Curiosity and perseverance are – and have always been – conditions for progress, and these qualities have been vital to Roche in Rotkreuz for half a century now. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, learn from our employees how they experience the Rotkreuz site, what inspires them and what makes them curious.
Roche in Rotkreuz has many faces but still maintains a unique and distinctive identity that has grown over the last 50 years. We want to visualise our anniversary through the theme #StayCurious.
It is curiosity, as a central driving force, that has accompanied us from our founding in 1969 as Tegimenta in Zug with just 60 employees until today’s Roche Diagnostics International in Rotkreuz with around 2500 people from 70 nations. Our site has developed into a modern and open campus that is architecturally unique and unparalleled in central Switzerland.
Ultimately, it is the countless enthusiastic and committed people, as employees, suppliers, authorities and business partners, that have shaped Rotkreuz over the past decades with their perseverance, commitment and spirit of innovation. It is the diversity of intelligent and creative minds from different nations, professional groups and functions that makes us stand out.
Personally, I am fascinated by the combination of a strongly rooted local culture with a highly international and future-orientated focus. We meet challenges constructively and in an open dialogue, find pragmatic and sustainable solutions and implement them quickly. I am always particularly impressed by the moments when we, as a site, break new ground and I can feel the joy of the employees in being part of our Roche Rotkreuz family.
What inspires you?
#StayCurious – for the next 50 years.
I am inspired by people who live their individuality and use it for the advancement of mankind.
I have grown up with the Rotkreuz site. I myself come from this region, a rural area with traditional values. Little by little, the whole world has come to us, and for me it has opened up a whole new global perspective.
For me, as a leader, I feel responsible to give to my organisation the best working conditions to perform, develop new ideas and be successful.
The Rotkreuz site exudes pure vitality. We have an environment that is agile and dynamic, which keeps me going and thrills me every day.
I have worked at the site since 1978 and in all that time innovation and development have always been the primary focus.
I am responsible for the apprentices in our department. It is a great enrichment for me to train these young employees and to work with them.
The Rotkreuz site has had a significant influence on my professional development – and still does today.
Since my first day of work here at Roche in Rotkreuz, I have been supported as an apprentice, I can actively contribute ideas and be creative.
Rotkreuz is a cosmopolitan hub – not only for diagnostics, but also for development and innovation. For me, the campus stands for diversity, connection and inclusiveness.
For me personally, the site Rotkreuz stands for innovation and openness to new ideas. And I live this every day.
The cobas t 511/711, an instrument for coagulation analysis, has accompanied me since I started at Roche in Rotkreuz about ten years ago.
The Rotkreuz site is, both professionally and personally, very important to me. As a vocational trainer, I really appreciate the interesting but also intensive work with the young adults.
I joined the company thirty years ago as a young developer and since then I have worked on nearly all the diagnostic systems. Looking back, one experience makes me especially proud.
What always strikes me here on campus and keeps me motivated every day, is the great appreciation that the Roche employees show me. This respect and recognition for an everyday service definitely isn’t found everywhere.
My greatest passion is travelling. Immersing myself in foreign cultures, exploring new cities and countries enriches my life immensely. I also encounter this colourful diversity in my work.
"For me, the Rotkreuz site is much more than just a workplace. Not only do I get to work with friends at this great location, but I can also make an important contribution through my work.
Roche in Rotkreuz offers me a modern workplace in an exciting environment. The work performed is valued and the way we treat each other is very respectful. In addition, I have everything I need to provide employees with an optimal infrastructure.
I work with people from different countries and cultures. Together with them, fulfilling the expectations of our customers and ensuring their satisfaction is the greatest thing for me.
I have experienced the development of the site over the last few years as quite challenging. The company has changed a lot; we had to get used to a new company organisation, new processes and many new colleagues.
Roche always offers its employees the opportunity to do new things. During my time here in Rotkreuz I already got to know four very different stations, which was enormously varied.
As an Environmental Specialist, the environment lies close to my heart. It is therefore all the more rewarding to make an active and positive contribution to our environment through my job at Roche in Rotkreuz.
Roche is a flexible and open-minded company offering a vocational training that enables me to pursue my dream of a football career parallel to my apprenticeship.
I like different things about the site, but one thing is really special: we have cornfields, we have sheep and a backdrop of mountains.
Around 15 years ago, I regularly delivered goods to Roche in Rotkreuz. Again and again, I drove past the site on the motorway and witnessed how the campus has grown and grown.
I have worked at Roche in Rotkreuz for many years and have seen a lot. A special experience: When the new restaurant was built in 2007, we had to remove the existing flat-cut plane trees of the old car park.
I have worked at Roche for 39 years, currently as Product Manager in the Swiss Sales department of Roche Diagnostics.
Roche in Rotkreuz is a significant part of my life, where I am working with great people in an interdisciplinary team.
Through the company Vebego here on the Rotkreuz campus, I am responsible for waste disposal, receipt of goods, and deliveries, which makes my job very varied.
For me, the I in RDI stands for innovation. I believe the curiosity that we have on site is driven by the people that work here. It’s such a diverse audience, not only in terms of nationality but also in terms of backgrounds, experiences and different ways of thinking.
What I enjoy about my daily work is that I am involved in many different steps. For example, in production I am responsible for replenishment and making sure that material is always available.
At the reception, I have daily contact with many different people. Whether they are staff, visitors or apprentices, they all come to me first!
When I joined Roche in Rotkreuz in 2007, I was 16 years old. The company has grown in many ways over the last 12 years – just like me.
Every day I go from Hünenberg by bicycle to work. However, the short distance was not the main reason why I decided to do an apprenticeship as an electronic engineer at Roche in Rotkreuz.
The C-parts management, which we provide as a service for the site Rotkreuz and which aims to optimise procurement processes for articles with low value but high procurement costs, is economically very important for Bossard.
Programming mechanical parts on stateof-the-art systems and then producing them on a five-axis milling machine – that’s one of the reasons why I like my job so much.
For the best results, it is extremely important that we as a company make optimum use of all our employees, including women.
As a longtime employee, it makes me proud to be a part of this unique success story. It is the story of a small site that has become one of the most important Roche Diagnostics sites.
As team leader in Instrument Operations, I lead a team of 19 employees. As a mother of two children I am grateful that Roche in Rotkreuz is helping me to reconcile the two most important areas of my life: my family and my job.
My amazing working environment motivates me day after day to take on new and exciting challenges. I enjoy the fun among my colleagues, the varied tasks as a personal assistant and the management of the SIS admin team.
At Roche in Rotkreuz, I can put into practice my knowledge from many years of work in university cancer research and contribute to the future of cancer diagnostics.
What I find particularly pleasing here at the site in Rotkreuz is the fact that it is not only desirable to look beyond one’s own nose, but also actively encouraged.
The group of people working here in Rotkreuz is very diverse, and yet we seem to become more open with each other and having the right conversations we need to have.
I originally studied Microbiology and Immunology in Montreal, Canada, and my passion for people led me to a career in Human Resources after switching to Marketing and Management.
For us in Software Development most important is the quality of the application: It must work! An important aspect is that I can rely on my team, and I can, because we are a highly motivated and experienced team.
I am committed with heart and soul to the Roche Employee Association (AVR), which I co-founded in 2000. Among other things, we were able to ensure that our site was represented in various bodies such as the pension fund.
I grew up in Rotkreuz and have worked here for 30 years in systems development. What has influenced me most, is growth, in many ways. On one hand, the enormous expansion of the site and the community and on the other hand my invention for describing growth curves, ‹the Knobel-formula›.
I am motivated by the challenge to drive forward new and innovative system developments that will significantly improve the lives of patients in the future.
When I started working for Roche in Rotkreuz 30 years ago, as a woman it was not always easy for me. At the time, I was working in production, a classic male domain. One felt ‹alien› amongst so many men.
In 2016, after 33 years at Roche I retired. But even today, I am greeted by a large number of employees when I walk across the campus. That means a lot to me, because the cooperation here was very intensive and the company was like a second home.
I’m working on ‹girlsformint›, a project launched by Roche in Rotkreuz and Faszination Technik. The target group is girls attending 5th to 7th grade. We offer various workshops on MINT topics (Mathematics, IT, Science and Technology) at the site.
The Rotkreuz site is home to innovative people, extensive knowledge and central processes of the Diagnostics Business. Roche is a driving force and a leading platform for innovation in healthcare.