Engineers recruited from a abroad to fill vacancies in Switzerland are benefiting from a Godfather scheme, which partners new foreign recruits with established Swiss workers to help smooth their integration in to the company.

According to www.swissinfo.org, the mentoring scheme known as the "Godfather system" is helping foreign employees integrate into the workforce of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland.

Swiss firms are increasingly having to look abroad for staff to expand their ranks, but SMEs have less experience in recruiting internationally. Godfathers are seen as one way around the problem.

A recent survey by Swiss banking giant UBS revealed that the country's industrial sector is working at 91.4 per cent capacity and that 40 per cent of firms are looking to recruit new personnel.
With the economy booming, the supply of skilled Swiss workers can no longer meet demand, particularly in the engineering sector, which has led to more foreign recruits crossing into Switzerland.

Unlike international firms such as Novartis, Nestlé or UBS, smaller companies have less time, resources and experience to cope with the demographic changes in their workforce.

The Godfather system, developed at the ZfU International Business School in Thalwil on the outskirts of Zurich, pairs up new foreign recruits with established Swiss workers to help smooth the integration process.
The Godfather mentor should be someone with an interest in the foreign colleague's country of origin, ZfU chief executive Christophe Soutter told swissinfo. But the scheme has also been devised to be a two-way street between both parties.

"The Godfather can explain how Swiss people live and [describe] the cultural and political system to help the new recruit acclimatise," he said. "But the Godfather should also translate the recruit's culture and philosophy to other Swiss employees."