Author: Simon Hindle, SuisseCo - Sales Director 
SuisseCo was honoured to sponsor the PMI Annual Members Meeting on March 14th, hosted at the Swiss Re Auditorium in Zurich. This event provided us with a valuable opportunity to champion the PMI Project Management community, engage with industry peers, and gain insights from the keynote speaker, Claudia Alcelay, who delivered an enlightening presentation on AI in project management.
About SuisseCo: SuisseCo specializes in European-wide recruitment and placement of highly-skilled and motivated IT specialists within the Swiss Market. Our comprehensive services encompass staff leasing of IT freelancers, permanent staffing solutions, software projects, and payrolling services.
Trends in the Swiss IT Recruitment Market: In 2024, we have witnessed an increase in both contract and permanent roles compared to the previous year. However, the market is still on the path to recovery from the pre-COVID era, with contract roles at only half the level seen in 2019. There's a notable shift of jobs to nearshore locations due to Switzerland's high operating costs. Automation is on the rise, particularly in larger international firms, though the labour market remains resilient, despite modest projected increases in unemployment. In the IT sector, roles in Cyber Security, Data Engineering, DevOps Cloud Engineering, Software Development, and Project Management are in high demand, driven by technological advancements and economic transitions.
Trends in the Project Management Market: We see that Project Management methodologies are evolving towards hybrid approaches, blending elements from various methodologies to suit specific project needs. From our conversations with the Project Management community, we see that there is a growing emphasis on automating low-value tasks, with AI integration becoming increasingly prevalent in project management tools.
Salary and Work Trends: While salaries for permanent roles remain stable, contracting rates are facing pressure. Part-time contracting roles have seen a rise as companies aim to optimize spending. Nevertheless candidates are keen to negotiate higher salaries due to rising living costs, including health insurance premiums, rent, and transportation. Employers are balancing the desire for in-office collaboration with employee preference for remote work, with many adopting hybrid work models. We are seeing most of our larger clients adopting a 3 day office, 2 day home office model.
Future Collaboration with PMI: Moving forward, we are eager to continue supporting PMI events and initiatives as part of our commitment to fostering industry collaboration and advancement, and I look forward to working with Mafalda Amaro and her team on new initiatives and events where we can.