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Our young go-getters explain digital Swiss Post

In the second year of their training, our retail sector apprentices introduced customers to digital customer solutions. The project consisted of a kick-off meeting, three days in action at a branch and a final presentation morning.

Simone Hubacher

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Erika Valdez, Moni Pakirathan and Samira Riegel
Erika Valdez, Moni Pakirathan and Samira Riegel

The average age on stage was 17, and a certain amount of tension was humming in the air at the Schiffbau in Zurich: throughout the morning of 23 May 2019, 18 future retail specialists in their second year of an apprenticeship in Zurich presented digital customer solutions such as the Customer Center login, e-finance, My Post 24PickPost, pick@home, WebStamp and more, all while interacting with their audience. They asked members of the audience to take a photo of the stage and to send it via PostCard Creator. Photos and video recordings highlight the great commitment and vibrancy the apprentices displayed over the past few months.

David Lei

The event was the highpoint of an intensive project run by educational trainer David Lei’s (on the left) class in Zurich. Between February and May 2019, the class – divided into teams of three and four – set about becoming experts in Swiss Post’s digital customer solutions and project work. They then spent three days passing this knowledge on to customers on the shop floor. The groups proved to be very self-sufficient as they went about their tasks, which included selecting the branch and determining the focal points and goals of the campaign.

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Rising to the challenge

“How did the teams organize themselves? Where did they go for help? How did they work together when I split them up into groups? That was fascinating to see!” says David Lei, who was happy to throw the “young go-getters” in at the deep end. After the kick-off day, it was time to get down to work.

Annapia Rizzo

According to apprentice Annapia Rizzo (on the right): “Getting started in the group wasn’t all that easy, but we quickly organized ourselves, writing to each other and having discussions via video chat, FaceTime and WhatsApp. That was necessary, because some of us live in Zurich and others in Thurgau.” Moni Pakirathan felt the concept phase was the most difficult aspect. “As well as the excitement before this presentation day.” Erika Valdez, who, along with Moni, led the guests through the morning session as a moderator, said: “Time management was one of the most difficult tasks for me.” The apprentices found the days in action at the branches very rewarding. One thing that impressed them was the proximity to customers at the branches with open counters.

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Great progress

Summing up the initiative, trainer David Lei stated: “Our apprentices made great progress in terms of self-sufficiency during this project. And they became noticeably more mature.” The project is an in-house Swiss Post initiative that was run this year for the very first time for all six classes of apprentices in the second year of the retail sector course. “We weren’t required to run this project by the state or the center for Swiss retail sector training. We chose to do it because Swiss Post sees great added value in this project,” adds Lei. “Swiss Post is on a digital journey. We want to lead the way in our training, too.”

written by

Simone Hubacher

Editor