Dana Liechti and Tobias Marti
Many Swiss people are currently working extra shifts due to high losses due to corona infections.
The Omicron storm sweeps across Switzerland. According to official figures from the Federal Office of Public Health, over 210,000 people are currently stuck at home due to isolation and quarantine. However, it is unclear exactly how many there are – after the change in the quarantine regulation, there is a chaos of numbers at the federal and cantonal level (see info box).
Consequences noticeable in public transport
According to the Federal Office for National Economic Supply, the supply of essential goods and services is still guaranteed. Nevertheless, the numerous absences due to Omikron have consequences. For example in public transport, where the first tram and bus lines are only running to a limited extent or have been temporarily shut down.
The federal railways are also affected. According to the SBB, there are still enough staff in German-speaking Switzerland to run all trains. In western Switzerland and Ticino, on the other hand, up to 15 percent of the workforce is currently absent. Some routes are not served, on others there are executives or trainers in the locomotives.
Gold mine for temporary offices
The increasing absenteeism of workers is playing into the hands of the temporary offices. Demand has increased rapidly since the beginning of the year, says Marius Osterfeld, economist at Swissstaffing, the association of personnel service providers. Coople, the largest digital platform for personnel leasing, recorded three times more job offers in the first calendar week than at the same time last year.
“Short-term deputy solutions are in demand wherever employees have to be physically present in order to do their job, for example in logistics, in industrial companies, in gastronomy, but also in test and vaccination centers,” says Osterfeld. “Companies there need replacements quickly and easily. The temporary workers are helping to ensure that everything doesn’t collapse.”
One of these helpers is Benjamin Alder. The 21-year-old works temporarily as a deputy project manager in the vaccination center of the Affoltern hospital in the canton of Zurich and, in turn, offers temporary workers daily via Coople to keep the vaccination center running. “In the last two weeks we have had two to four cancellations a day. Then we have to mobilize staff very spontaneously.” Thanks to temporary workers, this works well, one is very flexible, especially when it comes to administrative staff, says Alder. “With the medical staff, on the other hand, we sometimes reach our limits.”
Seven days of quarantine in Bern
On Wednesday, the Federal Council shortened the quarantine period to five days, and the new directive has been in effect since Thursday. Nevertheless, the canton of Bern quarantined people for seven days on Friday evening. SonntagsBlick knows of several cases. Anyone who reported to the authorities and asked them was then told: “The isolation or quarantine order that you have received or have received does not currently meet the new requirements of the Federal Council. You can deduct two whole days from the ordered quarantine period.” Yesterday, at the request of SonntagsBlick, the Bernese health department assured that the corresponding “adjustment of all digital processes” were in progress.
On Wednesday, the Federal Council shortened the quarantine period to five days, and the new directive has been in effect since Thursday. Nevertheless, the canton of Bern quarantined people for seven days on Friday evening. SonntagsBlick knows of several cases. Anyone who reported to the authorities and asked them was then told: “The isolation or quarantine order that you have received or have received does not currently meet the new requirements of the Federal Council. You can deduct two whole days from the ordered quarantine period.” Yesterday, at the request of SonntagsBlick, the Bernese health department assured that the corresponding “adjustment of all digital processes” were in progress.
No wonder: temporary workers are in demand in the healthcare sector. With them, internal representatives and an increase in staff, one is confident that bottlenecks can also be overcome in the coming days and weeks, is the tenor from the hospitals.
At Spitex, too, staff shortages are compensated for by relocations, temporary staff and the hiring of more staff. And yet: The situation is tense, says media spokeswoman Francesca Heiniger.
Daycare centers are threatened with closures
It is also getting tricky in childcare, where the situation was already precarious before the pandemic and the monster wave. “In the past few days, feedback from the industry regarding staff shortages and upcoming closures has increased,” says Prisca Mattanza, spokeswoman for the Childcare Association (Kibesuisse).
Nicole Provini (51), head of the Sputnik daycare center in the city of Bern, knows how stressful the situation in the daycare centers is at the moment. “This week alone we have already had three failures due to Corona – despite the booster. In any case, since the beginning of the pandemic, someone has been absent every day on average. We only make ends meet because my people work more, stand in for each other and I’m sometimes on the job for twelve hours,” says Provini. “We are at the limit, which in turn leads to sick leave.”
The coming days and weeks are causing her great concern, says Provini. “We just hope that we can handle the situation somehow.” Her team is exhausted, but fortunately still motivated – also because the parents show a lot of gratitude and goodwill.
frustration in the care sector
However, the statement that the Swiss way through the crisis works only triggers a weary smile at Provini: “We in the care sector are among the others who carry a great burden to make it work. And yet we are always forgotten.”
You wait in vain for help, says Provini. A year ago, she asked the vocational schools in the canton of Bern whether it would not be possible to use apprentices in the companies in emergencies. “Unfortunately, we received a negative decision.” It would be an easy way to break the staff bottlenecks.
students as substitute teachers
Elsewhere, however, this strategy has already established itself. Schools keep employing students as temporary workers. Nadine Giovanoli (20), who is in the middle of her teacher training at the PH St. Gallen, recently stepped in when there was a shortage of teachers at a school in Thurgau. A week after she was asked by the school management, the prospective teacher was already standing in front of middle school students as a class teacher. Some students had already asked how it was to be still in training but already teaching. But: “The children are above all grateful if they are allowed to go to school at all during this time and meet their friends there.” What does she say if another request for the next deputy comes today? “Why not?” says Giovanoli – although studying is actually the priority.
They stick back, work extra shifts, help where they can: people like Nadine Giovanoli, Nicole Provini and Benjamin Alder, who keep the country running even in times of Omikron.