Out of over 60,000 employees at Swiss Post, more than 2,000 are apprentices. The aim is now to fill the 811 apprenticeship positions in 15 different professions by the start of the training period in summer 2015. These will be in sales, communication, logistics, information technology and maintenance. The wide range of apprenticeships gives school leavers a great start to their professional lives. This summer, 693 apprentices successfully completed their training at Swiss Post. Many of them will continue to work at Swiss Post after their training. Four out of five apprenticeship graduates start their first job in the company where they did their apprenticeship.

More training positions in information technology

In addition to positions for the four-year basic IT technician training course for young people with elementary school certification and also those for the two-year basic “way up” training courses for teenagers with a university entrance-level qualification, as of next year Swiss Post and PostFinance will offer new training programmes to gain a Bachelor's degree with integrated practical training (PiBS). Ten trainees with university entrance-level qualifycations can now complete a Bachelor degree course in Information Technology at the Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS) over a period of four years alongside their training in a company. The study programme will be offered in this form for the first time throughout Switzerland.

Swiss Post Vocational Training is also establishing its own one-year basic training course for information technology apprentices. The aim of the course is to strengthen the practical relevance of the apprenticeship for the future IT specialists right from the start.

“Swiss Post will depend on professionals with excellent skills in the future, and particularly in information technology demand looks set to grow. This is why, among other things, we are increasing our commitment in ICT by offering additional apprenticeship positions and a new training programme”, said Susanne Ruoff, CEO of Swiss Post.

Logistics apprentices now managing letter deliveries in Gränichen

Swiss Post is also breaking new ground in its basic logistics training: since August 2014, budding logisticians have gradually been taking on the management of letter deliveries in Gränichen in the Canton of Aargau. Initially, four second-year apprentices will be working in Gränichen and from summer 2015, four more apprentices will complete the “Junior Team Distribution”. From then on, responsibility will be completely in the hands of the apprentices. Two experienced coaches are there to support the team. With the “Junior Team Distribution”, Swiss Post is promoting individual responsibility and the leadership skills of young people in training. The “Junior Team Distribution” is modelled after the trainee-run post offices, where young people take over responsibility for the management of a post office. This proven training concept has been in place at Swiss Post since 2008. Today, there are seven trainee-run post offices throughout Switzerland.