Hiring employees in Switzerland
If your organization is planning to expand to the Central European country of Switzerland, you will likely be looking to recruit in the country. The rules and customs around Switzerland recruitment can be complicated for those who haven’t been through the process before, but compliance is important if you want to minimize the chance of any disputes or delays. Also, Switzerland has four different official languages (French, German, Italian, and Romansh), which can create a language barrier if you don’t have the right hiring staff.
At Horizons, our global expansion team will guide your organization through the Switzerland recruitment process and provide tailored outsourcing for all of your hiring requirements. We will help you to source, hire, and onboard your workforce in Switzerland, compliantly and efficiently, even if you don’t have an official entity in Switzerland.
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Switzerland hiring guide
Explore some of the key information about Switzerland recruitment and how to hire the best talent to help with your Switzerland expansion.
How to find and recruit employees in Switzerland
There are positives and negatives to hiring in Switzerland. On the negative side, it is a small country where competition can be fierce for the top talent. On the positive side, the population is wealthy and highly educated, so there is a high concentration of well-qualified candidates for a wide variety of industries and specific roles. If you are willing to put in the research and compensate well, you are likely to find world-class talent here.
As with most developed countries, most people now use the internet to advertise and apply for jobs. Some of the most popular sites for Switzerland recruitment such as Jobs.ch. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn are also widely used, but it is important to note that profiles of candidates on dedicated social media sites like Facebook are not allowed to be investigated by prospective employers.
Discrimination regulations for hiring in Switzerland
There are strict laws regarding discrimination by employers in Switzerland, and these cover the recruitment process. For example, employers cannot discriminate based on age, pregnancy, religion, race, disability, political affiliation, and several other characteristics. In addition to this, agreements with the European Union dictate that employers cannot discriminate based on nationality.
Onboarding staff in Switzerland
Onboarding new employees in Switzerland is not generally a great deal different than most other countries. The most important thing to do is be open and clear with new recruits about what’s expected.
We do recommend always writing up detailed contracts of employment for every new employee, and you should also go through the details when onboarding. Beyond this, it is important to provide adequate training for every position, including about your company’s culture and your overall expectations.
Compliance for Switzerland recruitment
Switzerland has a range of employment laws that you and your employees must adhere to in order to remain compliant. For example, employees cannot work more than the maximum number of weekly hours, must be paid overtime rates, and must need to receive vacation leave and sick pay, among other things. Visit our Switzerland PEO page to learn more about the entitlements of employees in Switzerland.
Horizons’ global specialists will guide you through the Switzerland recruitment process with outsourcing and consultancy services to ensure you are fully compliant with Switzerland’s regulations.
