ETH News

The thirteenth edition of the Swiss HR Barometer focusses on the topic of ‘Sense and nonsense at work’. The majority of the 2032 respondents in Switzerland feel that their work is important and meaningful, with this becoming increasingly important from the age of 55. However, almost half feel alienated to some extent, and the perceived boredom has increased slightly compared to 10 years ago.

Newly elected members of the Swiss National Council are often confronted with a bewildering array of complex issues. ETH Zurich organised a special two-day seminar to equip them with scientific expertise in key policy areas.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provides medical supplies to people in need. A planning tool developed by researchers at ETH Zurich will make this complex task more efficient in future and save the ICRC millions.

A new model designed by ETH Zurich researchers measures how flexible medication distribution systems are in real time. It shows that supply shortages can be eased if pharmaceutical wholesalers coordinate their inventories and reroute scarce products as flexibly as possible along existing supply chains.

As society increasingly expects the responsible use of digital technologies, firms with better practices will have a distinct advantage, says Tomoko Yokoi. Digital responsibility should not only be seen as a duty to comply with regulations but also as an activity that generates value.

Work psychologist Petra Schmid studies the effects of social power. She favours an interdisciplinary approach that includes both lab experiments and surveys.

This year’s Swiss HR Barometer focuses on working conditions that promote innovative behaviours amongst employees. Approaching errors in an open manner, a practice prevalent in Switzerland, has a positive effect on innovative behaviour as well as attitudes to work. Scope for improvement is found in areas such as support for new ideas, personnel development and compensation.

Erika Meins explains the science behind why returning to the office is good for our performance as well as our well-being.   

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Frankfurt School have developed an artificial neural network that can solve challenging control problems. The self-learning system can be used for the optimization of supply chains and production processes as well as for smart grids or traffic control systems.

How do you get more people to have vaccinations? Gudela Grote firmly believes that it’s worth looking at team dynamics.

Where should radioactive waste be packaged before it is stored in a deep geological repository? Daniela Scherer explains how stakeholders are being brought on board to tackle this thorny question.

Shares in ETH spin-off HeiQ have been traded on the London Stock Exchange since Monday morning in the first ever listing of an ETH spin-off on a stock exchange outside Switzerland.

ETH researchers have used an experiment in a simulated group office environment to show for the first time that the body produces more stress hormones when people are repeatedly interrupted at work. And yet the subjects did not experience an equal rise in their consciously perceived sense of psychological stress.

What happens when COVID-19 means architecture students have to get by without a workshop, electrical engineers without high-voltage laboratories and environmental scientists without field trips.

The Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour is currently planning a new study on how feedback affects the motivation and focus of people working remotely.

Separation of powers, foreign policy, economic policy and climate change – at a two-day event in the Bern region, ETH imparted expertise to newly elected parliamentarians.

On behalf of a German ship operator, a team from ETH Zurich mapped out “routes” towards emission-free shipping. To this end, they investigated shipping activities in the North and Baltic Seas as well as the infrastructure, costs of new fuels and storage options.

More than half of foreign employees in Switzerland feel well-integrated in their work environment. Language difficulties serve as one of the main reasons for a lack of integration. This is concluded by the latest issue of the Swiss HR Barometer issued by the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and the Universities of Lucerne and Zurich.

Until you've lost your reputation … Unlike the saying, you do have something left to lose. On the contrary, reputational loss is costly. Students have proved that through business-based risk analyses.

We should not adapt work to technology but, conversely, find ways in which technology can benefit everyone. Not least for economic reasons, says Gudela Grote.

After 29 years of service, Paul Embrechts of the Department of Mathematics at ETH Zurich is being conferred emeritus status. What was his time at ETH like and what does he have planned for his retirement? ETH News presents a portrait of a researcher who has dedicated his life to studying risk.

Swiss companies make less use of new technologies and work more traditionally than is commonly believed, says Gudela Grote.

Switzerland’s economy is facing some tough challenges: technologies are developing rapidly, processes are being amalgamated both inside and outside production facilities, and business units are becoming increasingly interconnected. This means businesses need to constantly adapt. The issue has been taken up by researchers from the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation and from the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, both at ETH Zurich.

Riding the Polybahn from Central up to ETH Zurich with Elgar Fleisch: the Professor of Information Management at ETH Zurich tells us in a new Polybahn Pitch how the Internet of Things allows the development of better therapies for chronically ill people. 

The Department of Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC) is celebrating its tenth anniversary. In both its research and teaching, the department explores the interfaces between technology and economics. Graduates with in-depth knowledge in these areas are in high demand on the labour market.

The Federal Council is pushing ahead with the Swiss Innovation Park: it intends to make 350 million francs available and give the operators land with planning permission. ETH Zurich has been supporting the project for over ten years.

These days, technology companies are tapping into the expertise of online open source communities to develop new software. A research group under the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation is examining how companies can boost the motivation of these unpaid developers.