I have been a customer of format, a small, beautiful boutique for women of a certain age, for a long time. I've always received good service and good advice, and it's perfectly acceptable to leave without having bought anything. I therefore wanted to know the background to store owner Pia Grüninger's philosophy and asked her to talk to me [...].

According to the Federal Statistical Office, there were around 3.8 million private households in Switzerland at the end of 2018. Just over a third of these households had only one person living in them, which corresponded to 16% of the permanent resident population living in a single-person household. Two people lived in just under a third of households, corresponding to 29% of the permanent resident population. The average household size was [...]

This is what Heidi Z'graggen, a member of the Cantonal Council of Uri, said at a conference on "Generational solidarity - generational conflict" in November 2019, which I was able to attend. Did you know that today there are four different age groups? There are children and young people, then adults. Then - from age 65 to 79 - there are the "young pensioners"! And only from [...]

It should be possible to work beyond the normal retirement age, but there should be no financial or hierarchical pressure on employees or the labor market. Based on this premise, the trade unions are in favour of making the retirement age more flexible, provided it is open and accessible to all employees.

Once upon a time, it was a Sunday morning. After a long Saturday night. Tired, I go to the kitchen - but oh, what a shock, the fridge is empty. Has this ever happened to you, dear reader? Perhaps when you were younger? Situations like this encourage creativity. The two ladies Claudine Vögelin and [...]

Andreas Ladner, whom I know from a previous job we did together, works as a coach/consultant at Kiebitz. Kiebitz? What do you think that is? I make an appointment with him and meet him for an interview. Andreas, what is Kiebitz? Kiebitz is an association that works in the field of work integration. Its clients are, for example, the Regional Employment Services (RAV), the [...]

We recently sat down at a birthday party. Half of the guests had already been retired for a few years. The group was cheerful; we toasted and wished the birthday boy or girl good luck and, above all, good health. But I smiled again. The guests knew each other, they had always met at the birthday boy's house. Logically, the questions "How are you [...]