Employee Experience and Working Conditions
SMG cultivates a working environment that protects and promotes employee health and wellbeing, promotes a cohesive culture, and provides clear support structures that facilitate a coherent employee experience across locations and enable employees to perform at their best.
These principles are outlined in SMG’s CoC and were highlighted in the 2025 DMA, which underscored the importance of supporting employee wellbeing in a fast-paced, high-performance environment. The analysis also highlighted the positive influence of SMG’s flexible working model and organisational culture, as well as opportunities for increasing long-term adaptability through AI literacy and digital capability building.
Management of this topic is guided by SMG’s People Strategy and underpinned by the pillar attract and retain talent, which focuses on recognising and nurturing top talent and creating an environment where employees can develop skills, apply their strengths, and access long-term opportunities for growth and success.
2025 Feedback on Employee Wellbeing
Health, Safety, and Wellbeing
SMG offers a workplace grounded in physical safety, psychological wellbeing, and mutual trust, based on expectations set out in the CoC. Occupational health and safety principles are embedded in daily operations and leadership behaviour.
SMG’s approach to health, safety, and wellbeing addresses both physical and psychological impacts, and considers local context. HR and Facility Management have defined responsibilities for continuous improvement of health and safety processes. SMG completes hazard evaluations to assess the physical environment in its workplaces, and organisational and behavioural factors are considered as part of broader health and wellbeing efforts.
Mental Health
SMG partners with an external specialist to provide confidential, solution-oriented social counselling. Employees based in Switzerland, France, Germany, and Austria, and their immediate families, have access to the Lyra Wellbeing Helpline. Employees in Serbia and Vietnam have recourse to tailored support through locally adapted support services. All employees also have access to online learning opportunities that support stress management, mindfulness, and personal resilience.
Resilience and Digital Capability
Empowering employees to use AI and automation tools through education and training can help mitigate mental health-related pressures. Upskilling reduces potential fear and stress linked to new technologies, while enabling employees to use tools that reduce manual tasks. This can also improve service delivery, enhance customer support, and reduce operating costs. For further detail on digital capability-building initiatives and training programmes, see Learning and Capability Development.
Reporting Channels
Employees can raise concerns relating to physical safety and psychological wellbeing through multiple channels, including direct reporting to HR or Legal & Compliance, or anonymously via the whistleblowing platform. SMG protects employees who report concerns in good faith from retaliation, in line with the CoC and the Group’s commitment to personal integrity and safety.
Health and Safety Outcomes and Updates
In 2025, cantonal authorities reviewed SMG’s labour compliance practices in Switzerland. The inspection resulted in positive feedback, confirming a mature, progressive approach to employee protection. SMG has introduced changes to its recording of working hours and, in conjunction, joined a recognised collective labour agreement in Switzerland, effective from 2026, reinforcing its commitment to fair working conditions and consistent standards for employees.
In 2025, the total employee absenteeism rate in Switzerland was 2.7%.17 Absenteeism rates can provide an early indicator of workforce health and potential work-related stress. This low rate indicates that SMG’s preventive health and wellbeing measures are effective. Absenteeism is considered alongside other wellbeing indicators, including engagement survey outcomes, use of support services, and participation in capability-building programmes, to inform targeted actions and support employee wellbeing.
Corporate Culture
SMG’s value of Better Together reflects its commitment to a culture of open communication, inclusiveness, trust, and collaboration.
Purpose-driven programmes and shared experiences promote the corporate culture by connecting employees to SMG’s values and to one another. Culture bootcamps deepen understanding of SMG’s purpose and promote self-leadership skills, while Starter Days give hires a consistent grounding in the Company’s values.
In 2025, SMG staged its second global employee event, which is designed to deepen connections between teams and locations and promote alignment around shared values. Over two days, nearly 600 employees came together to reflect on SMG’s purpose, reinforce collaboration, and build relationships. The event also provided an opportunity to gather employee feedback on ways of working and cultural strengths. The Executive Leadership Team reviewed these insights to further develop cultural initiatives and increase alignment across SMG.
Flexible Working
SMG’s hybrid working model drives positive employee experience, offering flexibility that exceeds standard industry practice. This model combines team accountability with the ability to adapt work patterns to individual circumstances to improve employee wellbeing. Flexible working also supports collaboration and productivity. In the latest People and Culture Survey, 92% of respondents indicated that hybrid work arrangements promote individual and team performance.
Employee Engagement
Listening to employees is essential to building a strong, united culture, and plays a key role in reinforcing wellbeing, engagement, and trust at SMG.
Two to three pulse surveys each year guide wellbeing and engagement initiatives and assist in evaluating effectiveness, while the annual People and Culture Survey provides deeper insights into the employee experience.18
Survey outcomes in 2025 pointed to extensive employee engagement. The engagement score increased to 70% (previous year: 65%), putting SMG seven percentage points above the Swiss benchmark. The survey also indicated high levels of advocacy, with 82% of respondents indicating they would recommend SMG as a great place to work, yielding an employee net promoter score (eNPS) of 16.
The participation rate was 86%, demonstrating employee willingness to help shape the workplace. The continued focus on wellbeing was reflected in the 91% of respondents who agreed “My manager genuinely cares about my wellbeing”, placing SMG nine percentage points above the Swiss benchmark. Employee insights provide direction for targeted action. In 2025, feedback from ongoing engagement informed the development of mentoring plans with a specific focus on mentoring women.
Employee Movement
New hires1 | Leavers1 | |||||||
for the year ended 31 December | in headcount and percentage | 2025 | Rate2 | 2025 | Rate2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Switzerland | 41 | 6.9% | 83 | 13.9% | ||||
Serbia | 39 | 30.6% | 11 | 8.6% | ||||
India | 4 | 5.5% | 3 | 4.1% | ||||
Vietnam | 10 | 18.4% | 3 | 5.5% | ||||
France | 9 | 26.5% | 1 | 2.9% | ||||
Germany3 | – | 0.0% | – | 0.0% | ||||
Age below 30 | 35 | 22.7% | 23 | 14.9% | ||||
Age 30 to 50 | 64 | 9.3% | 72 | 10.4% | ||||
Age above 50 | 4 | 5.9% | 6 | 8.8% | ||||
Men | 61 | 10.0% | 59 | 9.7% | ||||
Women | 42 | 13.9% | 42 | 13.9% | ||||
Total headcount | 103 | 11.3% | 101 | 11.1% | ||||
1New hire and leaver movements exclude certain employee groups, and are intended to illustrate hiring and turnover trends.
2Rates are based on the average number of employees in the respective category during the reporting period.
3Employees based in Austria are included under Germany for confidentiality reasons.
Details on reporting scope and methodology are outlined in Employee Methodology and Boundaries. SMG has continually advanced its operating model and organisational efficiency since the 2021 merger. Notably, the net turnover rate (voluntary employee resignations) of the Group has receded to 6.5% on a trailing twelve-month basis, as at the end of 2025.
Talent Attraction
SMG’s long-term performance depends on its ability to attract and retain skilled, motivated people, making talent attraction a core pillar of SMG’s people strategy.
The hiring process is designed to be efficient and transparent, delivering a positive candidate experience from first contact through to onboarding. Candidate feedback is collected and analysed, reflected in a candidate net promoter score of 64 and a hiring manager net promoter score of 82.