“In Switzerland, we don’t have time to have alibi jobs to look good in the economy”
Multilingualism, a hidden ingredient of Swiss prosperity? That question, Time posed it this Thursday morning to three senior officials of the Swiss economy as part of the Horizon Forum, which is being held at the IMD in Lausanne. All three have strong ties with French-speaking Switzerland: Andréa Maechler, member of the general management of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) was born in Geneva, Christoph Aeschlimann, director of Swisscom, lives in Geneva and Vincent Ducrot, director of CFF, is of Friborg origin.
I was quoted 2300 times in the Swiss media in 2022, proportionally in all linguistic regions.
For these three senior officials, one thing is clear: they are not there to meet any quotas. “In Switzerland, we don’t have time to have alibi positions to look pretty in the economy, loose Andréa Maechler, the only woman and only Romande within the management of the SNB. We are totally focused on economic efficiency. Of course, it’s a bit difficult at first, you have to reach a certain level of proficiency in German, it requires effort and humility, but you have to get started and the benefits are very significant afterwards”. Vincent Ducrot also believes that he is not there to “make up the numbers”: “I was quoted 2,300 times in the Swiss media in 2022, proportionally in all linguistic regions. If we are in our positions, it is for our skills”.
Different points of view
And this multilingualism is a strength for Switzerland – according to François Grin, professor at the University of Geneva and director of the Economics ― Languages ― Training Observatory, this asset makes it possible to add skills to 9 to 10% of Swiss GDP. . “This multilingualism is an enormous wealth for our country, in an increasingly coarse world, it gives us significant agility and what seems normal for us is not for everyone internationally,” says Andréa Maechler.
For Christoph Aeschlimann, “behind multilingualism, there are different cultures: this brings real richness within the company, a real plus, with different points of view, which makes it possible to find more innovative solutions in the face of challenges happening. And of course, having a significant role within the company makes it possible to be more attentive to customers, their expectations and their needs”.
Everyone speaks their own language and we understand each other, I think it is important that the SNB’s policy is established in the national languages
How to materialize this multilingualism within the SNB, Swisscom and SBB? Interestingly, these three bodies handle it differently. Let’s start with the SNB. “With us, English is not banned. But we don’t speak English during meetings of the general management, we have a certain discipline so that English is not our working language. Everyone speaks their own language and we understand each other. I think it is important that the SNB’s policy be established in the national languages,” explains Andréa Maechler. The head of the SNB continues: “Of course, we are also pragmatic: we could experts at certain meetings who are more comfortable speaking English, we speak to the international media in English and a large part of the financial literature is in English, and of course that’s not a problem”.
German Swiss at Swisscom
Within Swisscom, something else has chosen. “We normally speak Swiss German during meetings of the management committee, because everyone speaks this language, explains Christoph Aeschlimann. Of course, if an external person does not speak this language, we switch to German or English. The goal is for everyone to understand each other. We also have many Chinese and American suppliers, we have branches in Riga and Rotterdam, and there, of course, it is English that dominates”.
SBB has a very specific policy. “We require our senior managers to be certified in German and French,” says Vincent Ducrot. And we have a special policy for contacts between a train engineer and the plant: when the train is in French-speaking Switzerland, both are communicated in French. But when the convoy passes through German-speaking Switzerland, these same two people will continue their exchanges in German, for example.” SBB, with 35,000 employees, today has employees of 102 different nationalities.
Different customer expectations
And of course, this cultural diversity is reflected in the relationships with customers. “Expectations are very different, from one linguistic region to another, but also from the same region,” continues Vincent Ducrot. In Zurich, travelers can easily switch from train to bus for the same journey. In Basel and St. Gallen, it’s much more difficult. On the Swisscom side, “for example, we use German-speaking comedians in German-speaking Switzerland, but never in French-speaking Switzerland, where no one knows them. We communicate differently in the linguistic regions, even if obviously the products are the same”, adds Christoph Aeschlimann.
And Andréa Maechler cites another difference: “We provide teachers with material to explain the Swiss monetary system and policy. We have noticed a difference between the two sides of the Sarine, and this may seem counter-intuitive: German-speaking people are looking for educational material that is a little more playful, French-speaking people more pragmatic”.