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Flexible, digital, agile: these buzzwords have been echoing through HR departments for years, but it will take far more than working from home one day a week or a sabbatical to achieve these targets. What about skills? Companies must respond to the accelerating pace of change, which also has consequences for HR management. Firms can no longer afford “bank staff”, who are only deployed to cover short-term peaks. What does this mean for the “labour market of the future”?

The solution is obvious: in order to be fit for the “labour market of the future”, companies need flexible employee pools that contribute very specific skills. Since 2009, Coople (Schweiz) AG has established itself as a reliable partner for numerous firms in this business and has since recorded a three-digit growth rate. As the world’s first fully digital HR recruitment platform, Coople provides a service that facilitates the “labour market of the future”. Founder and CEO, Viktor Calabro, has realised his vision in two respects. The multi-award-winning entrepreneur began his career in the IT sector. It soon became clear to him that the current situation in the labour market does not reflect modern developments. In his book, “Flexible Workforce”, which he published together with sociologists Martina Zolch and Marcel Oertig, he analyses this trend in detail. Like its Founder, Viktor Calabro, Coople (Schweiz) AG is also a versatile organisation. Its in-house IT and Development Department developed the matching algorithm that is used to operate Coople, as well as the entire back-end. In addition, the company provides its customers with services such as employee training, skills-based recruitment and day-to-day customer care. It also handles all the administration, such as payroll and invoicing processes, as well as the assessment of working conditions.

The firm is currently seeing a new trend, which Anthony Vaslin, former Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Customer Operations at ricardo.ch and the new Managing Director, Switzerland at Coople (Schweiz) AG since January, describes as follows: “The latest change in flexible working is very exciting: traditional temporary sectors, such as hospitality and promotions, are being joined by new lines of work in the commercial sector, in administration, marketing, front and back-office, as well as many other sectors that require very specific skills and often a relatively high level of education. I’m extremely excited to be joining Coople at a time of such radical change. The idea is not, however, to withdraw from the “traditional” sectors; on the contrary, hospitality and promotions, in particular, continue to perform very well. However, we’re seeing increased demand in the above-mentioned lines of work that were previously less represented in flexible working.” Vaslin experienced a prime example of this new trend not long after his appointment.

As a result of the devastation in Central Europe caused by storms Burglind and Evi, Swiss insurance companies were inundated with claims. Previous reductions in staffing levels therefore posed a risk. Affected firms in the insurance sector had to act extremely quickly and turned to Coople. Coople uses a “job profiling” system that can identify specific skills. For these customers, Coople was therefore able to find and recruit staff with the required skills within a very short time, allowing the insurance companies to overcome this short-term peak without any disruption for their clients. This example illustrates that flexible working can work in any industry, if done properly.

As a pioneer of flexible working, Coople will continue to expand its “specific skills” approach to ensure agility and flexibility in all sectors of the “labour market of the future”.