President's Column - October 2025
Hello Members and Industry Friends,
When I first moved to Switzerland, I knew I’d be learning a new language, a new culture, have to figure out the bus and train system, and the most challenging, navigate the garbage and recycling regulations. But I wasn’t prepared for having to learn about enjoying your time away from the daily routine.
This is my first vacation season here, and it’s a real thing. Seems everyone takes their vacations in the same three or four week window. During this time the pace is different. The expectations are different. Spirits are up because it’s that time of the year.
In North America, we talk about “work/life balance” being the goal we believe in, but rarely feel we’ve mastered. Here, it feels built into the system. Two- or even three-week vacations are quite normal and basically the standard.
I need to embrace this! This summer, we took a one-week trip, hosted some family for another week and took a couple of long weekends. It felt good, but it also felt like I was doing it wrong. Maybe not wrong, but definitely not like others are doing it. Here, vacation isn’t about “getting away” for a few days. It’s about fully stepping out of work mode and turning off for a while. And not just vacation season. All year, shops close early. Sundays are super quiet. It’s not just the length of time off. It’s the way time is valued overall.
We’re still getting used to not having a 24-hour convenience store. At “home,” if you want to buy a hammer or a laptop at 9 pm on a Sunday, you can. In Switzerland, not so much. Bread at Noon on a Sunday is win! If you complain about it to a Swiss friend, you won’t get much sympathy or agreement. You’ll probably hear: “The only thing you can’t do on Sunday is shop.” Then they’ll rattle off a list of all the outdoor activities you can do: hiking, biking, swimming in a lake, walking through vineyards or just sitting at a café with a view of the Alps. And yes, there is plenty of opportunity to do those things in a lot of places, but here they are built in; that’s just what you do.
I have always thought of myself as someone who loves to be outdoors, but we have a bit to learn from the Swiss. Every weekend there’s some kind of outdoor festival. Rain or shine. Not the kind of over-the-top productions we might associate with big summer events, but something simpler, more grounded. Many of the official town festivals follow the same format: a big tent, traditional foods, local beer and wine. On paper, they might sound a bit copy / paste. In person, they never feel that way. There’s no “seen one, seen them all” mentality. It’s more like, “We know exactly what it will be like, and we want to go enjoy it again.”
What strikes me is how all of this fits together. The long vacations, the quiet Sundays, the steady calendar of festivals, are all part of a culture that takes leisure seriously. Not in a lazy way, but in a deliberate way. Time off is protected. Work is important, but it’s not the defining feature of life.
But the flip side is making the time at work productive. The average workday is long, and when people are at work, they work. Yes, there are a few espresso breaks, but once they sit down, they’re focused. I don’t see a lot of people scrolling through their phones or filling the day with small talk. The productivity is real. But when the workday ends, it ends. People don’t linger at their desks for the sake of appearances. They head home, or to the lake or to the mountains. They go live their lives.
I believe many have been in a routine where work hours tended to bleed into personal hours. Even “time off” came with the quiet hum of emails in the background. But here, the divide is clear. And it’s refreshing.
When people truly disconnect, they come back sharper, more creative and more willing to collaborate. When a team knows their time will be respected, they work harder during the hours they are on the clock.
I’m not saying we should all start taking three-week vacations (although, having seen the benefits here, I wouldn’t discourage it). But I do think there’s value in being intentional about our time, how we work and how we take a break.
It’s a lesson I’m still learning, and maybe next summer, I’ll get it right.
Until then, I hope you find your own ways to enjoy the seasons and get outdoors. The work will still be there when you return. But you might find yourself coming back to it with a new energy.
See you at the next festival.
Rob has 27 years of experience at Bobst, one of the world’s leading suppliers of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment and services for the label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated board industries. He currently serves as Tooling Director.
Rob is based in Switzerland, with his wife Monica and their children, Leo and Manuela. His older son, Khai is engaged and remains living in New Jersey. Rob enjoys camping and cooking as well as being a full time chauffer to hockey and swimming practices.
He is proof that being one of those “take it apart and see how it works” kind of guys can lead you to a wonderful career, meeting new people and experiencing the world.
The President's Column appears in The Cutting Edge, the IADD's monthly magazine.
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