70 years of the Roche Employees' Association (AVR)
70 years of the Roche Employees’ Association (AVR) – what an occasion, what a success! And the story of the AVR is still far from being over. The Association is more important and more in demand than ever. This anniversary should really have been celebrated last year with a special Offsite Meeting – which sadly, like many other planned events, fell victim to the virus. So it was a moment of great joy when, on 28 September, the event could finally get under way. Traditionally, these annual meetings last for three days, with day two seeing Head of HR Bruno Weissen invited along, together with the relevant business partners (formerly HR, nowadays People & Culture Organisation), to discuss relevant personnel and site-related topics and establish joint strategies for the year to come. This year, too, the morning of the second day was devoted to these topics, with a special focus on exploring the Operating Model after the P&C Transformation. But this year the AVR went a big step further: it also invited the top executives from Pharma International Business (Head of Pharma International I8 Countries, Padraic Ward and of Pharma International I7 Areas, Jörg Rupp, with the relevant P&C business partner, Rajji Mehdwan) to a workshop in the style of a World Café. In this area, transformation has been a top priority for some time and remains so today.
The AVR was keen to understand to what extent Pharma International would be able and willing to contribute to Roche’s 10-year ambitions. Also in attendance were Thomas-Frederik Schmidt, General Manager of Roche Pharma Switzerland, and Rebecca Herdtweck, P&C business partner for RPS, to see at first hand how the operating model envisaged by Pharma International would be implemented in the domestic Swiss organisation and what hurdles would have to be overcome in the process. Of course, Head of Pharma International Informatics Angeli Möller was present, together with the Head of the WEX Network, Julia Schönberg.
The biggest surprise of the afternoon for the participants, however, was the (virtual) attendance of Severin Schwan – an unexpected appearance that was rewarded with hearty applause. As the 125-year jubilee celebrations were taking place in Basel at the same time during this week, Dr Schwan was sadly unable to come to Lenk in person, for which he expressed great regret in his address for the AVR’s 70th birthday. He wished the AVR every success and all the best for the future. He also thanked the AVR for its goal-oriented and positive collaboration in many different transformations, and in particular during the difficult period of the pandemic. And he did not miss the opportunity to congratulate the AVR on reaching its 70th year of existence. In this connection, he emphasised the great dedication of the AVR committee members in taking on their role in addition to their responsibilities in their day jobs. He felt that it was only through this that the connection to the employees was maintained and it was exactly this that made the AVR so credible. In this way the AVR and, through the AVR, management could obtain first-hand, unfiltered information on current events within the organisation.
Dr Schwan expressed his belief in the volunteer system: he felt it was important for Switzerland – and really only possible here.
He also spoke of the importance of ongoing communication in building trust. Here, he particularly highlighted his regular, once- to twice-yearly meetings with the AVR, which create the basis for this trust; the topics addressed by the AVR could thus be identified as early signals and, if necessary, be followed up. The topic of the transformations in the Pharma International area was of great interest to him, he said, which was why he had taken the time to follow the presentations relevant to him virtually. After an intensive and informative hour, which was also not lacking in two-way communication, Dr Schwan bid a friendly farewell and wished the AVR every success for the rest of the offsite meeting.
After this, there was a lively discussion on the selected topics at three World Café tables, and the results were briefly presented at the end. The AVR will analyse the results and follow up on the relevant topics.
That evening things got “local”. On the Bühlberg in Lenk, the AVR and guests were welcomed by the sound of alphorns. A craft brewery from the Simmental hosted a tasting of eight different speciality beers, brewed with mountain water plus a lot of loving care. The culinary delights of the Lenkerhof left no wish unfulfilled. The harmonious evening finished to the sound of Älplermusik: in addition to accordion and double bass, our President, Adnan Tanglay, provided the percussion accompaniment to an alphorn intermezzo.
On the agenda for the third day was a training session on personnel law, delivered to the AVR site representatives by two lawyers from the Group Legal department, Sandra Klemm and Jonatan Riegler.
The afternoon was once again devoted to fun: the AVR hiked into the Siebenbrunnen valley and found a lot surprises along the way – all perfectly planned by Vice-President Gernot Scharf. This event was the actual in-house 70-year anniversary party of the AVR committee. It prompted President Adnan Tanglay to remark, in his speech of thanks, that he was confident he would be able to hand over the presidency to his successor Gernot Scharf without a qualm in the foreseeable future.
The fourth and last day was devoted to the Roche Works Council (AKR). The AVR was given an insight into the management and organisational structure of the AKR by its President Peter Driessen and Vice-President Romina Leucci. This also provided an opportunity to discuss the possibilities for a potential collaboration.
After a general round of feedback in which everyone had the chance to review their experiences once more, the attendees headed for home full of impressions.
The consensus among participants was that this had been an once-in-a-century offsite meeting – and therefore worthy as an occasion to mark the AVR’s 70th anniversary.
Written by Adnan Tanglay, AVR President