Tag Archive: Work

Swiss travel and watch firms named best places to work

2018-04-27

by

2018-04-27

Swiss International Air Lines has been ranked as the most attractive employer in a survey on the 150 largest companies in Switzerland. Zurich Airport came in second, followed by watchmaker Patek Philippe. The survey, published by Dutch recruitment agency Randstadexternal link on Thursday, asked 4,800 people aged 18-65 where they would like to work.

Read More »

Cross-border workers in Geneva face ‘toxic’ environment

2018-04-12

by

2018-04-12

Cross-border workers are tired of being the target of political attacks in Geneva, says the president of a French-Swiss cross-border lobby group, who calls for a change in current rhetoric to prevent future damage to the Swiss economy. For Michel Charrat, president of the Groupement transfrontalier européenexternal link, disenchantment between Geneva and its cross-border workers may be at its lowest point.

Read More »

Drive for women in top jobs suffers setback

2018-03-12

by

2018-03-12

The percentage of women in top executive positions dropped slightly in Switzerland last year, a report has found. The annual survey by the Schilling human resource consultancyexternal link shows a 1% drop to 7% in 2017 compared with the previous year. In 2016, the share of women in company executive positions had risen by 2%, raising hopes of a strong increase over the years to come.

Read More »

Government proposes new pension reform guidelines

2018-03-10

by

2018-03-10

The Swiss government on Friday fixed the outlines of a new state pension reform plan, including raising VAT to fund it, and raising the retirement age for women from 64 to 65. The proposed reform is to be financed by an increase in VAT of up to 1.7%. Home Affairs Minister Alain Berset, who oversees social security and pension issues, is to submit a detailed proposal for consultation by lawmakers before the summer break.

Read More »

UN’s Geneva staff planning a strike over pay cuts

2018-03-07

by

2018-03-07

Employees of the United Nations in Geneva are planning a half-day strike on Tuesday to protest against wage cuts. The work stoppage would take place during a busy week, with dozens of ministers and officials expected at various events. "We have tried other forms of protest in vain before," said Ian Richards, head of the Staff Coordinating Council at United Nations Office at Geneva, on Sunday. "They left us no choice."

Read More »

Lake Geneva Region Attracts Most Cross-Border Workers

2018-02-27

by

2018-02-27

Switzerland continues to attract large volumes of cross-border workers, notably in the Lake Geneva region and around the city of Basel. At the end of last year, 318,002 people were crossing the border each day to work in Switzerland, according to data published by the Federal Statistics Officeexternal link on Friday. This is an increase of 1.7% compared with December 2016.

Read More »

Swisscom reports job cuts, data breach

2018-02-09

by

2018-02-09

The Swiss telecom company, whose majority shareholder is the government, announced plans to reduce up to 700 jobs by the end of the year as part of cost-cutting measures. It also revealed a data breach of client information. “By the end of 2018, Swisscom expects to have a headcount of around 17,000 FTEs [full-time employees] in Switzerland, around 700 fewer than at the end of 2017,” said a company statementexternal link released on Wednesday.

Read More »

Swiss court condemns €8 per hour wages of Polish workers

2018-01-31

by

2018-01-31

A labour court in Geneva has ruled against a Polish subcontractor that underpaid its seconded employees working on a Geneva building site. The workers were earning €8 an hour, about a third of what the work warranted, the court said. The case has been ongoing for almost five years and was led by the UNIA trade union on behalf of the workers.

Read More »

Jobless in Switzerland need more education, say social groups

2018-01-16

by

2018-01-16

Two leading Swiss organisations for social action and further education have called for big investment in training opportunities for the unemployed. At a press conference on Monday in Bern, the Swiss Conference of Social Institutions and the Swiss Federation for Further Education called on the state to invest in a schemeexternal link that they say could send 75,000 unemployed back into the job market.

Read More »

Number of unemployed in Switzerland drops by 4 percents

2018-01-11

by

2018-01-11

The Swiss unemployment rate fell from 3.3% in 2016 to 3.2% in 2017, according to figures released by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on Tuesday. In terms of actual numbers, 143,142 people were registered as unemployed, a decrease of 6,175 compared with the year before.

Read More »

Trade Unions Call for Fewer Hours, More Gender Equality

2018-01-10

by

2018-01-10

The Swiss Trade Union Federation is demanding shorter work weeks, compensation for pension losses and enforcement of equal pay for men and women. At its annual media conference in Bern on Thursday, the Swiss Trade Union Federationexternal link pointed out that employees have been suffering since the financial crisis.

Read More »

Switzerland drops in international pension ranking

2017-10-28

by

2017-10-28

The Swiss pension system has ranked eighth in an annual international study looking at the sustainability and efficiency of retirement schemes. This represents a drop of four places in the past two years, largely driven by sustainability issues.The Global Pension Indexexternal link, published by consulting group Mercer, ranks 30 countries according to a methodology based on adequacy (the design of the system), sustainability (breadth of coverage,...

Read More »

Switzerland ranks highly in youth employment survey

2017-10-26

by

2017-10-26

Switzerland has the second-best labour market for young Europeans behind Denmark, according to a ranking of over 30 countries. Denmark came top, followed by Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands in the latest KOF Youth Labour Market Indexexternal link, which analysed the year 2015. The ranking is produced annually by the Economic Institute (KOF) at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ).

Read More »

Swiss expats buck the pension reform trend

2017-09-25

by

2017-09-25

Unlike their compatriots in Switzerland, Swiss voters who live abroad came out massively in favour of a wide-ranging overhaul of Switzerland’s old-age pension scheme.  Eleven of Switzerland’s 26 cantons count the votes of Swiss expats separately. An analysis of Sunday’s results shows that in nine of these cantons more than 70% of Swiss abroad backed the “Old Age Security 2020” package, which aimed to guarantee the future financing of...

Read More »

Unions demand 2 percent wage increase as economy improves

2017-08-11

by

2017-08-11

Staff should start enjoying the benefits of Switzerland’s improving economic performance, says the country’s second-largest trade union group, Travail. Suisse, which is demanding a 2% salary increase for workers. “It’s been some time since the economic perspectives have looked this positive. The forecasts announce solid and lasting economic growth. This recovery must have an impact on employees,” Travail.

Read More »

UBS worried about departing baby-boomers

2017-07-18

by

2017-07-18

office cantonal de lemploi
Switzerland is facing a medium-term future of labour market shortages and ratcheting pension costs, according to the latest economic outlook report by UBS bank. The quarterly appraisal,external link launched Thursday in Zurich, highlighted a paradox in the current shape of the Swiss labour market.

Read More »

Swiss abroad react angrily to pension cut comments

2017-07-18

by

2017-07-18

The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) has reacted angrily to the recent remarks of a politician that questioned the role of expat pensioners. An apology: this is what the OSAexternal link have demanded of Petra Gössi, the Radical Party politician whose “unacceptable” remarks about the pensions of Swiss abroad provoked a flurry of reaction last month.

Read More »

Swiss cities ranked among world’s most expensive

2017-06-22

by

2017-06-22

Zurich, Geneva, and Bern are among the top ten most expensive cities in the world for expatriates, according to a survey by consulting company Mercer. Only three European cities remain in the top ten list, all of them in Switzerland. Zurich was ranked fourth, Geneva seventh, and the Swiss capital tenth in the surveyexternal link, published on Wednesday.

Read More »

Swiss working conditions slip

2017-05-27

by

2017-05-27

The Swiss spend three hours more per week on average at the office than other Europeans, but working conditions are still good. While the overall health and well-being of Swiss employees is still good, a new survey shows that Switzerland has lost its place ahead of 34 other European countries when it comes to stress and autonomy in the workplace.

Read More »