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They analyze the wastewater, coordinate media investigations or prepare seminars: not only retirement homes, schools and farms rely on Zivis – but also the federal government. A total of 50,500 days of service were completed last year by people doing community service with a federal government. This corresponds to the working hours of approximately 220 full-time jobs.
Three percent of all official assignments are carried out by the federal government. The share has increased in recent years. In 2022, the Zivis worked 8,802 more days for the government than five years earlier. And the supply of civil servants at the federal level is greater than the demand. A number of civilian positions advertised, for example at the Development and Cooperation Directorate, could not be filled.
Increasing workload, more civil servants
Last year’s increase can mainly be explained by the operation in the federal asylum seekers centers, according to the Federal Bureau for the Civil Service when asked.
But the FPS Public Health, the Federal Archives or the FPS Spatial Planning also call on Zivis. Nearly 1,000 days of service were completed in the latter country last year – civilian deployments have more than quadrupled since 2018. The Sustainable Development department there is facing an “increasing workload” due to the implementation of the Federal Council’s “Sustainable Development 2030” strategy, for example, the agency cites as the reason for the increased demand.
The Bundesamt für Civil Servants Affairs decides whether a company or a government may hire a civil servant. This checks whether the work is “in the public interest”. In principle, that is the case with the federal administration, says spokeswoman Miriam Spychiger when asked. The law prohibits endangering existing jobs through civilian broadcasts.
Civil servants instead of trainees
And so the cheap assistants are increasingly used in different offices. The water research institute of the ETH (Eawag) is also currently looking for an official. His assignment: “high-quality and modern social scientific environmental research with a focus on water issues”. Preference will be given to someone with a degree in environmental sciences with “proven specialization in social sciences”.
Isn’t Eawag just looking for a cheap collaborator instead of a more expensive scientific collaborator?
The official mission does not replace a specialist, official media spokeswoman Spychiger defends the tender. “Firstly, it is limited in time and secondly, a company has no guarantee that the place will fill up.” Following the militia idea, it is not prohibited to “carry out qualified activities while on duty”. Civil servants are only employed by Eawag if not enough foreign interns can be found.
Access to civilian service is made more difficult
The growing demand for civil servants from the federal government is paradoxical. Many federal government civil service positions appeal to young professionals, because you get the chance to get your foot in the door of the federal government – and it looks good on your resume. Meanwhile, the Federal Council has the exact opposite intention: to make community service as unattractive as possible.
Young Swiss people have been choosing civilian service over a military career for years. This is not only due to the abolition of the examination of conscience in 2008. Since 2012, the number of approvals for community service has risen steadily until it has been around 6100 people per year since 2016.
This development goes against the grain of the Federal Council and Parliament. The middle-class majority in parliament wants fewer young men transitioning from military to civilian service. In March, the Council of States adopted a proposal from the SVP with a clear majority. Because the National Council clearly agreed to the same demand in the autumn, the mandate to the Federal Council is now binding: it must develop a legislative amendment that, through targeted measures, should make the civilian service less attractive so that more young men and women enlist in the army.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
