As a successful executive with a family, Saskia Deiss sometimes wishes there were 25 hours in a day. But in fact, the 35-year-old is living exactly the life she has always dreamed of.
Saskia Deiss, Director of Facility Services, oversees more than 100 client accounts in the Aargau and Solothurn regions and is responsible for 400 employees.
Saskia Deiss is a jack-of-all-trades. Only she herself doesn’t want to hear any of it. Self-praise is foreign to her. But if you stroll with her through a property she manages, greetings, smiles, and compliments come flying at her from all sides - from employees hurrying by as well as from clients.
Determined and Responsible
Saskia Deiss began her career at ISS in 2012 as a healthcare assistant; today, the 35-year-old is responsible for over 400 ISS employees and more than 100 client accounts. What makes her so popular and successful? “Saskia leads with a great deal of empathy and clear goals,” says her supervisor, Regional Director Martin Zubler. She herself says modestly, “Everything I know, I learned from the ground up.”
Even as a child, she had to take on responsibility when her single, working mother also fell seriously ill. She would sometimes help out on weekends at her father’s small company, wiring control cabinets, for example. At 17, she began her apprenticeship as a hotel and restaurant specialist, gaining experience in housekeeping, the kitchen, the front desk, and front-of-house service. Politeness, a smile, and caring for guests come naturally to her. She realizes: “I enjoy being a service provider.”
The Path to ISS
In 2007, she completed her training with top grades. She followed this with a business apprenticeship at the Hotel Speer in Rapperswil, after which she took a position as a housekeeping manager at the University of Zurich and studied part-time at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (HF Bern) to become a facility management director. Her thesis is titled “The Effects of Leadership Behavior on Employee Motivation.” Her key finding: Successful leadership is based on appreciation and open communication.
The school principal recommended that Saskia Deiss apply to ISS, noting that the company offered good opportunities for professional development. Deiss submitted a blind application and was promptly offered a position as an assistant in the Healthcare division. Over the next two years, she serves as interim head of cleaning at a large hospital, works with a project group to develop a national laundry concept for the healthcare sector, and implements a certified cleaning workflow. In 2014, her boss at the time, Fabrizio Musa, invites her to lunch. The dessert is a promotion. She asks for time to think it over. “Can I do this? Can I lead older managers when I’m not even 30 yet?” She thinks it over carefully, talks to her husband, and calls her siblings; they all encourage her to take the next step in her career. Then she accepts the offer.
Career and Family
An intense period begins. As a Facility Services Manager, she’s constantly on the go between hospitals in Schaffhausen, Murten, Olten, Frutigen… In addition, ISS invites her to pursue further training to become a certified ISS Key Account Manager. “There, I learned a lot about agile customer relationships,” she says. “Such a relationship must adapt to the customer’s changing needs.” Then - in the midst of her training and a complex project - Saskia Deiss becomes pregnant. With all the accompanying ups and downs: overwhelming joy, but also unpredictable nausea. In 2016, her first child was born, and two years later, she welcomed another child. And the big question Saskia Deiss asked herself was: How would she and her husband balance their careers with family life? After her first maternity leave, Saskia Deiss reduced her workload. And because the Deiss family doesn’t just talk about equality - they live it - her husband did the same. The rest is a matter of planning. In 2020, Saskia Deiss was promoted to Facility Services Director.
Unwinding
Of course: Sometimes Saskia Deiss’s workday starts at 5 a.m. Her life is full - some might say overflowing. She herself, however, speaks gratefully of a “fulfilled” life. For the past year, she has been indulging in a childhood hobby once again. A few times a week, she takes riding lessons or simply goes for a ride on an Oldenburg gelding. Her, the horse, nature. That’s something new in her life: just switching off for a while.