Published on 12 June 2024

«We simply want to have the most qualified people.»

Technical professions - a masculine domain? Brigitte Bieri, head of Human Resources and member of the swisstopo management committee at swisstopo, sees it differently. An interview.

© Adrian Moser Photography

Brigitte Bieri, is swisstopo a male domain?

Brigitte Bieri: It certainly used to be. When I joined swisstopo in 2006, we as women were a clear minority. Back then, it took a certain amount of courage for women to enter such a male-dominated department. But since then, the number of women interested in technical professions has risen steadily, and the proportion of women at swisstopo has markedly increased in recent years, now standing at around 30 per cent.

How about at management level?

Brigitte Bieri: Women are still underrepresented in management – the figure here is 18 per cent. At swisstopo, we’ve got plenty of extremely qualified female employees, but only a handful in leadership positions. Many of these women have got what it takes, yet they are less likely to apply for management roles than their male counterparts. But here, too, the mindset is changing: for some time now, we have been appointing noticeably more women in leadership roles. I hope this trend continues.

Why do fewer women apply for management positions?

Brigitte Bieri: Firstly, there are fewer female graduates in technical subjects. But for me, another consideration is the traditional gender roles that are so entrenched in society. Women tend to have more family-related obligations in their personal lives and for this reason they often work less than their partners. Or they simply don’t have the confidence. But at swisstopo, there is definitely potential, and we encourage our female employees to go down this route. I want to empower women to have faith in themselves and put themselves forward for positions of responsibility.

I want to empower women to have faith in themselves and put themselves forward for positions of responsibility.

Brigitte Bieri, head of Human Resources and member of the management committee at swisstopo

Which measures is swisstopo taking in this respect?

Brigitte Bieri: Our job advertisements are written in gender-neutral language and we make an effort to publish them on career portals especially for women, such as femdat.ch. swisstopo also offers its female employees coaching sessions and management tools as well as mentoring and funding schemes. We make concerted efforts to talk to young women at apprenticeship fairs and university careers fairs. Mainly, though, swisstopo offers extremely flexible working models to help its employees achieve a better work-life balance – provided their position is suitable for this. At swisstopo, we now have eight people working on a job-sharing basis, including female employees who are sharing the leadership of a department or a process. Men also have a part to play in achieving this balance.

How, exactly?

Brigitte Bieri: Around half of all women employed at swisstopo work part-time. For their male colleagues, this figure drops to one-third. Men should also be prepared to take a step back from their work in order to be more involved in their personal lives and give their female partners more opportunities to develop their own careers. Fortunately, this is another clear trend: more and more young men are reducing their working hours, often when they have children. At swisstopo, some of our male employees now work part-time or have declined management roles in order to allow their female partners to have successful careers. This should no longer be the exception. Ultimately, at swisstopo we simply want to have the most qualified people who are the best fit for us.

swisstopo staff in figures

Employee statistics - Gender - 2023

Employee statistics - Part-time - 2023

Personnel statistics - Management positions - 2023

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