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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.
Most contracts are either fixed-term (usually at least 6 months), or indefinite. Part-time contracts are possible (e.g. 50% / 25 hours per week).
The statutory maximum working hours in Switzerland is 45 hours per week; however, these hours can vary depending on the job role, industry, and canton.
Employees are entitled to a 25% salary supplement for hours worked above the contractually agreed working hours unless otherwise agreed upon in writing or determined by a standard or collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
This supplement also applies to overtime that exceeds the statutory maximum weekly working hours.
However, certain employees, such as office staff, technical employees, sales staff in large retail businesses, and others, are only entitled to the supplement if they work more than 60 hours of overtime in a calendar year.
Averaged out over the year, this means that the 25% overtime pay is only applicable for employees who regularly work over 46.25 hours per week.
Temporary night work requires a 25% wage supplement, while permanent or regularly recurring night work requires a compensatory rest period of at least 10% of the time worked at night.
If an employee works on a holiday or Sunday, they are entitled to a 50% salary supplement. Sunday work lasting up to 5 hours must be compensated with time off within 4 weeks, while work exceeding 5 hours must be compensated with a substitute rest day of at least 24 hours.
Employees cannot be required to work on Sundays or at night without their explicit consent. Special provisions apply to certain categories of employees and establishments, and Sunday work may be regulated in a CBA. If a company is not subject to a CBA, the Labour Act applies for authorization of Sunday and night work.
The minimum wage in Switzerland depends on several factors, including age, length of service, job role, industry, and canton.
The maximum probation period in Switzerland is 3 months.
The income taxation system in Switzerland is complex and varies according to personal circumstances and the canton the employee resides in. For the latest tax bands, see here.
In addition to income tax, employees must make the following social contributions:
Employers in Switzerland must make the following social contributions in addition to the employee’s gross salary:
In addition to these, the employer must contribute towards the employee’s pension, with different amounts according to their age.
These can either be basic contributions (lower), or supplementary contributions (higher). The basic amounts are shown below, with a monthly salary cap of CHF 5036.25:
Employees in Switzerland are entitled to a minimum of 20 days of annual leave per year.
Employees in Switzerland are insured with a collective sickness allowance which is paid into by both employee and employer. In order to receive the allowance the employee must notify the employer on day 1, and provide a medical certificate within 2 days. The allowance covers 80% of the employee’s average salary, after a waiting period (typically 3 days).
Employees are entitled to a maximum of 14 weeks (or 16 weeks in Geneva) maternity compensation if they:
Employees receive 80% of the average employment income earned before the birth, paid out in the form of daily allowances (98 nationally or 112 in Geneva), which cease to be paid if the employee begins working again.
Employees in Switzerland are entitled to 10 days of paid paternity leave following the birth of their child, paid with similar rules to maternity leave.
The national holiday (1st of August) is the only federally regulated paid public holiday.
Besides the 1st of August, the cantons are entitled to independently define 8 public holidays (see here for a list). Work is prohibited on these days same as on regular Sundays.
The employer is legally not obliged to pay for these 8 public holidays. However, it is common practice that the payment of these public holidays is contracted for employees with monthly salaries.
Employers in Switzerland can typically offer allowances (e.g. public transportation), however, there are ordinarily considered taxable income.
It is possible for employers of record to arrange for with the canton (local government office) for an additional 5% of the employee’s salary to be claimed as expenses, which would not be taxable.
These expenses can then be spent on allowances as required, with receipts provided.
It is mandatory for employees in Switzerland to have medical insurance, however, they should arrange this themselves and pay the premiums from their net salary; employers are not involved in the process.
During probation, the minimum notice period is 2 days. Outside of probation, the notice periods depend on the employee’s length of service:
Payment in lieu of notice is possible, although not common in Switzerland.
Any unused leave is typically taken by employees during the notice period, but any days left over should be paid out in the final salary. Severance payments are not mandatory, or common in Switzerland - these can be agreed as part of the employment contracts.
While not required, it is very common for employers to pay a 13th-month salary bonus at the end of the year.
★ 5.3% - OASI/AVS
★ 0.3% - OASI Admin Fee
★ 1.1% - Unemployment Insurance
★ 1.3% - Family Compensation Fund
★ 1.6% - Sickness Allowance
★ 0.4-6.1% - SUVA accident insurance
★ 1-5% - Additional Employee Costs
You've sourced a full-time employee or contractor located in a country where your company is not incorporated.
Pass us the details of your candidate and we will let you know exactly what it costs to employ your candidate in that country.
Sit back and relax as we onboard your new team member and take care of all the local compliances and admin work.
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.
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.
