Swiss HR leaders tackle redundancies: LHH report reveals key trends in redeployment and skills development: 94% of Swiss companies plan to introduce new support programs for employees facing redundancy

Zürich, – September 5th, 2024 – LHH, a leading integrated talent solutions provider and global business unit of the Adecco Group, today unveiled the findings of its 2024 Outplacement and Career Mobility Trends Report. The report, based on a survey of 3,000 HR leaders and 8,100 white-collar workers across Switzerland and eight further countries (Germany, Austria, UK, France, US, Spain, Australia, Brazil), reveals that the nature of layoffs is significantly shifting in the face of technological advancement and persisting economic challenges. Fewer HR leaders are citing over-hiring as the primary reason behind layoffs, instead pointing to performance issues, a misalignment in employee skills, and financial pressures.

“Layoffs alone are not a solution to an organization’s challenges. While sometimes necessary, it's the long-term strategy — investing in reskilling, internal mobility, and treating people with dignity—that will ensure sustainable success for both businesses and employees” said Svyatoslav Shalayoda, SVP Career Transition & Mobility and Leadership Development LHH Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands & Poland.

As layoffs continue, LHH found that HR leaders are turning more to redeployment strategies to address skills gaps and are investing in outplacement services to support outgoing workers, helping them transition to new opportunities.

“The global job market has undergone significant reshaping over the past year, largely due to the rising impact and integration of AI,” said John Morgan, President of LHH’s Career Transition & Mobility and Leadership Development businesses. “As the workforce adapts to this new reality, our research tells us that leaders are recognizing the need to evolve talent strategies to support employees throughout their careers, making reskilling and redeployment essential for maintaining an agile organization. Technology has significantly enhanced career phases like outplacement, enabling us to quickly identify and develop in-demand skills for transitioning workers. Once the awareness gap for this support is bridged, both employers and employees will be equipped to navigate the future with greater confidence and strength.”

Key Findings

Layoffs shift focus to skills and performance as cost-cutting persists

Redundancies remain widespread and show little sign of slowing: In Switzerland, half of the redundancies are due to changes in strategy (50%), followed by poor performance (46%) and cost-cutting (37%). Across the nine countries, only 28% of redundancies are due to cost-cutting in the face of inflation and economic turbulence. In Switzerland, the skills quality of labor is higher than in the other countries, as only 17% of employees are released because of not having the right skills. Main drivers are definitely strategy, low-performance and costs.

"In 2024, 94% of Swiss companies plan to introduce new support programs for employees facing redundancy, reflecting one of the highest levels of commitment globally. This strong support underscores the challenging macroeconomic environment in Switzerland, where a significant shortage of skilled workers persists alongside the need for organizational restructuring - a short-term contradiction that requires a long-term solution," explains Svyatoslav Shalayoda.

Over all nine countries, 73% of HR leaders are making or considering layoffs this year, down from 77% in 2023. The primary drivers for layoffs have significantly shifted from over-hiring to poor performance (30.2%) and lack of appropriate skill sets (29.7%). With AI becoming more integral to the workforce, there is a heightened need for employees to possess relevant skills in all countries.

Redeployment programs gain traction

In Switzerland, nearly all HR leaders (96%) have considered delaying layoffs and redeploying people into open jobs instead, demonstrating the big fear of HR leaders towards a future situation where they will be facing a big lack of talents. Also, a notable number of 82% Swiss HR Leaders say they have a redeployment program in place, whereas 14% consider it but don’t have the resources to implement it.

Also in the other eight counties, there has been a notable shift towards redeployment programs, with 82% of HR leaders considering redeploying workers as an alternative to layoffs. In similar fashion, the proportion of HR leaders with redeployment initiatives in place has increased by 25 percentage points since 2023, now at 47%, indicating a growing trend towards retaining and reskilling talent.

Burnout is a worldwide issue

As layoffs continue, worker burnout is a worldwide issue that HR leaders are recognizing. In Switzerland, 80% of workers have experienced their team being burned out from all the uncertainty and workload in the past 12 months. This caused 26% to think about leaving and even more (30%) to apply to jobs outside the company and 23% to explore new job opportunities inside the company.

This number is significantly higher than the global comparison, with 69% of workers saying their teams are burned out. Notably, burnout has globally become the top concern for HR leaders, with 25% worried about increased workloads leading to burnout, up from 6% in 2023. Employers should note the impact of burnout in the fallout of layoffs, as workers’ top response is to reconsider their future with the company. This demonstrates a clear need to empower employees with opportunities for reskilling into internal roles and leadership development to facilitate a smooth transition and drive retention among the remaining workforce post-layoffs.

Increasing importance of effective leadership

98% of responding HR leaders in Switzerland believe their retention strategy is effective. These strategies include providing a culture where employees can easily grow their career and where upskilling and retraining is encouraged. Almost 9 out of 10 HR leaders consider their leadership development programs to be effective, with managers receive training on how to hold effective career conversations as well as manager effectiveness training, consider these specific programs iimpactful.

Visit the Outplacement & Career Mobility 2024 Trends Report for more insights.

This study was done in nine countries: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, UK, France, US, Spain, Australia, Brazil. Over 1’000 workers in the DACH region replied, whereas over 100 in Switzerland.

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About LHH

LHH is an integrated talent solutions provider helping people, teams, and organizations prepare for what's next in the future of work. Through Career Transition & Mobility, Leadership Development, and Recruitment Solutions, our end-to-end offerings allow us to work across the entire talent journey to help future-proof organizations and careers all over the world.

With over 8,000 colleagues and coaches spanning 60 countries worldwide, LHH combines global infrastructure with industry-leading technology and local expertise to help more than 15,000 organizations and nearly 500,000 candidates each year.

LHH is a global business unit of the Adecco Group, the world's leading talent advisory and solutions company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.