The Swiss occupational pension sector is facing a deepening shortage of skilled workers, a trend expected to intensify in the coming years. Larger pension funds are increasingly investing in training programmes to attract career changers and mitigate the talent gap.
Sandro Meyer, a member of the executive board at Zurich Switzerland, told IPE that the shortage of qualified professionals is becoming a critical challenge for the industry.
This is partly due to demographic shifts – there are simply fewer young people entering the workforce compared to previous generations – and also because younger employees are more likely to work part-time, Meyer said.
Zurich continues to receive a healthy volume of applications and the firm has been able to fill vacancies, but the overall market is tightening, he added.
Zurich operates in the occupational pension market through Vita Sammelstiftung, a multi-employer pension scheme managed by Pension Fund Services (PFS), an outsourcing specialist jointly owned by Zurich and Swisscanto, the asset management arm of Zürcher Kantonalbank.
The two investors increased their stakes in PFS to 45% each last year.
PFS, which oversees CHF16bn in assets across schemes including Swisscanto Vorsorge Stiftung, Swiss International Air Lines Pensionskasse and Coca-Cola Schweiz, has relaunched a dedicated HR and expert network aimed at raising the profile of careers in occupational pensions.
Similar dynamics are playing out in neighbouring Germany, where Pensionskassen and Pensionsfonds – two key vehicles for occupational pensions – are increasingly outsourcing functions such as asset and risk management as they contend with staffing shortages.
Across the DACH region, pension funds are bracing for growing recruitment challenges, particularly in areas requiring specialised expertise.
“Recruiting qualified employees is likely to be particularly difficult, as occupational pensions often involve cross-functional roles or expertise that requires particular depth of knowledge, such as management, benefits services, or asset management,” Lukas Müller-Brunner, director of the Swiss pension funds association ASIP, told IPE.
Despite Switzerland’s generally high standards in education and vocational training, the labour market is feeling the impact of an ageing population. The expected retirement of the baby boomer generation could leave the country with a shortfall of more than one million workers over the next decade — a trend that will inevitably affect the pension sector.
According to Müller-Brunner, the skills gap can only be addressed through a combination of strategies, including targeted training and continuous professional development.
“A key element in occupational pensions is intensive, practical training and continuing education,” he noted, pointing to the Fachschule für Personalvorsorge in Olten, a vocational college specialising in second-pillar education, as a model institution.
The sector also offers further specialist courses, which make careers in pensions more appealing. Larger funds are particularly proactive in hiring career changers, providing in-house programmes to equip them with the necessary skills, he continued.
ASIP supports the continuation of existing training pathways and is exploring the introduction of vocational programmes specifically tailored to second-pillar pensions, mirroring those in the banking sector.
“However, for such a project to have an impact on a national level, comprehensive and overarching coordination [among second pillar players] would be necessary,” he said.
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