By Natalia Weideli Bacci, Director of the Cantonal Office for Social Insurance (OCAS)
Working conditions have long been viewed as an internal company matter, falling under human resources or management. Today, they have emerged as a far broader issue: the sustainability of our social model. For what happens inside organizations does not stop at their walls. Today’s professional vulnerabilities too often become tomorrow’s social breakdowns.
At the Cantonal Office for Social Insurance (OCAS), we are on the front line in observing the economic and human consequences of these ruptures. Disability, loss of earnings, long-term exclusion from the labour market: behind every case lies a trajectory marked by progressive weakening. And one reality stands out forcefully: these ruptures are rarely sudden. In most cases, they are preceded by weak signals which, if not identified and addressed in time, grow worse. Chronic fatigue, disengagement, health problems, particularly mental health problems, or difficulty adapting to rapidly changing work environments: these indicators must now be regarded as warning signs. Not as isolated individual vulnerabilities, but as symptoms of a deeper imbalance between the demands of work and individuals’ capacity to meet them over time.
The cost of inaction is considerable. It is human, first of all, because job loss or entry into a disability process is often accompanied by a sense of downward mobility, isolation, or even lasting social rupture. It is economic, too: benefits paid out, professional disintegration and the loss of skills represent a significant burden for the community. But above all, it is strategic: every employee lost is human capital that can no longer be put to productive use.
In light of this assessment, one conviction becomes inescapable: prevention must become a central pillar of performance. Prevention means acting upstream. It means identifying risk situations early, supporting vulnerable individuals and, where possible, adapting working conditions to keep people in employment. It is precisely within this logic that the mission of OCAS, and in particular of disability insurance, is grounded. Our role is to intervene as early as possible with people whose health is impaired, in order to preserve employment, or make it possible, and thus maintain earning capacity. The goal is clear: to avoid rupture, to promote entry into or retention in the world of work, and thereby to safeguard individuals’ dignity and autonomy.
But this ambition cannot be achieved without close cooperation with the business community. Companies have a decisive role to play. They are best placed to identify weak signals, adapt working environments and foster a management culture attentive to human balance. This is not about shifting responsibility, but about sharing it. Preventing professional breakdowns relies on an ecosystem: employers, employees, institutions and social partners. Together, they can build tailored, individualized and effective responses. We are now at a turning point. The transformations of the world of work, digitalization, an accelerating pace, changing expectations, are profoundly reshaping the social contract between employers and employees. In this new equilibrium, the ability to prevent vulnerabilities becomes both a competitive advantage and a social imperative.
Investing in high-quality working conditions is therefore much more than a moral or regulatory obligation. It is a strategic choice in the service of collective performance and social cohesion. It is also, and above all, a choice in favour of a society that sustainably values its human resources and refuses to regard vulnerability as inevitable.
Adapting working conditions means protecting jobs and dignity.
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