Ten different apprenticeships are offered and trained at Empa – at a very high level. The Great Start! award stands for outstanding achievements in the development of trusting working relationships and the creation of attractive and supportive working conditions. Companies from all over Switzerland participate in the certification by the international research and consulting institute Great Place to Work and face an evaluation by their own apprentices. The comprehensive evaluation of the questionnaires not only shows a comparison with other training organizations, but can also reveal potential for improvement in the training programs. In addition to the apprentice survey, the company's vocational training concept is also thoroughly examined and evaluated by experts from Great Place to Work.

The apprentices assessed the working conditions, the training provided by the vocational and technical instructors and the training in their company in general. The overall satisfaction of the 40 Empa apprentices who took part was an impressive 83%. The apprentices feel particularly welcome at Empa (95%) and are treated as fully-fledged team members. In addition, 98 percent are satisfied with the way in which their training company contributes to society.

The apprentices enjoy their work at Empa. Image: Empa

For over 30 years, Great Place to Work has been collecting and analyzing data to measure the workplace culture of organizations. “Certification as a ‘Great Place To Work’ is more than just another label for the website. It is a recognition of the often significant investment organizations make in their workplace culture,” says Lorena D'Agrosa, Marketing & Communications of Great Place to Work. “It is a testament to the ongoing efforts to create a working environment where everyone feels valued, supported and proud to be a part of it.” Great Place to Work places particular emphasis on developing the potential of all employees as the key to greater innovation and value creation.

David Heusser, Vocational Training Coordinator at Empa, is also pleased with the extraordinary results of the survey: “In our fourth ‘Great Start’ participation, our apprentices again rated many aspects of vocational training at Empa very positive. Overall, the perception of the quality of the workplace and training culture is stable at a very high level, which of course makes us very happy.”

As always, however, there is also room for improvement. Heusser and his team will analyze the recommendations in the coming weeks and then work together with the vocational and specialist trainers to develop them further. Heusser: “We want the vocational training at Empa to remain at today's excellent level in the future.”

Apprenticeships at Empa are supplemented by various activities outside the offices and vocational school to strengthen team spirit and competencies. These include the popular annual apprentice day, language courses abroad, which are supported financially and in terms of time, as well as internal support concepts, in which the apprentices are prepared for challenging (exam) situations, for example.