Migros diversity in numbers
Celebrating diversity at Migros
With 97,727 employees in over 100 companies, Migros Group takes diversity to heart. The current numbers.
Professions in the Migros environment
“We’re the guardian angels working in the background”
IT specialists Thomas Staub and Thien Nguyen ensure that the heart of the retail world beats in time. This means going to some surprisingly damp places.
Thomas Staub hovers above the vegetables. The 59-year-old has used a lifting platform to get himself up to the ceiling of the Migros supermarket. Watched by curious customers, he examines a small, white box. “The antenna is definitely broken,” Staub calls down. His 23-year-old colleague Thien Nguyen immediately hands him the correct replacement component. “Here you go old fella!” After a few simple steps, the new WLAN antenna lights up blue and everything is OK.
Staub and Nguyen are two of over 30 “field services technicians” working at Migros. They equip all supermarkets – in addition to Denner and Migrol branches – with computer technology and ensure network stability. It’s thanks to them that the checkout systems work, Cumulus points are credited to customer accounts and orders for goods are sent out. “We’re the guardian angels working in the background,” says Thomas Staub.
Problems at the shopping centre
They are dealing this morning with various minor problems at Zugerland Shopping Centre. “The more antennas fail, the slower the store network becomes,” explains Thien Nguyen. The skilled telematics technician joined Migros a year ago. Together with Staub and two other colleagues, Lucerne-born Nguyen looks after the branches in Central Switzerland and Ticino. He is the youngest member of the team. “By a long way.” – “That’s enough,” his workmate responds with mock indignation.
Staub himself joined Migros 27 years ago. For many years, the skilled technician from Horw in Canton Lucerne equipped Migros Lucerne branches with new hardware. “I know the systems inside out.” Since joining Field Services in 2022, he has also been configuring networks.
Best of friends
The large age gap between the two men is certainly no barrier - on the contrary, Staub is full of admiration for his young colleague’s network expertise, which benefits everyone. A point of attack for Nguyen: “I think Thomas is making progress, albeit slowly, as he’s no spring chicken.” Staub counters: “But I’ve got better local knowledge and know all the tricks when it comes to laying cables.”
As they’re about to leave the supermarket, they bump into the head of facility management. “I’m glad I caught you!” There’s a problem with the scales on the cheese counter: the customer display isn’t showing the weight of cheese, but a juicy piece of meat. “You’ve got the wrong scales,” says Staub. “Can you create a ticket for us?”
Problems aren’t always quite so easy to solve. In the night before 31 December 2023, Thomas Staub suddenly received an error message on his mobile phone. The WLAN had gone down completely in about a dozen stores. No checkout systems were working. “An unexpected software update had paralysed the network – and precisely on one of the busiest retail days of the year.” He had to quickly round up the other IT specialists so they could work together to get the systems up and running again. “Things like this really make you sweat.”
A tangled web of cables
The Zugerland server room is in one of the shopping centre’s back rooms. As they enter, the two technicians are met with warm air and a loud humming noise. “That’s coming from the fans in the network cabinets,” says Thien Nguyen. He opens up one of the cabinets in which countless cables create a colourful pattern. “The grey cables are for the checkout systems and the blue ones for the WLAN antennas.”
Nguyen connects his laptop to the cabinet and checks that the replaced components in the Migros supermarket are working properly and at full capacity. He routinely replaces a faulty cable that has been inhibiting data flow.
The next job pops up on his mobile phone – this time outside the shopping centre. An antenna has also failed at the Migrol petrol station on the other side of the road - but the system doesn’t show which one. “All I can see is that number 1 is no longer working,” explains Staub.
Everything is working properly in the petrol station shop and the garage. “Where else do you have antennas?” Nguyen asks a mechanic working on a delivery van. “There’s another one in the car wash.” That’s the one! The device is installed at the top of the wall, protected by a plastic cover. There’s no blue light. Nguyen unscrews the antenna and connects it to the network cabinet at the Migrol petrol station. Suddenly the bulb lights up. “In that case, there must be something wrong with the wiring in the car wash.” The two technicians can’t solve this problem by themselves. They tell the manager that he’ll need to call out an electrician.
The next job has already come through, this time at the Denner store in Surseepark. After a quick bite to eat in Zugerland, the two technicians set off again.
Stories from our work environment
Whether at a desk, in a store or in a laboratory – our work environment is diverse, just like the people behind it. Discover their stories.
All Stories
Asperger’s autism
“I see all errors as though they were glowing”
Barbara Infanger is 43 years old and is doing an apprenticeship as a logistician at Migros Verteilbetrieb AG in Neuendorf. She has Asperger’s autism and explains how this can actually often be a benefit during her everyday work.
From Syria to Switzerland
The Denner store as a classroom
Raparen Mohammad risked her life to escape from Syria. She now works at Denner in Rapperswil, where she is the assistant store manager.
Refugee learns how to be a baker at Jowa
Refugee learns how to be a baker at Jowa
Syrian refugee Fuad Asaad works at Migros’ bakery arm Jowa, where he is training to be a baker. We show how he makes croissants, Wähe tarts and Linzer torte.
Professions in the Migros environment
“We’re the guardian angels working in the background”
IT specialists Thomas Staub and Thien Nguyen ensure that the heart of the retail world beats in time. This means going to some surprisingly damp places.
Store manager
Everyday life as a store manager
Brendalee Salazar Piretti is store manager at Lutry La Conversion in Canton Vaud. Whether it’s product displays, managing her team or dealing with unexpected situations, her days are always busy.
A store manager’s everyday life
“I often feel like a football coach”
Yves Brunner manages the Migros supermarket in Affoltern am Albis. He gives us an insight into leading an 80-strong team and tells us what his typical working day involves.
Migros employee
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Brigitte Schalch had her first day at work over 48 years ago – and now it's her last. Why she always stayed and how often she asked: "Have you got Cumulus?".
Inclusion
A man with an iron will
After suffering an accident, René Hübner had to start using a wheelchair, but he adapted to his new situation and now works as a forklift operator for Migros.
Apprenticeship with F status
«The apprenticeship is my chance to show that I've integrated»
Mohammad Yusufi (23) fled from Afghanistan as a teenager. He is now doing an apprenticeship at the Migros company Delica – even though he has only been temporarily admitted to Switzerland.
Working in the Migros Group
Jeremy's journey from language student to Club School employee
Born in Australia and now a resident of Basel, Jeremy Blanchard (42) learned German at the Migros Club School. Today, he works as a Product Manager for Languages. How this came about and where the challenges lie.
Working in the Migros Group
How Nithujan went from being a business economist to an IT specialist
Nithujan Prathapan, 31, from Rotkreuz in the Canton of Zug, studied Business Economics at the University of St. Gallen. Now, he’s undertaking further training at Migros to become an IT specialist. What motivates him, and what he finds challenging about this process.