“Tomorrow is now - be the change” - the Roche Assistants’ Day
Proactively shaping the own future, developing professionally and personally, and bringing innovative strategies to life together - Antonia Stichaner is part of the Future Office Network (FON), which makes a difference together with all Roche assistants and drive forward the development of the assistant profession. In this context, the first global and virtual Assistants' Day in April 2021 was an important milestone that exceeded all expectations.
My name is Antonia Stichaner. As assistant to our Head of Human Resources (HR) in Mannheim and Penzberg I am responsible for the entire HR team and HR management. My tasks include e. g. event management, preparing and follow up HR leadership meetings and being involved in various local and global projects. Every day I have to cover a wide range of topics and requirements that sometimes go beyond my expertise. But the great thing is: I don't have to be the expert in all topics either, because therefore we have the "Future Office Network" (FON) - our constantly growing assistance network. Across several Roche sites, the network is always happy to take on new challenges in our professional training. Whether professionally or personally, FON offers all assistants individual, tailored opportunities for further development. In our open feedback and error culture, every individual counts and can get rid of all their questions on various topics. With a forward-looking vision and strategy, we drive change independently. We are courageous and encourage others to help shape current vision-oriented topics.
The Corona pandemic in particular has once again shown how important we assistants are. As digital heroes in the latest virtual tools we support our departments in digital challenges brought by the new virtual world. Agility, networking and change management characterize our everyday lives. But what does that mean in concrete terms? With the help of agile methods and the right mindset, we develop important competencies to be able to support our teams and managers as partners.
One highlight of our network is the Assistants' Day, which took place for the 6th time in April 2021 under the motto "Tomorrow is now - be the change!" and is aligned with our FON strategy. This year, for the first time virtually, we were able to welcome all Roche assistants worldwide, which is why the number of participants more than tripled compared to previous years with more than 730 participants. With the two CEOs of the divisions Diagnostics & Pharma as keynote speakers, we were able to set an exclamation mark right at the beginning of the event.
Each participant was able to create his individual agenda from 91 workshops. The sessions were moderated by internal and external speakers and our network partners such as Google, SAP, Siemens and Merck. The workshops were related to the topics of transformation and change, being courageous as an assistant, and health & well-being. Each assistant had the opportunity to expand their network, learn from and with each other, test new agile working methods or, for example, learn tips & tricks for healthy cooking in the home office. The Assistants' Day was rounded off with a virtual evening event, which focused primarily on active networking and fun.
With this positive spirit from the Assistants' Day, we as FON network can proactively take the next steps into a vision-oriented future.