"We won't let it get us down, even if we have to improvise all the time"

How do you lead a company through the second lockdown? Désirée Schiess, President of the Winterthur SME Association and Managing Director of cleaning company Schiess AG, and Thorsten-D. Künnemann, Director of Technorama, on corona fatigue, the importance of planning and their hopes for the time after the crisis.

Ms Schiess, Mr Künnemann, how firmly are you feeling the coronavirus fatigue?
DésiréeSchiess: Meanwhile, I'm longing for certain things. For example, I'm really looking forward to being at an event with lots of people again, pushing my way through the crowd to the bar at an aperitif and being able to talk to everyone without a care in the world.
Thorsten-D. Künnemann: I long to be able to touch people with my hand again when I greet them. For me, the handshake is part of my culture; when someone visits me, I still have a reflex in my arm. I also experience constant stress at work because you never know what will happen next week. This uncertainty bothers me more than the tiredness caused by the coronavirus measures.
Schiess: The lightness of being is missing. In business, we have to be constantly ready for changes, adjustments and new requirements. It was an adventure at the beginning. But now, after a year, it's getting tiring.

Désirée Schiess and Thorsten-D. Künnemann

"There are people who think that saving on cleaning staff is not a problem." - Désirée Schiess

These are the videos that are also public, for example on the Technorama's Instagram channel?
Künnemann: Yes, a few of them are also public. I want the connection to Technorama to remain, even when we are closed and no one is here. As a non-profit foundation, we are also concerned about the finances. So far, however, we have got off lightly thanks to government aid. It's nice to see how support works in Switzerland. Colleagues from science centers abroad often have a harder time.

Have you already had to cut jobs due to corona, Ms. Schiess?
Schiess: We have never had to announce short-time working for our permanent specialist cleaners; we have always been able to keep them busy, even if we have had to "juggle" some of the orders. The situation is different for maintenance cleaning staff, who often work part-time. There was suddenly no more work - for example in closed restaurants or here at Technorama.

"Technorama is cleaner than ever at the moment." - Thorsten-D. Künnemann

Were there tough negotiations when a customer didn't want to pay anything more straight away?
Schiess: Well... There are people who think that saving on cleaning staff is not a problem, who think that our people only do it on the side and are not dependent on the income. But the employees in our sector are also dependent on their income and have to use it to pay their rent or health insurance. In some cases, we had to do a lot of educational work, but we were able to find solutions everywhere, even if we had to make a lot of sacrifices. We also announced short-time working in the area of maintenance cleaning in spring 2020. And we are making do by concluding special deals so that the contracts can be fulfilled, by us and by the customers.

This is what the area should look like after the Technorama Park opens on April 18, 2021.

Technorama is also renovating the interior, not just the park?
Künnemann: We've wanted to renovate the toilet areas for some time, and the plan was to do it in stages. Now we're doing it in one go, which is more efficient for the construction work.
Schiess: Our company has been cleaning the Technorama since the new building was constructed in 1982. In times like these, good, long-term customer relationships pay off.

"When we received a double payment from the Rieter Foundation, we briefly thought it was an oversight." - Thorsten-D. Künnemann

The cohesion in Winterthur is often praised. Have you experienced examples during the coronavirus period where this "Winterthur spirit" has proven its worth?
Künnemann: In spring 2020, the accounts department called me because we had received an unexpected transfer from the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation. At first, we even briefly suspected it was an oversight. But it wasn't. The foundation paid out its annual contribution twice - not only for us, but also for other institutions and associations - because of coronavirus. And it did so at the end of March, ten days after the first lockdown. That wasn't just a nice gesture, it was really strong.

"I would have expected the vaccination strategy to be in the drawer by now." - Désirée Schiess

In your view, how has the state managed the situation so far? At a higher level and in Winterthur?
Künnemann: The city's culture department has always kept us well informed. We've always felt that we've been well looked after. At a higher level, it was a very difficult situation for politicians. No matter what they did, they were always wrong. But I would say that Switzerland would have benefited from a little more centralism during the second wave; as a relatively new Swiss citizen, I was perhaps particularly aware of this. The fact that all the cantons had to look after themselves in a small country half the size of some Chinese cities certainly didn't help in coping with the pandemic.
Schiess: In my opinion, the government managed the first wave well. But what surprised me: Politicians were not well prepared for the second wave. I would also have expected the vaccination strategy to have been in the drawer for a long time. I am very surprised that it is not better organized now. If a private company operated like this, it would have been fired long ago.

Many green areas are planned for the Technorama Park.

Ms. Schiess, you are President of the SME Association of Winterthur and the surrounding area. How do you assess the situation of Winterthur's SMEs?
Schiess: It varies greatly from sector to sector. The construction industry shouldn't complain, because the building sites have always remained open. It is certainly difficult in the catering industry, where I fear that not everyone will make it through the crisis. I've had better feedback than expected from the retail trade. During the time that the stores were open, business was very good in many places. To come back to the "Winterthur spirit": Corona has obviously made customers more conscious of buying locally.

"We had planned for 2021 to be the most visited year in the history of the Technorama." - Thorsten-D. Künnemann

Is the coronavirus crisis also an opportunity?
Schiess: I hope that people will be more aware of local stores and companies after the crisis. And perhaps people will also realize that they don't always have to travel somewhere, but can stay in Winterthur - and go to Technorama, for example.
Künnemann: From the perspective of a science center, I hope that corona has made people more aware of the importance of science. The fact that several vaccines have already been developed and millions of people have been vaccinated 15 months after the outbreak of this disease is a scientific feat. After science has been somewhat discredited in recent years by claims of so-called "alternative facts", I hope that trust in research and technology will now increase again.

"I hope that people will now shop more consciously locally." - Désirée Schiess

Finally, what's your tip for an excursion in the city or region to switch off from time to time, especially during the coronavirus crisis?
Künnemann: Perhaps that's the biologist in me talking: during the lockdown, I loved going into the forest, there are plenty of them in Winterthur. It was just quiet there, you could hear nothing but nature. That was a very special experience.
Schiess: At the moment, you have no other option than to go out into nature. Putting on my jogging shoes and going for a run in the Lindberg also helped me a lot during the lockdown. And what I can always recommend: a walk through Winterthur's old town.

Alessia Baumgartner and Jakob Bächtold