Andreas Mitterdorfer (born 1966) graduated from the Aarau School of Economics and subsequently studied materials engineering at the ETH in Zurich. In 1997, he received his doctorate there with a dissertation in the field of ceramic electrodes for high-temperature applications. Subsequently, he acquired a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience in various industrial and consulting companies internationally, which he can and will now use for the success of LOG. With his several years of CEO experience - as his last stop before joining LOG at the POLYGENA Group - he also brings with him the necessary management experience in a complex SME environment. "We would like to thank Mr. Markus Meili for his dedicated commitment as a long-time company manager for the Lienhard Office Group. With his commitment to the Board of Directors, he will complement it with his extensive industry and market experience," reads the company's communiqué published in this regard.

http://www.lienhard-office.com/

The coworking space "BusinessPoint" in Bern has a new operator: The office specialist Witzig The Office Company took over the flexible workplaces for business people from SBB on April 1 as part of its collaboration on the Work Smart Initiative and will gradually develop them into "new working worlds". This is because Witzig The Office Company not only wants to design flexible workplaces for mobile knowledge workers in the future, but also offer and test them itself in the form of "Office as a Service".

"Office as a Service" in a central location

Witzig is now offering "Office as a Service" in the Bern train station in the immediate vicinity of the platforms: 16 rooms offer space for four to 40 people for meetings or project meetings. At twelve individual workstations, people can concentrate on their work and network in the lounge and meeting zone. Business people benefit from state-of-the-art office infrastructure and personal service: The price includes presentation equipment in the meeting rooms, fast WLAN and catering such as drinks and fruit. A single workstation is available from CHF 25 per hour, a meeting room for four people or a private office from CHF 84 per hour.

Mobile working in the office of the future

At the "BusinessPoint" in Bern, Witzig is implementing findings from the Work Smart initiative and combining mobile working with the convenience of a fixed workstation. Those who only pay for the office when they use it also save costs. With this offer, the company wants to appeal to mobile business people who need an optimally furnished workstation or a centrally located meeting room immediately and for a limited time. When designing the workstations and meeting rooms, Witzig relies on the latest office concepts. The use of such "BusinessPoints" is also in line with a growing trend toward coworking: According to a study by the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland, a quarter of the workforce already works on a mobile basis, and another 25 percent could do so from a work perspective.

More information: www.witzig.ch/businesspoint

Owner-managed SMEs usually have the following strengths:

• They have always been customer-oriented. And as niche producers/suppliers, they are used to providing service as well as producing small "series".
• They were never completely "Taylorized". The division of labor and the separation of manual and mental work were never extremely pronounced in them. And:
• Employees are used to communicating directly with colleagues and superiors and reacting flexibly to new requirements.

These strengths are often offset by the following weaknesses:

• Many SMEs lack a systematic organization.
• They have a low level of competence in the areas of organizational and personnel development.
• Their development planning is usually short-term. And:
• Personnel development is often limited to management.

Studies show that only about one-third of SMEs plan their continuing education. And only 15 percent classify their own continuing education planning as "forward-looking. The two SME consultants Frank Linde and Michael Reichl have therefore drawn up the following eight theses on the development of corporate and management culture in SMEs:

Thesis 1: Over the past decades, many SMEs have evolved from craft-based businesses into highly specialized niche providers offering their customers tailored solutions to problems. This requires a new form of collaboration. In addition, the structure of their workforce has changed. That is why their management culture must also change.

Thesis 2: One advantage most SMEs have over large corporations is their flexibility. In order to maintain and build on this strength, they need - in key positions - pragmatically thinking employees with a fairly broad range of qualifications who can recognize changing challenges and requirements early on and respond to them appropriately. This is something that must be taken into account when selecting personnel.

Thesis 3: In order to (further) develop the skills that make up the strengths of their organization, SMEs need appropriate human resources planning. They also need to provide their employees with professional training and, in particular, develop their flexibility and creativity as well as their ability and willingness to work in teams.

Thesis 4: However, it is at least as important that the "owner-entrepreneurs" of the SMEs, who hold key positions in their organization, grant the necessary decision-making powers not only formally but also in real terms in order to have the desired effect.

Thesis 5: This often requires a change in thinking on the part of the owner-entrepreneurs, most of whom are themselves technical experts (e.g., computer scientists, engineers or natural scientists) and have often worked as such for many years. Their self-image and behavior correspond to this. Accordingly, it is important for them to develop their leadership skills in a targeted manner - for example, by obtaining feedback on their leadership behavior and its impact via coaches.

Thesis 6: Many SMEs need external support in personnel development planning, because their decision-makers are rarely personnel and organizational development experts. Therefore, they usually attribute operational problems last to deficiencies in the corporate and management culture as well as in the qualification of employees.

Thesis 7: The external consultants must provide SMEs with manageable concepts for their specific requirements. These must not be "slimmed-down" variants of templates from large companies. Such concepts lead to rigidity and bureaucratization in SMEs - in other words, a loss of their strengths.

Thesis 8: Because SMEs often lack HR and organizational development experts, the external supporters must not be mere "seminar implementers". Their range of services should also include advising and supporting SMEs, particularly in the further development of their (management) culture and in the planning and evaluation of their personnel and organizational development measures.

Authors:

Frank Linde and Michael Reichl are the managing directors of im-prove coaching und training GmbH, Lingen (Ems) and Heldenstein (Bavaria), which supports SMEs in further developing and implementing their leadership and personnel development concepts. www.im-prove.de.

With over 1,144,000 anonymous reviews on 253,000 companies, kununu is the largest employer rating platform in the German-speaking world. Based on this data, kununu has now identified the most popular employers in the healthcare industry in Switzerland. The decisive factor for the ranking was the overall rating, and a certain minimum number of ratings was also required.

Rank 1: Psychiatric Services Graubünden (PDGR)

The first place is secured by Psychiatrische Dienste Graubünden (PDGR) with a kununu score of 4.27 points. Here, everyone is in good hands: Employees of the Psychiatry Competence Center attest to the management's "exemplary and fair behavior." They also praise the strong colleague cohesion, the pronounced environmental/social awareness and the impeccable treatment of colleagues 45+. Benefits such as flexible working hours, home office, childcare, tasty food from the canteen and employee events round off the feel-good offer.

2nd place: globegarden Childcare Centers

Not only the little ones flourish here: With a kununu score of 4.09 points globegarden Childcare Centers snatches the second ranking place. The supra-regional provider of daycare centers and kindergartens has a strong team spirit. In concrete terms, this means: "There are many internal further training events or team events with us, and I can actually call someone with any questions. A company pension plan, coaching and employee discounts make working even more pleasant. The result: "An incredibly stimulating and positive working environment.

Rank 3: Care Centers City of Zurich

From people for people: At Pflegezentren Stadt Zürich, trusting relationships are a top priority. What applies to the relationship between nurses and patients is apparently evident in almost every nook and cranny of those facilities. Colleagues are always "committed and helpful," and interactions are "honest, open and direct." Coaching, employee discounts and events also increase employee satisfaction. All in all, the kununu score is 3.66 out of a possible 5 points - which puts the company in third place.

The taillights

Below the industry average and thus at the bottom of the rankings are Medgate with a kununu score of 2.98 points and Kantonsspital Baden AG with a kununu score of 2.84. Familea comes in last with a kununu score of 2.41 points. The bottom performers have a lot of catching up to do in terms of communication and supervisor behavior.

http://www.kununu.com

Bio Suisse, the umbrella organization of Swiss Knospe farms, reports growing figures for 2015. In 2015, exactly 6031 producers worked according to the organic label, 52 more than in the previous year. And for 2016, the numbers look even better: On the first of January, 227 farms newly registered with Bio Suisse, according to the association, 57 of them from eastern Switzerland.

Bud areas are increasing
With the new farms, 4000 additional hectares of organically farmed agricultural land were added last year (+3%). In total, 12.8% of Swiss agricultural land is now farmed organically.

Double-digit market share for fresh products
The strength of the Swiss franc and shopping tourism were not easy for the food market either. Nevertheless: Organic remains a growth market. Sales rose by 5.2 % to CHF 2.323 billion (2014: CHF 2.207 billion) and, at 7.7 percent, achieved the highest market share to date (2014: 7.1 %).

Business is particularly good in fresh products, the most important segment: this achieved a double-digit market share for the first time with 10%.

Two organic products are doing particularly well: eggs and fresh bread. These have a market share of 24.3% and 20.1 % respectively. Vegetables and salads are also doing well, with market shares of 18.6% and 15.6%.

Meat and fish are not yet doing quite as well - they have only reached market shares of 5%. However, here too growth of 2.1% has been recorded since last year.

The 2015 fiscal year was dominated by the consulting firm's new Vision 2020: "Creating scope for intelligent success with competence and passion". Arcondis focused primarily on sharpening its specialization in the life sciences industry. The declared goal is the transformation from an operational business to a strategic business partner that manages projects with a high level of innovation from conception to implementation for its clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical technology industries. This reorientation is also reflected in the distribution of sales - the share of strategic projects, for example, recorded an increase of 15 % compared to the operating area.

The consulting firm with just under 100 employees owes its increased sales in the strategic area primarily to its focus on innovation and current challenges in the market. With new topics such as IDMP, Arcondis also took on strategic mandates from new customers in 2015 around the efficient integration of these new regulations into everyday business. The digitalization of the business areas is also a central topic: For example, Arcondis managed the conversion of laboratory journals to electronic lab notebooks for a long-standing customer.

"The secret of our success is our exclusive focus on the needs of our life sciences customers," says Erwin Küng, Managing Director of Arcondis. "In-depth understanding is a prerequisite here. As a result, we are always one step ahead for our customers in terms of technological innovation and new regulatory requirements. Our customers can rely on us not to settle for mediocrity and to drive projects to above-average success." For the coming years, Arcondis sees its future increasingly in strategic consulting. There is a lot of potential in the German market in particular, which is why the company wants to drive its growth more strongly there.

http://www.arcondis.com

It is undisputed that this worrying development must be stopped. The political institutions and the interest groups of the 50-plus generation have recently repeatedly tried, by means of campaigns and political initiatives, to persuade companies to hire more older employees or to refrain from dismissing such employees. However, this approach shifts the responsibility one-sidedly onto the employer side. Particularly in the current very difficult economic times, however, they are not prepared to bear the costs of this social commitment alone.

IdeeTransfer GmbH and the association 50plus Schweiz are taking a new approach: On Tuesday, March 22, 2016, they presented their jointly developed service offer under the label MarktFähigkeit40Plus on the occasion of the opening of the IdeeTransfer office for the Bern-Thun region. Instead of appealing to social responsibility, MarktFähigkeit40Plus aims to make the employment of experienced employees attractive and economically lucrative again for companies by maintaining the "Personal Labor Market Capability" in employees aged 40 and over and, at the same time, improving structures and processes on the employer side.

Course adaptable to personal starting position

Thus, the service portfolio presented is divided into two areas: On the private individuals' side, the MarktFähigkeit40Plus certificate course aims to ensure that employees continue to actively cultivate and maintain their "personal marketability" even as they grow older. Indeed, statistical surveys show that in Switzerland, investment in continuing education declines significantly after the age of 40 - which then takes its revenge a few years later and is reflected in the unemployment figures for the over-50s.

The certificate course, which is specially designed to meet the needs of more experienced employees, specifically addresses the starting position of this generation. In addition, the course is designed in such a way that it can be individually adapted to the personal starting position; thanks to the modular structure of the course, it is also possible to take only individual modules, which means that the continuing education can be even more individualized.

The offer of MarktFähigkeit40Plus is therefore aimed at all private individuals over 40 years of age - both employees who want to prevent any negative personnel decisions, as well as job seekers or people who want to return to work.

Also for companies

For companies, MarktFähigkeit40Plus offers a wide range of support services. These are intended to empower entrepreneurs and managing directors, but also those responsible for human resources and further training, to make better and more efficient use of the experience and know-how of older employees by means of targeted measures.

The competent process facilitators all have years of practical experience in leadership and management and know how to use their know-how to generate sustainable benefits for the companies they support. Whether it is a question of improving the skills of employees through targeted personnel development or optimizing structures and processes in order to make sustainable use of the potential of the experienced generation - everything has been thought of. Even in the case of a reduction in personnel, MarktFähigkeit40Plus is actively at your side in the area of outplacement/newplacement.

The services of MarktFähigkeit40Plus are provided by the IdeeTransfer GmbH and the Association 50plus Switzerland offered together. Information can also be found on the website http://marktfaehigkeit40plus.ch.

Wanja Bont joins PwC's Experience Center in Switzerland as co-head. This offers companies compact solutions for their digital transformation, from innovation and strategy to "tangible" implementation. "When it comes to digital transformation, we see great potential for Swiss companies. With the Experience Center, we are uniquely positioned to deliver added value to our clients with advice and action on today's dominant challenges," says original architect Wanja Bont. In 2005, he was already part of PwC Switzerland and led consulting for the industry sector "Technology, Information, Communication, Entertainment & Media" until 2013. Subsequently, Bont further expanded his expertise as Head Digital of the international MCH Group. He was primarily responsible for the development and implementation of the digital business and for the digital transformation of the leading live marketing company.

Source: http://www.pwc.ch

The time will come in 2019: Switzerland's second-oldest nuclear power plant after Beznau 1 will be decommissioned. The operator BKW today presented what Switzerland's first decommissioning project will look like. It is a complex procedure - which is why the power plant cannot be shut down immediately. The application, which BKW already submitted to DETEC in December 2015, will now be made public. The project is to run for a total of 12 years, from the cessation of power operations to the official release of the site.

Three phases

If everything is accepted as planned by BKW, the decommissioning will proceed in three phases. After power operation is discontinued in 2019, dismantling will first be prepared by 2020: The fuel assemblies will be moved from the reactor to the storage pool, where they will initially decay for a few years. For this purpose, autonomous cooling of the storage pools will be set up. In addition, the movable plant parts and the components of the turbine building will be removed.

Removal of the fuel elements

The first part of the nuclear dismantling is scheduled for the years 2021 to 2024. The spent fuel assemblies will now be transported to the interim storage facility in Würenlingen and material handling will be set up. In addition, the core internals will be dismantled and decontamination of the buildings will begin. At the end of this second phase, there should be no fuel assemblies on the site. This means that over 98% of radioactivity will have been removed from the NPP. At the same time, the turbine building will be further cleared out and prepared as a treatment site for contaminated materials. For this purpose, enclosed work boxes with filtered exhaust air are being set up in it.

Phase three, complete nuclear dismantlement, is scheduled for completion by 2031. In this phase, all facilities will be dismantled, disassembled and decontaminated. If materials are still contaminated after treatment, they will be taken to the interim storage facility in Würenlingen and later finally stored in the planned deep geological repository.

Radiation-free in 2030

From 2030, there should be no more radioactive materials on the site. From then on, radiological measurements will ensure that the now former nuclear power plant no longer poses a radiological hazard. If this is the case, the authority can release the site for new uses.

From 2031, depending on the subsequent use of the site, conventional dismantling can begin. From 2034, the site should finally be free for new uses.

The entire process is expected to cost 2.1 billion Swiss francs, 800 million of which are earmarked for decommissioning itself; the remaining 1.3 billion will be spent on safe disposal. To date, BKW has set aside just under 1.6 billion francs for the project.

Radioactive fraction below 2%

As BKW states, the amount of material that cannot be decontaminated and must be disposed of is about 3000 tons. This corresponds to slightly less than 2% of the total 200,000 tons of the NPP's total mass. Another 6% of the material is radioactively contaminated but can be decontaminated. The remaining 92% is normal construction waste that can be reused or else landfilled normally.

Partial reports on incidents, environmental protection and safeguarding

In addition to the main report, BKW's application includes three sub-reports on the topics of incidents and environmental protection and safety. The former shows that any incidents that could occur in connection with decommissioning can be controlled thanks to the protective measures taken. The environmental impact report addresses the non-nuclear impacts of the decommissioning work on the environment. The Safeguards Report sets out the precautions that will be taken during decommissioning to protect the Mühleberg nuclear power plant from unauthorized interference from inside and outside the plant.

In June 2012, the Esprix Foundation already gave HTW Chur a good report card when it presented the "Committed to Excellence" confirmation certificate. "Recognised for Excellence" represents the next level in this recognition model. The EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) model for business excellence enables a holistic view of an organization based on self-assessment and external assessment.

At the beginning of 2016, the UAS underwent an assessment in accordance with the EFQM model for the "Recognised for Excellence" level. Typically, organizations achieve three stars in the first application round. "I am particularly pleased that we were able to leapfrog one level at the first attempt with the four stars we achieved," said University Council President Ludwig Locher, expressing his delight at the excellent result.

ISO pioneer

Already during the initial certification in January 2013, the auditor Yvonne Maciéczyk from SwissTS ranked the HTW Chur among the Swiss quality elite, as it was one of the few ISO-certified universities in Switzerland. The successful ISO recertification according to 9001:2015 proves that all processes in the provision of services (teaching, research, continuing education and services) as well as in management and administration are designed effectively and transparently.

In addition to the recertification, the Grisons University of Applied Sciences is now also one of the Swiss pioneers with regard to the ISO 29990:2010 standard. Heinrich A. Bieler, Head of Corporate Management / Certifications and Vice Director of Swiss TS, emphasized: "They passed the audit according to both standards with flying colors." The ISO certificates apply to the entire organization and attest to HTW Chur's high level of quality awareness.

Ready for independence

The quality efforts of the HTW Chur aim at the further development of the University of Applied Sciences, in favor of the students, the accepting organizations, the project partners in research and service and thus also the society as a whole. With these labels, the HTW Chur also prepares itself for the changes in the Swiss educational landscape.

"In a letter dated March 9, 2016, the President of the Swiss Accreditation Council informed the President of the University Council of HTW Chur that HTW Chur had been admitted to the institutional accreditation procedure. This means that a first important hurdle for the division of the University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland into two new, independent universities has been successfully overcome," said Martin Jäger, member of the government, explaining the latest developments to the assembled staff. The University of Applied Sciences HTW Chur is an innovative and entrepreneurial university with about 1600 students, respectively specialists and managers.

http://www.htwchur.ch/

Anyone who was actively involved in social networks during their lifetime leaves behind a wealth of information after their death that does not simply "die" with them - including birthday reminders and absence notes. In addition, in case of doubt, people gain access to chats and the like to whom the deceased would never have granted this under certain circumstances. The IT trade magazine CHIP gives five tips on how users can properly manage the inheritance of mailboxes and e-mail accounts while they are still alive.

Appoint executor
Select a friend or relative in good time who will confidently take care of personal data after your death. And who in this way receives all Internet access and the associated contracts with all rights and obligations. The heir can then save important data, cancel subscriptions and spread the sad news on social networks as desired.

Write power of attorney
Issue a power of attorney to the trusted person, which you deposit in the safe, safe deposit box or with the notary. This enables the trusted person to directly initiate the deletion of an account. If there is no corresponding regulation and the passwords of the deceased are not available, surviving dependents must contact the individual service providers with a death certificate or certificate of inheritance and hope for cooperation.

Create clarity
Create a list of the services you use and what should be done with them. Outstanding bills can be settled in this way, contracts can be cancelled and credit balances paid out. Although funeral directors and online service providers also offer digital estate management, they hardly cover all services.

Save passwords
Save access data on a protected USB stick or use a password manager. The master password goes to the trusted person. More and more companies are also offering their own precautions in the event of death. If there is no user activity for a long period of time, Google, for example, switches the account to inactive mode. The authorized executor receives a message and instructions on how to download certain content from the former user, such as videos and blogs.

Check estate arrangements
Some services, such as Microsoft, offer special estate management options. After presentation of the certificate of inheritance or death certificate, the company sends a DVD with the deceased's e-mail data or deletes it. An e-mail to the address msrecord@microsoft.com is sufficient in most cases.

You can find the full article in the 5/16 issue of CHIP. The magazine is available in stores from 1.4.

Specialists are highly qualified - they know that. They are and act accordingly self-confident. Among other things, this means: They question decisions made by their superiors, confront them with their expectations and want to have a tangible influence on what happens in their environment.

In addition, specialists often have greater technical and experiential knowledge of their subject area than their hierarchical superiors. For this reason, they often cannot be guided by them, at least in terms of their expertise. It is also difficult for them to control the content of their work. This makes their leadership even more difficult.

In addition, specialists are often rare and thus sought-after employees due to their know-how and skills. Accordingly, they are courted by competitors. This means that their existential dependence on their current employer is low, as they have good job alternatives. That's why it's important to bind specialists to the company emotionally - for example, by

• offers them great scope for action and decision-making as well as attractive work opportunities,
• integrates them into decision-making processes and
• regularly signals to them how much they are valued as people and their work, and what a valuable contribution they make to the success of the company.

Here are 15 tips that you as a manager should take to heart when leading specialists.

1. Check whether you are happy to have highly qualified and appropriately confident specialists on your team - even if they are sometimes more difficult to manage than "normal" employees".
2. If no, realize that you need the know-how and active cooperation of the specialists to fulfill complex and demanding (future) tasks.
3. Be pleased that your specialists are proud of their know-how and self-confident. Because without these qualities, they would not be able to perform their special tasks largely independently.
4. Grant them the decision-making and action latitude they need to fulfill their tasks.
5. However, seek regular discussion with the specialists about what their company's short-, medium- and long-term goals are and why. So that they have the necessary orientation and are involved in their work.
6. In a discussion with them, derive concrete goals for their work; furthermore, factors that need to be taken into account.
7. However, give the specialists a largely free hand in deciding how they will achieve the agreed goals and which paths they will take to do so.
8. Consider your specialists as valuable advisors and supporters when it comes to achieving the goals of your division and the company. Signal this appreciation to them as well - for example, by asking them for expert advice on your own initiative when making decisions.
9. Check the extent to which you may feel personally attacked when specialists question your assessments or decisions.
10. Realize that this questioning is usually an expression of commitment.
11. Don't take it for granted that your employees identify with their work and are committed to finding suitable solutions to problems. Give them credit for this as well.
12. Praise your specialists publicly - for example in the team - for the valuable contribution they make to finding suitable solutions and achieving the division's/company's goals.
13. Regularly ask your specialists what you need to fulfill your tasks - in the future. Also get feedback regarding your leadership behavior.
14. The value of specialists' labor largely depends on their specialized knowledge. And this knowledge usually becomes obsolete quickly. The specialists know this, too. That's why you should offer them the opportunity to continue their professional development.
15. Realize that high-performance teams usually consist of a large number of specialists who cooperate optimally. And the future belongs to such teams. That is why it is important for your success as a manager that you have the competence to lead such employees and teams. Work on it.

Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön

Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön is the owner of Müllerschön Managementberatung, Starzeln (Baden-Württemberg), which offers, among other things, a seminar "Leading High Performers and Self-Confident Specialists". The business psychologist is the author of several personnel reference books and was a teaching coach at the University of Tübingen. http://www.muellerschoen-beratung.de