed and built the Si2 and is committed to turning the aircraft's technological innovations into new engineering solutions.

After landing in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where the adventure began in March 2015, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, together with their team and partners, will continue to drive the Solar Impulse mission forward, touting the concrete energy-efficient solutions that can solve many of the challenges facing the global community.

Here you can follow the flight live.

As heat increases, productivity at work drops. That has implications: In Southeast Asia alone, new studies say, between 15 and 20% of annual work hours are already lost in workplaces exposed to heat. That's because the higher the temperatures, the slower the movements - and the less productive the worker.

In the future, these numbers could increase dramatically worldwide, report the Studiespresented at a UN forum in Kuala Lumpur: By 2030, researchers say, costs due to lost productivity will grow to as much as US$ two trillion.

Asian countries are particularly affected: for example, the heat is expected to cost China and India 450 billion each, and Indonesia, Malysia and Thailand are also among the countries losing over 150 billion US$.

"Far too little attention has been paid to the effect that heat has on daily life and especially on work," study leader Tord Kjellström tells British newspaper the Independent. "The body adapts to the heat to protect itself and slows down. This can cost individual countries many billions in a short period of time."

Megasol has been producing solar modules with glass-glass technology in Switzerland since 2013. After the takeover of the former ABB industrial site in October 2015, the existing solar module production was moved from Langenthal to Deitingen and further expanded. "Thanks to the better space conditions and the increase in the level of automation, we were able to double the capacity to 80 megawatts," explains founder and CEO Markus Gisler. This means that an additional 17,000 Swiss households can be supplied with solar power every year.

Colorful and invisible cells
The production focus is on building-integrated photovoltaic solutions such as roof-integrated high-performance solar modules or elements for facades and roofing. These can be produced in any color and even with invisible solar cells. Their use is worthwhile as an alternative to the conventional building envelope, as they generate a regular yield at only slightly higher investment costs and pay for themselves over the years.

The makes have a service life of over 50 years. "Due to the longer payback period, our Swiss-Made modules have a better price-performance ratio than conventional solar modules," emphasizes Gisler. For this reason, they are also often used in large-scale projects where the focus is on long-term planning security for the return on investment.

100 new jobs
On the occasion of the move to Deitingen, Megasol also established the Cleantech Business Park. Under its roof, numerous other cleantech companies have taken up residence. Today, almost 100 people are already working at the site in the areas of building-integrated energy generation, smart grid technologies, storage systems and sustainable mobility solutions. In the next five years, another 100 or so jobs are to be located here.

Visiting day
The Cleantech Business Park and the solar module factory as its centerpiece will be officially inaugurated and presented to the general public on Friday, September 16, 2016. From 3 p.m., visitors can expect guided tours of the factory, presentations on solar power and energy efficiency, and an accompanying entertainment program.

Tesla publishes a new master plan for its electric vehicles. Founder Elon Musk cites accelerating the arrival of the renewable energy era as a key goal - because: "The faster we achieve sustainability, the better."

Musk focuses on four points

1) Solar power and storage: Teslas are to be equipped with an integrated solar roof with battery unit in the future. To this end, the PV specialist Solarcity, also founded by Elon Musk, is to be integrated into Tesla.

2) New segments: In addition to new vehicle types for private use, goods transport will also be equipped with Tesla technology in the future. Initially, pickups and SUVs are planned, followed by trucks and vehicles for public transport. The latter two types are currently still in the planning phase and are to be presented for the first time next year.

3) Autonomy: Despite the first negative headlines about Autopilot, Tesla wants to push ahead with autonomous steering. Once Autopilot is proven to be ten times safer than the average American vehicle, it will definitely be released from the testing phase. The biggest challenge remains the software, says Musk. Nevertheless, he says that even today, partially autonomous driving is safer than a person driving without assistance.

4) Car sharing: In the future, Tesla owners will earn money with their vehicle when they are not using it. The vision: At the touch of a button on an app, the owner can release his car for use. Autopilot then drives the vehicle autonomously to the customer - and autonomously returns to the owner when he needs it again. This could enable Tesla to compete with providers such as Uber or Lyft in the future.

However, the plans are not yet very concrete - in any case, no precise schedule can be found. But Musk is confident that his new master plan will work.