Vita Collective Foundation supports Innosuisse project "Flexible Workforce"

In the spirit of ensuring fair play in occupational retirement provision, the Vita Collective Foundation is committed to assisting with the realization of the Innosuisse project "Flexible Workforce." After all, social security – particularly with respect to occupational retirement provision – is often inadequate for people with flexible employment. For companies it is a crucial strategic competitive advantage to be able to flexibly shape their internal and external human resources. A comprehensive analysis and a step-by-step approach are beneficial in the flexibilization of the world of work.

Success factors and risks of flexibilization are made visible

The "Flexible Workforce" project began in January 2021. Since then, various workshops and interviews have been conducted with six application partners from different industries. This enabled the identification of various requirements with respect to flexible work organizations. Alongside the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, the consulting company Avenir Group and the application partners, success and risk factors were determined and reviewed and appropriate solutions were developed – including, for example, the FlexConsulting approach that is currently being finalized. An important element of this is the IT-based FlexAudit. This supports companies with analyzing and assessing their flexibilization practice in a manner specific to the sector and professional group and with deriving flexibilization strategies. By means of new HR and leadership instruments, integrative management for the "Flexible Workforce" is supported during subsequent implementation. Various optimization potential was determined among the application partners in different areas of flexible work organization. For example, potential was evident in human resources planning, recruitment, the onboarding of flex workers, knowledge management and, of course, occupational retirement provision.

Occupational retirement provision is underestimated

For many people, occupational retirement provision is the most important component of their income in old age. But the significance of the second pillar is underestimated. This has consequences, particularly for so-called "flex workers". These are people with flexible working models, including temporary employees, freelancers and part-time staff. The Vita Collective Foundation has an important role in the "Flexible Workforce" project with respect to occupational retirement provision. The goal: Company pension funds should be in a position to support the flexibilization strategies of companies to the best possible extent. In this way, the latter are able to improve their positioning in the labor market, which is important in a time of staff shortages. For this reason, the Vita Collective Foundation conducted a benchmark comparison to investigate potential for improvement in the second pillar retirement provision offers of these six application partners. At the heart of this was the question of which retirement provision solution best suits the corporate flexibilization strategy and which needs-oriented pension benefits can be used to provide perfect protection for employees.

The cross-sector, interdisciplinary approach of the Innosuisse project has proven its worth. The concrete and implementable results can help companies do greater justice to the requirements of the flexibilized labor market. In this context, the focus remains on social security provision for employees.