Personnel Development and Leadership

Our vision is the unifying, inspiring target image for the future of our Executive Board area. It defines our future self-image as well as our role in implementing the cultural change that has been initiated. The vision represents a great opportunity for all of us: As the common denominator of the VPPL, it creates identification and orientation to align our daily actions – among ourselves and towards our stakeholders – and adjust them if necessary. In this way, we make an active and common contribution to achieve our VPPL goals and the overarching ETH vision.

The VPPL vision is underpinned and made concrete with a mission – in the form of six guiding principles that we align our actions with. The individual principles are deliberately based on the indicators of the social and leadership competencies at ETH and at the same time reflect the diverse activities of the VPPL. In this sense, they ensure connections in both directions. The individual guiding principles contain two statements: The first places the focus internally, on internal cooperation. The second statement focuses externally on how we deal with our diverse stakeholder groups.

Consulting for Professors

The team advises full, associate and assistant professors as well as members of the Executive Board from the time of employment, through onboarding, to retirement and beyond. It is also responsible for advising the partners of professors on their professional and private integration in the context of their appointment at ETH Zurich.

With a focus on the entire tenure of professors, the department is responsible for the following specific topics:

• Support and consulting on personal development with regard to the next career stage or specific function at ETH Zurich.
• Support and consulting in the case of special events (e.g. incapacity to work, maternity, paternity, adoption, etc.)
• Support and advice in the areas of onboarding and retirement, secondary employment, sabbatical, dual career, integration or in the event of a change in the degree of employment
• Maintenance of personnel files and updating of systems
• Requests to the ETH Board / employment contracts
• Obituaries

HR Consulting

HR Consulting is responsible for all human resources matter in the departments and the central bodies, from recruitment, employment, remuneration and development to leaving. 

It ensures the implementation of personnel policy and personnel law, is responsible for vocational training and for support in the event of incapacity for work and reintegration. HR Consulting advises and supports all supervisors as well as scientific, administrative and technical employees.

The department consists of the following teams: 

HR Consulting for departments and HR Consulting for Executive Board and central bodies:

HR Consulting ensures the implementation of the personnel policy and the requirements of personnel law. The HR Partners look after, advise and support the organisation, the supervisors and employees in all matters of human resources lifecycle, from recruitment, employment, remuneration and development to leaving. In addition, supervisors find competent contact persons in the HR Partners for all questions regarding leadership, personnel planning and strategy.

Vocational Education and Training:

ETH Zurich trains over 170 apprentices in 15 different professions. The central vocational education and training department is responsible for the quality of the training, the optimal supervision of the apprentices and the processes surrounding the lifecycle of the apprenticeship. In addition, the team supports and advises the trainers in vocational pedagogical questions and offers them various further training courses. ETH Zurich has a lot to offer to young people who want to start their careers with vocational training. For more information, please visit the Vocational Education and Training website.

Recruiting:

The Recruiting Team advises and supports supervisors and recruiters along the recruiting lifecycle. The team provides recruitment tools and services and continuously develops them in order to attract the most suitable employees to ETH Zurich.

Case Management:

Case Management is a specialist unit for employees and their supervisors in the event of existing or foreseeable health-related incapacity to work. In the case of health restrictions of employees, Case Management offers active and systematic process support. The aim is to restore and maintain the ability to work and to reintegrate the employee into working life.

HR Operations

HR Operations is responsible for personnel administration, for processing payroll and personnel data as well as for the further development and implementation of interfaces, systems and digitalised personnel processes.

• Personnel administration including new hires, departures and changes in employment, etc.
• Migration related matters
• Payroll processing, social security and withholding tax
• Time management
• Reporting and preparation of specific HR data
• Responsibility for HR systems (mainly for the HR part SAP and ETHIS) as well as interfaces
• Projects in the HR tool environment (e.g. introduction of new process for secondary employment)

The department consists of three teams: HR Administration, HR Payroll, Digitalisation, Systems and Data.

HR Administration: A competent team of HR administrators looks after the employees of ETH Zurich during their employment period in close cooperation with HR Consulting in all matters of personnel administration.

HR Payroll: The HR Payroll team takes care of payroll processing and supports HR Administration.

Digitalisation, Systems and Data: The team is responsible for the smooth IT operations at VPPL and are responsible for lean, modern administrative processes and optimise procedures where necessary. They look after HR applications on a professional level and work closely with the technical side, with IT Services and the SAP Competence Centre.

Development and Leadership

The Development and Leadership unit provides personnel development and lifelong learning services for professors, supervisors and employees of ETH Zurich and supports organisational units in their development and transformation. It also offers career and labour market counselling for students and doctoral students.

This department consists of the Development and Leadership team and the Career Center.

Career Center: The Career Center is the central platform for companies and students, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in their career entry. These students are accompanied until they start their careers and are prepared for the world of work. The team is also committed to putting companies in touch with suitable young talent at ETH Zurich.

Diversity and Collaboration

This unit provides concepts, programmes and measures for inclusive, non-discriminatory and constructive collaboration between members of ETH Zurich. It maintains an effective conflict management system with solution-oriented procedures and low-threshold counselling services for all ETH members in the areas of prevention and intervention.

Find out more about ETH Diversity.

Office of Personnel Development and Leadership

The office supports the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership (VPPL) as well as the other heads of department in the further development of VPPL. The office is further responsible for strategic projects and coordinates the work on VPPL-wide matters. In addition, the office functions as an interface to other units of ETH Zurich, e.g. offices, divisions and departments.

Meet the team