Our experience working from home in Switzerland

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With the main office closed, SWI swissinfo.ch staff members are working from all over the country and discovering new ways to bring the latest developments from Switzerland to the world.

We are scattered across nearly all of the language regions in Switzerland and capturing the reactions to the crisis from wherever we are working – whether it is a small village in the countryside, a big housing complex in cities like Zurich or Geneva, or a tourist destination in the Bernese Alps.

Unlike the other units of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch has been publishing stories exclusively online for around 20 years, without a broadcast component. This has made for a relatively seamless transition to producing content for our ten language websites and more than thirty social media accounts from our home offices. Here’s a glimpse at some of them:

PLACEHOLDER

While colleagues miss the communal coffee breaks and informal interactions, our laptops and the internet have allowed us to continue bringing our multilingual content to our readers wherever they are in the world.​​​​​​​

Our latest readership figures show the extent to which that content from Switzerland has been used during the coronavirus crisis. Based on reader reactions and exchanges on social media, readers come from all over the world and different walks of life. The Swiss abroad, people with business ties to Switzerland, foreigners living in Switzerland, journalists from international media outlets, tourists, travel agents and scientists are some of the readers who have been using swissinfo.ch as a guide to the coronavirus situation.

Our news and in-depth reporting in 10 languages reached more readers last month than ever before as more people sought accessible and reliable information on the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis. These are the latest figures from the independent industry organisation Netmetrix:

Kai Reusser / swissinfo.ch

Meeting the demands of such a varied readership requires a diverse team. Our staff is made up of people from almost all continents and a range of cultural backgrounds, as shown in the #StayHomeChallenge we posted on Instagram.

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Most offices in Switzerland are empty these days, as people work from home under government advice to slow the spread of the coronavirus. It's no different for swissinfo.ch staff, who have also set up their laptops in their living rooms and spare rooms to continue working, albeit in very unusual circumstances.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ We took part in the #stayhome challenge and compiled the clips our journalists have filmed to show how we're working in this time, and what else we're doing to keep our spirits up.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Can you work from home? How is it going?⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ #corona #coronavirus #socialdistancing #homeoffice #workfromhome #Swiss #Switzerland #stayathome #stayhome #stayathomechallenge #stayhomestaysafe #stayhomesavelives #covid19 #swissnews #letsfightcoronavirus #staypositive #stayindoorsExternal link

A post shared by SWI swissinfo.ch in EnglishExternal link (@swissinfo.ch_en) on Mar 28, 2020 at 6:27am PDT

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