Staff questions about “FIT for the Future”
We are happy to answer questions from staff about the “FIT for the Future” organisational development project. Topics include, in particular, the involvement of employees in the project and future working conditions such as salary, place of work and pension fund.
Status: 11 March 2026
— Involvement of staff
- The ETH Board regards staff involvement as very important. It has therefore arranged for various forms of participation, including opportunities for sharing information and opinions as well as consultations within the ETH Domain. The President of the ETH Board also met directly with the staff committees of the four research institutes.
- Current information about the “FIT for the Future” project may be found on the website. In addition, the ETH Board issues a regular newsletter and the President of the ETH Board answers questions from ETH Zurich, EPFL and the research institutes at town hall meetings. It is the responsibility of the institutions to provide additional information and organise employee participation.
- Employees have the opportunity to take part in the consultation within the ETH Domain via their institutions or staff committees. The consultation will last from the beginning of March to the beginning of June 2026.
— Staff working conditions
- The institutions of the ETH Domain have long been reliable employers. This will remain the case in future.
- Everything is being done to maintain the stability and attractiveness of employees’ jobs when the employment relationships are transferred to the new structure.
- The project “FIT for the Future” is not a cost-cutting programme nor does it aim to make staff redundant.
- Employees’ contracts will be transferred to the new structure at their current salary level.
- The vast majority of employees will see no change in their employment relationship. Neither new job applications nor probationary periods will therefore be necessary.
- Individual employees may see changes to their employment relationship. If the position is classified at a lower level, the employee will nevertheless receive their current salary for two years.
- All employees will continue to be employed in accordance with the ETH Act, the Federal Personnel Act, the ETH Professorial Ordinance or the Ordinance on the Personnel of the Federal Institutes of Technology (PersO-FIT).
- The ETH Domain’s occupational retirement scheme provided by PUBLICA will continue to be our pension fund.
- The current research institutes will continue to exist unchanged. This means that the employment relationships entered into with the research institutes, and the basic principles of employment law which underlie them, will continue to apply.
- Changes to individual employment relationships are possible in this case too, subject to the same rules as those described above.
- In both cases, the current sites of the institutions of the ETH Domain will be retained. Researchers will benefit from improved cooperation between all six institutions, as well as closer coordination and the increased visibility of the ETH Domain. The main tasks of the research institutes are expected to remain unchanged. Strategic coordination and thematic cooperation should be further strengthened and the support services gradually merged where standardisation promises efficiency and quality gains.
- In the event of changes and financial pressures, making use of natural fluctuation (retirements, resignations by employees) is a proven and gentle means of reducing or reallocating staff.
- Despite a number of reorganisations, the ETH Domain has grown in recent years. Any increase or reduction in staff numbers is primarily determined by financial considerations.
- According to the ETH Board’s strategy, all the sites will be retained. It is conceivable that key members of staff, such as senior managers in the support units, may need to change their place of work. If entire teams should be affected, this would be a longer-term process.
- No. Synergies can also be achieved in other ways, such as by merging certain tasks. This also enables external costs to be reduced, for example from external service providers. Essentially, the idea is to achieve more with the resources available, primarily for research but also in the support organisation.
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