In short: time is a currency of respect in many Swiss workplaces. As we prepare Service Design professionals to navigate work in Switzerland it's important that they know how to deal with Swiss time precision. Plus in Design schools known for flexibility, time rigor creates a strong balance.

A bit of Swiss time culture

I teach Service Design in Switzerland. And you might now this, but Swiss people love their watches ! And being on time, here means being exactly on time. There are some regional differences, like the "quart-d 'heure Vaudois". But in general Swiss work culture is oneof timing precision. I often explain to people outside of Switzerland that a great work - love-sign is to finish earlier than planned to give people some extra time.

I believe that when you teach Service Design skills you also want to make the people understand and be able to navigate work cultures. So it's important to me that the people that study Service Design with me in Switzerland also get to work with the Swiss time culture.

How does that translate in my teaching

In the first session I have with people who join my class I often onboard them into this Swiss time culture by setting these rules of the game:

• Being on time means being ready a minute before the given time.

• If you come late don't say sorry, just come and work. If you were late you had a good reason for it, I trust you.

• The course starts on time. No matter how many people are here.

Why is this important in Art schools

Art and Design schools are great to help people explore many topics and see the world outside of an Excel spreadsheet mindset. They offer a lot of flexibility. But that flexibility often isn't at all the same in the workplace. So to me it feels important to offer a bit of a preview of the Swiss workplace with a tight time culture. When teaching Service Design to business or engineering people, I tend to showcase and push for more flexibility, as such groups have a bias in the other side.

Backstage of this article

This article was written and illustrated by hand on a refurbished Remarkable II tablet. The handwriting was converted into a typed text using the Connect Service by Remarkable. If you are curious you can download the original note below.