It also works without a headline: The Swiss economy is less hierarchical than expected

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Lorenz Heinzer (49) has no longer been a director since January 1. His company, insurance group Axa Switzerland, is giving up titles and promotions. In the future, headlines will no longer appear on business cards or social media profiles.

To achieve this, the insurance group defined 13 levels of responsibility that give employees plenty of freedom. “This is about strengthening the professional skills of employees,” says Heinzer.

However, his role in the group has not changed. Heinzer remains head of communications at Axa Switzerland and leads a team of 29 employees. No changes have been made to the function names, but they have been adapted to the modern working world. Bosses are also staying but need to rethink their roles if they haven’t already.

The boss is behind you

But what’s new is that Heinzer no longer has to decide everything himself: “I have my subject managers decide themselves everything within their area of ​​responsibility.”

For example, someone more familiar with the world of AI than the communications officer needs to decide how AI imagery will be handled and used for the company. Heinzer adds: “If anyone needs support with a decision or advice, I’m always available.”

Axa Switzerland is part of the French insurance giant Axa. In Paris, people were somewhat surprised by the progress of the Swiss branch, but they still gave up.

Modern Swiss economy

One thing is clear: SMEs, which form the backbone of the Swiss economy, have never paid much attention to titles and privileges and cannot afford excessive hierarchy. Not small businesses anyway. Experience and competence have always been important for SMEs. Even if the top boss bears ultimate responsibility, as in any other company.

A survey of major Swiss companies shows: The Swiss economy is more modern than expected. In many companies, function has long played a more important role than title hierarchy. For example, at SBB, where “they don’t always have titles, only their functions are known.”

From the very beginning, Swisscom has gravitated towards the telecommunications and IT industry, which knows almost no headlines and tends to have a more direct approach. That’s why the company has relied on agile working methods in many areas for nearly a decade; but this only applies to a third of the workforce.

Not all are untitled

The Telephone operators’ former parent company, the Post Office, has also adopted a modern pay and management policy. “Management levels no longer have a symbolic and status-based meaning.” The same goes for Raiffeisen. The cooperative bank has been using a modern management model not dissimilar to Axa’s for several years.

Innovation-driven pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Roche, which have long held titles in Switzerland, are largely without titles. However, in important markets such as the USA and China, things are not entirely possible without hierarchy due to cultural reasons.

But there are still companies that are not ready to consider removing the titles. These include Swiss Life and Coop. Zürcher Kantonalbank relies on “rankings”. Migros, on the other hand, is on an unclear “functional network”.

Source :Blick