Europe

Switzerland

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Employer of Record (EOR) in Switzerland

What you'll learn

  • Country Introduction
  • Tax Breakdown for Employers
  • Statutory Leave Laws
  • Minimum Wage and Working Hours
  • Termination Process
  • Additional Information
Switzerland Introduction

Switzerland is a landlocked country in central Europe, bordered by Italy, France, Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. The country is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Alps and the Jura Mountains. Switzerland lies at the crossroads of Germanic and Romance Europe, which can be seen in its 4 main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country has one of the highest costs of living in the world, as well as one of the highest nominal wealth per adult in the world.

Paid Leave and Statutory Leave

Parental Leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave (16 weeks for the Geneva canton), and at least 8 weeks must be taken after the birth. The employer pays 80% of the regular wages during the leave (up to CHF 196 per day). Employees must have contributed to social security for the 9 months before the birth and must have been actively employed for 5 months before the birth to be eligible for leave benefits. There is no mandated paternity leave, however most employers offer a few days of paid paternity/partner leave.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to paid sick leave in Switzerland, the amount of which depends on how long they have worked for the company. Employees receive 3 weeks of sick leave during their first year. Many employers take out a daily benefits insurance scheme where employees can receive 80% of their salary for a maximum of 720 days.

Paid Leave

There are 7 national holidays in Switzerland and employees are entitled to 4 weeks of paid leave per year (after finishing 1 year of employment at their company). Employees can also receive leave to care for an ill or injured child.

Wage Requirements and Working Hours

The minimum wage is CHF 20 per hour, and a standard workweek is 40 hours at 8 hours per day. Overtime work is regulated by the employment contract or collective agreements, and is usually paid at 125% of the regular salary rate.

Termination Process

Process

Switzerland technically does allow at-will employment, however most companies are cautious with their terminations and make sure to provide fair cause for any termination.

Notice Period

Notice periods are common in employment contracts, and usually range from 1 to 3 months depending on seniority and industry.

Severance Pay

Severance pay is not required unless stipulated in the employment contract.

Additional Information

While not required, it is very common for employers to pay a 13th-month salary bonus at the end of the year.

OVERVIEW
Language(s):
Swiss-German, French, Italian, Romansh
Currency:
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Capital City:
Bern
Population:
8.7 Million
Cost of Living Rank:
2nd
VAT (Valued Added Tax):
7.7%
Employer TaxES
15.95%
(estimated)

★  7% - Pension

★  5.28% - Social Security

★  2.45% - Family Compensation Fund

★  1.1% - Unemployment

★  0.05% - Maternity Insurance

★  0.07% - Early Childhood Fund

Simplified Global HR and Payroll.
Let’s work on it together.

We've made the process really simple
with only 3 steps.

1

Remote candidate

You've sourced a full-time employee or contractor located in a country where your company is not incorporated.

2

Cost Calculation

Pass us the details of your candidate and we will let you know exactly what it costs to employ your candidate in that country.

3

Onboarding & Admin

Sit back and relax as we onboard your new team member and take care of all the local compliances and admin work.

Same-day onboarding
Best Pricing
Available in 150+ countries
How Remofirst employs in Switzerland

It can be prohibitively expensive to establish an entity in every country you want to hire talent in, so Remofirst will hire and pay your employee on your behalf while you manage their daily duties. Remofirst will handle formal HR procedures and employment contracts that adhere to local laws, so that you can simply approve invoices via our platform. When you work with an Employer of Record (EOR) you can compliantly hire the best employees around the world.

How employees in Switzerland get paid
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. Remofirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees in Switzerland are paid on time in Swiss Franc (CHF). To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Full-time Employees vs Global Contractors

Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.

Dependable support for employees
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about benefits, Visas, or anything else related to international employment in Switzerland, they can use our platform's chat function to get answers from our team of experts. Every client of Remofirst also receives a dedicated account manager that will serve as a point of contact for global HR support.