Hey There,

I have my boss who is swiss. Lot of things to tell about swiss people from the Business point of view...

like day to day planning of all their activities and tasks.

body language

the way of handling business risks. etc etc and lots more...

Thanx for the reply!

Could you please elaborate on the points you made...

The use of the formal or familiar form of the language can play a role in business dealings as well as between colleagues of differing status.  Perhaps you know ‘Jean’ or ‘Hans’ from school, college, or military service, so you ‘tu-toi’ each other even if one of you now has a much more senior position.  It’s a special relationship between you.  But this special relationship can also have a very subtle impact on the ‘junior’ person’s relationship with his/her own equals, who see it with something that excludes them, creating what can be akin to a tinge of jealously almost.

While it may not matter so much these days, military rank also used to be a major factor in office relationships, the army captain or major  tending to regard the ‘non-appointé’ colleague with a lesser degree of esteem –  as if a lack of military ambition had any relevance to professional business ability. 

Nevertheless, military rank can still be a canon in Swiss business circles and even HR strategy.

In sum, much has been said and written about the ‘Old Boy’ network in Britain, but make no mistake it is just as embedded in Switzerland.  Like many other issues here, it’s swept and kept under the carpet.

Hi Ana,

I do have swiss colleagues or a Swiss boss or friend as well. So from my exprience I may add the following points. (But again quite a few must be typical Europian thing.)

1. Time: They start early , I mean really early like 7:30 or 8 sometimes... Leave around 5 to 6 in evening.....

Also 'On time' is biggest thing if you are dealing with swiss people. To be early in the morning and time is the biggest thing they are gonna ever like or hate about you.

2. Mostly everything is planned very properly....meeting, detail, location, place. That will put them in the group of people not deciding spontaneosly of course.

3. Even thouhg penctual or planned not really stressed about while dealing any particular issue. Love to work on mostly relaxed way.

4. Love Holidays and its a must. Thats a very important thing they look forward throughout the year (but pürobably everyone else as well).

Hope this helps you.......

Indra

Re starting esarly:

 When my husband worked at the Balsberg HQ of the now defunct Swissair, starting time was7 a.m., which meant everyone had to be at their desks by 06:55 latest.  Going-home time was frequently 18:30 and sometimes later

He'd been better off in Egypt where it was a 7-day week but at least he had a 3-hour bresk in the afternoon.

Ritchie.