Who does not want a modern and healthy workplace? On 2 March 2023, executives from the City of Lugano, Guess, Microsoft and Moresi.com presented their ways to empower, connect and support employees.

March 2, 2023 – Lifestyle Tech Competence Center – in collaboration with its members Microsoft and Moresi.com – invited about 30 HR managers. Together, they discussed the possibilities that new technologies offer them to create healthier working environments, where employees feel empowered.

Meeting the employees’ and stakeholders’ needs

After a warm welcome by Jelena Tašić Pizzolato, Managing Director at LTCC, Brenda Nemastil, Viva – Employee Experience Global, explained to the audience how Microsoft reimagined the employee experience. She started by outlining several work trends: First, prioritization requires more than just rearranging a long to-do list. To link work with the company mission and the team goal, leaders must provide their team members with clarity and a sense of purpose. Second, 43% of employees are likely to consider changing their jobs in the next year. However, if they could have greater assistance for learning and development, 76% of employees said they would stay with their firm longer. And third, Employees claim they require more motivation than simply meeting company standards to come into the office. This last trend is where Microsoft is taking action: The company embraces flexibility with hybrid workplaces, which allow different workstyles that consider both, business and individual needs. Building on trust, technology, as well as new learning and mindset shifts, employees are enabled to work when, where and the way it works best for them.

Romina Casati, HR Director EMEA of Guess Europe, showed the present HR managers an innovative approach to integrating new talents and their feedback into the corporate strategy. She outlined that Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2010, will account for 27% of the workforce by 2025. As this generation sees shopping as an expression of their values, 79% expect sustainable practices from companies. The ‘Guess Gen Z Lab’, a joint project with LTCC launched in 2021, provides a space where GUESS marketing, sales, e-commerce, and advertising managers can test their ideas on the Gen Z. From social media content to product testing to store experience and app experience, the international students deliver quality feedback. In the last workshop, for example, the participants were astonished at and thrilled by the sustainable materials used in the Guess collection and proposed measures to raise further awareness.

Recognizing diversity

After a networking break with an aperitivo, moderator Eleonora De Canio introduced the event’s second half. Ana De Las Heras, HR Director at the City of Lugano, gave the attendees insight into the city’s way of providing added value for public administration through gender inclusion. It started with a postcard to female employees to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021 and thank them for their great work. One year later, 750 female employees of the City of Lugano participated in a project to promote training, cultural and recreational activities as well as professional and personal skills. Another year later, in March 2023, around 1400 female employees participated in another week dedicated to exposing women’s roles within the organization, health and well-being, and culture and sport, among others. This involvement, called ‘Lugano al femminile’, comes into fruition: the number of women in Director roles rose by 7% since the start of the activities and the desire of them to grow within the organization rose, resulting in them applying to higher roles.

Andrea Nazari, Director at Moresi.com, closed the day from a technological point of view: Work separated from the physical place: what remains after the great pandemic upheaval? Nowadays, work is often de-linked from the physical job environment. Technology supports these non-office-centred organizations. It is thus no longer a question of whether a way of working is technically feasible, but the business organization becomes more important. However, technology can support the key aspects of a modern workplace, which are: utilizing knowledge and experience, enhancing culture and communications, balancing productivity and well-being, and accelerating skill development and growth.

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