Age Structure

Distribution by age groups
The trend up to the end of 2010 indicates that the age structure at Migros is relatively balanced. The age of approximately 50% of the employees is below or above the average age of 39.5 years. This age structure encourages and supports intergenerational cooperation, which forms a key element of the corporate culture.

Chart Distribution by age groups

Distribution by gender
The percentage of male and female employees within each age group is virtually identical. The fact that the proportion of women in the 15 to 40 age group is as high, or even slightly higher, shows that with targeted support women no longer have to decide between career and family, but are able to harmonise career and family.

Chart Distribution by gender

Comparative age structure
By contrast with the Swiss national average, Migros has a lot fewer employees in the 41-54 age group and a lot more employees in the 55–64 age group. The significantly higher proportion of older employees indicates the increasing significance of these workers in the economy and society. Migros makes allowance for this trend by operating an age-appropriate system of personnel management.

Chart Comparative age structure

Length of service

Percentage per length of service group by gender (Chart)
Members of staff remain loyal to Migros. About 60% of men and 59% of women have worked at Migros for more than 5 years. Men stay at Migros for less time than women: the percentage of women in the median length of service groups (6–9 years and 10–20 years) is around 47%, but for men only 42%. With these figures, Migros differs substantially, both in terms of quantity and quality, from the Swiss national average: on average only 52.2% of employees have been working at the same company for more than five years. And men stay at the same company for longer than women – 55.4% of men, but only 48% of women.

Percentage within length of service group by gender (Chart)
The fact that the percentage of women at Migros is disproportionately high, both for each length of service group (reference point: total number of women) and also within the individual length of service groups (reference point: total number of all men and women), shows that at Migros, which employs over 30,000 women with children, women do not in principle have to interrupt their employment to bring up their children and only then resume their working life. Women at Migros therefore have considerably more, not less, professional experience. These factors result in greater equality in working life, and preclude employment-biographical wage differences.