How the Alpine Farming Sector and Individual Alps Can Promote Worker Loyalty

Swiss summer farms lack qualified and experienced staff, partly because workers are spending fewer summers on the alps. The shortage of staff and loss of experience can have a negative impact on the sustainable management of the alpine pastures.

The importance of staff for sustainable management 

Every summer, around 17,000 alpine farmworkers contribute to maintaining the multifunctionality of over 6,500 alpine farms in Switzerland. However, those responsible for the alpine farms are finding it increasingly difficult to find qualified and long-term workers. Frequent staff turnover is detrimental to the sustainable management of summer farms due to knowledge loss and inefficiencies. In order to retain qualified staff in the long term, it is important to understand both the internal and external factors that encourage or discourage recurring employment on a summer farm. A survey (n=366) and interviews (n=23) with alpine farmworkers revealed two key problem areas.

External factors as the biggest hurdle

For the majority of alpine farmworkers, factors external to alpine farming prevent them from returning to summer farms in the long term. The seasonal way of life and its working patterns seem difficult to reconcile with modern lifestyles. The seasonal nature of alpine farming therefore remains a socio-economic challenge for workers who have to juggle their jobs, families and other commitments with life on the alpine farm. In addition, in some milieus, choosing to live on a summer farm in the long term is seen as a kind of ‘outcast’ lifestyle, which can also discourage people from returning to the alpine farm.

Internal factors with potential for improvement

At the same time, there are three relevant factors internal to alpine farming that contribute to workers not returning: employment conditions, work organisation and human resource management. For alpine farm workers, transparent communication, respectful cooperation and trust are key to long-term working relationships. Investment in adequate housing and working infrastructure remains important. However, there is a particular need for improved employment conditions, specifically higher wages that increase progressively with experience. Finally, greater commitment on the part of alpine farm managers is needed in terms of human resource management in order to attract and retain alpine farmworkers in the long term.

Recommendations for the alpine farming sector and summer farms

Based on the above findings, numerous recommendations for action were developed at a workshop with experts from the alpine farming sector (n=24). The most important recommendations are summarised below:

The alpine farming sector should…

• offer alpine farm managers further training opportunities in the field of human resource management;
• provide alpine farmworkers with nationally coordinated and recognised training;
• support workers in their job search in autumn by providing appropriate services (job platforms, job placement, etc.);
• support permanently employed workers with arguments for being released by their employers to return to the alpine farms in the summer;
• promote social recognition of alpine farmwork as complex and diverse by emphasising not only specific technical knowledge but also the development of comprehensive social and personal skills among alpine farmworkers;
• develop templates for employment references and other documents for alpine farm managers to support them in managing alpine farmworkers;
• contribute to improving and standardising the employment conditions of alpine farmworkers, in particular their wages.

Summer farms should…

• place greater emphasis on professional human resource management and provide themselves and their alpine farm managers with more training in this area;
• not neglect the further development of housing infrastructure and farm buildings;
• communicate openly, transparently and in a solution-oriented manner with alpine farmworkers – appreciation and criticism should be expressed and accepted in an appropriate manner on both sides so that trust can develop in a pleasant working atmosphere;
• respond more specifically to the individual situation and needs of alpine farmworkers, i.e. to their skills and experience, and offer appropriate support or assign responsibility accordingly;
• compile clear documentation with the most important information about the alp so that new workers can prepare themselves and get off to a better start;
• support workers in their job search where possible and, where necessary, offer a certain degree of flexibility with regard to alpine farmwork.