Annual report for the fiscal year from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012

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Workplace
Team learning –
the right mix is essential
Whether young professional or senior manager,
all of the employees at Ernst & Young benefit
from a strong culture of learning and regular
feedback. Our employees appreciate this even
if they decide to move to another company at
some point. After all, they take a great deal of
knowledge, experience and skills with them
to their new employer. And this is absolutely
our intention at Ernst & Young.
At the age of 17, Christian Possa made the grade as
an elite junior ice hockey player, but today he only
practices sport in his free time, as he has set himself a
major goal: “Within four years, I want to have completed my
training to become a certified accountant at Ernst & Young,”
explains the 27-year-old. Born in Valais, Christian Possa
joined the Ernst & Young Zug office as an assistant in 2011.
Since then, it has been a steep learning curve: “In just
one year, I have learned so much and gained valuable
professional experience,” Possa sums up. This was naturally
a completely different learning experience compared to
studying for his management degree at the University of
Fribourg.
Exchanging knowledge, providing mutual feedback and
expanding expertise are key elements of the day-to-day
activities of audit, tax, transaction and risk advisory professionals
at Ernst & Young. “We therefore foster a special
kind of learning culture that goes beyond the training sessions
defined in our learning maps for the various service
lines,” explains Barbara Aeschlimann, Director of Human
Resources at Ernst & Young Switzerland. “We set great
store by dialogue within the team and feedback, both
of which are taken into consideration in the documented
assessment processes. This makes good sense,” says
Aeschlimann.
Assistant Christian Possa considers the standardized feedback
system to be extremely helpful and broadly based.
The framework comprises an annual plan for each employee
with a set of individual and general goals. As an assistant,
Christian Possa is supported by a dedicated counselor.
Possa is quite clear about how the year is arranged from
fall to summer: “After a kick-off meeting, I receive an
appraisal from at least five of my engagements over the
course of the year. Different people contribute to this
appraisal using a structured questionnaire.” The employee
receives a mid-year review in January, followed by an
annual review, including an individual rating, at the end of
June. The individual rating is determined at roundtable
meetings where several colleagues get together to vote.
“I also have to evaluate my own performance by asking
myself what I did well and what hasn’t gone so brilliantly.”
This self-assessment is part of the ongoing process of
expanding knowledge and helps to improve the quality of
work and develop management skills.
“I also like keeping informal lines of communication open
and providing feedback myself. Having trust and confidence
are really important within this process, which is sometimes
easier said than done for both parties,” acknowledges
the trainee auditor.
For his colleague Barbara Ofner at Ernst & Young in Geneva,
informal dialogue with clients and colleagues is an important
way in which new knowledge about client requirements
can be gained and expertise passed on in a constantly
changing environment. “There is an open door policy in effect
at our company; a partner is always available,” says the
lawyer who works as a senior manager at Ernst & Young. She
heads up a team of seven Legal & Compliance employees
in French-speaking Switzerland.
As more and more regulatory provisions are introduced,
the challenges facing legal services at Ernst & Young are
growing extremely rapidly. What is the fastest way to learn
in this dynamic environment? Ofner answers without hesitation:
“You have to jump in at the deep end.” She believes
that a great deal of areas and client requirements are best
addressed by learning on the job. “This allows people to
grow with responsibility and success,” she says, adding: “In
order to foster the development of our people, I make sure
that they don’t work on the same project for too long.”
Whenever possible, she also takes younger colleagues to
client appointments. This reflects her philosophy on how
best to secure a successful learning experience: “The composition
of teams is really important. There needs to be
young and experienced employees, men and women. They
often approach the various topics in different ways.” Getting
the right mix makes all the difference.
As opposed to management graduates such as assistant
Christian Possa, who are trained at Ernst & Young to become
certified accountants or tax consultants, Ofner joined
the company as a fully fledged lawyer. “We lawyers are
a special group within the organization in this respect.”
Annual report 2012