Employment Conditions

All text on this page is ©2015 Survival Books and is published here with their generous permission. Order your copy of Living and Working in Switzerland online or ask for it at your local bookstore!

Employment conditions (Arbeitreglement, reglement de travail) in Switzerland are largely dependent on cantonal laws, an employee’s contract, and an employer’s general terms. In general, foreigners are employed under the same working conditions as Swiss citizens. This usually means that salaries, fringe benefits and working conditions are among the best in the world. Employees hired to work in Switzerland by foreign (non-Swiss) companies and organisations may be offered even better terms and conditions (including higher salaries) than those provided by Swiss employers.

In certain industries there are General Labour Agreements (GLAs), which is a written convention between one or more employers or employers’ associations and trade unions. It contains provisions on relations between employers and employees as well as provisions which are directed at the contracting parties of the GLA, such as a minimum wage.

[Hampshire, David. (2015). Employment Conditions. In Living and Working in Switzerland (15th ed., p. 33). Bath: Survival Books.]