Switzerland · Employer of Record · Payroll · PEO
You have found the person you want to hire in Switzerland — now you need a compliant way to employ them, in a country that regulates staff leasing more strictly than almost anywhere in Europe. JN Recruitment is the expansion partner that connects international companies with vetted Employer of Record and payroll partners in Switzerland — Swiss-domiciled, SECO-licensed providers plus the employment lawyers, fiduciaries and accountants a Swiss expansion actually needs — and delivers the boutique recruitment that finds the candidate in the first place.
for a licensed Swiss EOR to issue a compliant employment contract once documents and permits are in order
typical employer social contributions on a Swiss gross salary — age- and plan-dependent, budgeted before the offer
Swiss staff leasing requires a federal SECO licence and a Swiss-domiciled provider — the first thing we verify
our recommendation is free — the best specialist from our vetted Swiss network, matched to your case
Payroll partner Switzerland
Switzerland pays the highest salaries in Europe — and polices how those salaries are employed more strictly than almost any market you will enter. Staff leasing (Personalverleih) is a licensed activity: an Employer of Record needs a federal SECO licence on top of a cantonal one, and the law requires the provider to be a company domiciled in Switzerland — leasing staff into Switzerland from a foreign entity is simply prohibited. Add AHV, BVG occupational pension, accident insurance, withholding tax for foreign nationals and a 13th salary, and it becomes clear why improvised setups fail here. Swiss candidates, meanwhile, expect a flawless, fully compliant employment package — anything less costs you the hire.
There are two clean routes. If you have (or will build) a Swiss entity, a payroll service provider in Switzerland runs the monthly payroll, AHV and pension-fund administration and withholding-tax filings for you. If you have no entity and don’t want one yet, an Employer of Record (EOR) — a Swiss-domiciled, SECO-licensed provider — employs your hire legally in Switzerland while you direct the day-to-day work; what many US companies would call a PEO. A third, less-known construct exists for single hires: the ANobAG setup, where the employee of a foreign employer accounts for Swiss social security themselves. Which route fits depends on permits, head-count and horizon — and sooner or later a Swiss expansion also needs an employment lawyer, a fiduciary (Treuhänder) and an accountant. We vet all of it for you.
JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm headquartered in Mannheim, with offices in Poland and Cyprus — and the expansion partner international companies use for the Swiss market. Years of placing people in Switzerland have built us a network of the best employment lawyers, fiduciaries, payroll bureaus, accountants and SECO-licensed EOR providers in the country. We recommend exactly the specialists your case needs — free of charge, at the partner’s standard rates — and stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the headhunting: the sales recruitment agency for Switzerland that international machinery, industrial-technology and recycling companies already use to enter the market.
What we arrange
Whatever stage your Switzerland plans are at — first hire without an entity, or a full team on an existing AG or GmbH — this is what our vetted Swiss network delivers: licensed EOR providers, payroll bureaus, employment lawyers, fiduciaries and accountants, matched and introduced by us:
A Swiss-domiciled, SECO-licensed partner becomes the legal employer of your hire — Swiss employment contract, 13th salary, AHV, BVG pension, accident insurance and withholding tax — while you manage the work day-to-day. No AG or GmbH required, and the licence requirement is exactly why we vet before we introduce.
For companies with a Swiss entity: a specialised payroll bureau runs the monthly payroll, AHV/ALV settlements, BVG pension-fund administration, accident-insurance declarations, withholding tax (Quellensteuer) for foreign employees, and year-end salary certificates — no in-house Swiss payroll expertise needed.
Searching for a “PEO Switzerland”? The US-style PEO doesn’t exist under Swiss law — the compliant constructs are licensed staff leasing (EOR), outsourced payroll on your own entity, or the ANobAG route for a single hire of a foreign employer. We translate what you actually need into the right Swiss construct.
Specialised employment lawyers for watertight Swiss contracts and terminations, fiduciaries (Treuhänder) for registrations, VAT and cantonal tax questions, accountants for the books — the advisory bench every Swiss expansion eventually needs, already vetted and briefed.
Permit strategy for EU/EFTA hires under the bilateral agreements and quota planning for third-country nationals — plus audits of Swiss freelance setups: the compensation office reclassifies disguised self-employment, and partners convert contractors into compliant employment before that happens.
The part we deliver ourselves: executive search for technical sales and leadership roles in Switzerland, in German and French. If you don’t have the candidate yet, we find them — then plug employment and payroll in behind the signed offer.
Market knowledge
Swiss employment is liberal on paper and strict in its constructs — flexible dismissal law, but licensed staff leasing and mandatory insurances. The essentials we brief every company on before a Swiss hire:
Staff leasing into Switzerland from abroad is prohibited: an Employer of Record must be a company domiciled in Switzerland holding a cantonal licence and, for cross-border arrangements, a federal SECO licence. Global EOR platforms without a licensed Swiss entity cannot legally employ for you here. Licence and domicile are the first two things we verify in every Swiss introduction.
Switzerland has no federal minimum wage, and most professional salaries sit far above any floor. But several cantons have introduced their own — Geneva’s is the highest at roughly CHF 24 per hour — and collective agreements declared generally binding set minimums in some sectors, which also bind an EOR. Where you employ matters, not just what you pay.
A 13th monthly salary is the Swiss standard, notice runs one to three months to month-end, probation one to three months — and beyond that Swiss dismissal law is famously liberal: no German-style protection regime, no severance mandate. What Switzerland forgives in dismissal law it demands in payroll precision and insurance compliance.
Beyond AHV state pension, every employee earning above the entry threshold must be insured in a BVG occupational pension scheme, with age-dependent savings credits from 7% to 18% of the coordinated salary and the employer paying at least half. It is the reason two Swiss payroll quotes for the same gross salary can differ by thousands of francs — and a line we always have partners break out.
Employer cost benchmarks
Payroll quotes in Switzerland are built on federal social insurance plus the BVG pension and accident cover. The current picture — the source of the “roughly 15% on top” rule every employer budget should use:
| Contribution | Employer pays | Employee pays |
|---|---|---|
| AHV/IV/EO (state pension, disability, income compensation) | 5.3% | 5.3% |
| Unemployment insurance (ALV) | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| Occupational pension (BVG, age-dependent savings credits) | ≈3.5–9% | ≈3.5–9% |
| Occupational accident insurance (UVG-BU) | ≈0.2–1.5% | — |
| Non-occupational accident insurance (UVG-NBU) | — | ≈1–2% |
| Family allowance fund (FAK) & admin costs | ≈1.5–3% | — |
Orientation figures, rounded: BVG depends on the employee’s age and the pension plan chosen, accident premiums on the sector, family-allowance rates on the canton; daily sickness-benefit insurance (KTG) is customary and usually shared. ALV is capped at an insured salary of roughly CHF 148,000. Rule of thumb: a CHF 120,000 gross salary costs the employer roughly CHF 135,000–140,000 all-in. Your payroll or EOR partner’s quote is the binding number.
Yes — through a licensed Swiss Employer of Record. The EOR employs your candidate under a Swiss employment contract, runs payroll, AHV, BVG pension and accident insurance, and you direct the day-to-day work. The Swiss particularity: the provider must be domiciled in Switzerland and hold a staff-leasing licence — SECO-licensed for cross-border arrangements — because leasing staff into Switzerland from a foreign entity is prohibited. For a single hire, the ANobAG construct is a lean alternative. We match you with the route that fits.
The EOR is the legal employer under Swiss law. It issues a compliant Swiss employment contract including the customary 13th salary, registers the employee with the compensation office for AHV/IV/EO, enrols them in a BVG pension scheme and accident insurance, withholds Quellensteuer for foreign nationals without a C permit, issues monthly payslips and the year-end salary certificate, and supports the work-permit process. You remain in charge of the work itself and reimburse the EOR for gross salary, employer contributions and a service fee.
Swiss EOR pricing sits at the top of the European range — typically a flat CHF 500–1,000 per employee per month, or a percentage of gross salary, reflecting the licence requirements and salary level. That comes on top of the salary and roughly 15% employer contributions. Compare it with forming an AG (CHF 100,000 share capital, half paid in) or GmbH (CHF 20,000) plus accounting and payroll — rarely worth it below three to five employees. We flag the all-in monthly number before you commit.
Budget roughly 12–20%, with 15% a fair midpoint: AHV/IV/EO at 5.3%, unemployment insurance at 1.1%, the employer’s half of the BVG occupational pension (age-dependent, roughly 3.5–9%), occupational accident insurance and the cantonal family-allowance levy. The spread is wider than in EU markets because BVG rises with the employee’s age and plan generosity. As a rule of thumb, a CHF 120,000 gross salary costs the employer roughly CHF 135,000–140,000 all-in per year, before bonus, car or EOR fee.
In the US, a PEO co-employs your staff while you keep your own entity; an EOR employs them fully so you don’t need one. Swiss law knows neither term — the regulated construct behind EOR is Personalverleih (staff leasing) under the Recruitment and Staff Leasing Act, which requires a licence and a Swiss-domiciled provider. “PEO Switzerland” offers are therefore either licensed leasing, outsourced payroll on your own entity, or something non-compliant. We check what a partner actually delivers before we introduce them.
Yes — within tight boundaries. EOR is legally staff leasing: the provider needs a cantonal licence, plus a federal SECO licence for cross-border staffing, must be domiciled in Switzerland, and generally cannot lease employees from Switzerland to a company abroad — which is why the classic model is a foreign company using a Swiss EOR for a Switzerland-based employee. Unlicensed arrangements risk fines and unenforceable contracts. Licence and domicile are the first things we verify in our partner vetting.
Yes. If your AG, GmbH or branch already exists, a Swiss payroll partner takes over the monthly run: payslips with the 13th salary, AHV/ALV settlements with the compensation office, BVG pension-fund administration, accident-insurance declarations, withholding-tax filings per canton and year-end salary certificates. Typical pricing runs per payslip per month. The same partners handle the employer registrations if your entity has never employed anyone in Switzerland before.
Via a licensed EOR: typically five to ten working days once documents are complete — for EU/EFTA nationals the work permit is a largely administrative step under the bilateral agreements, while third-country nationals face quotas and longer lead times we plan for upfront. Building your own entity first takes weeks to months. In practice the binding constraint is usually the candidate’s notice period — one to three months to month-end for most Swiss professionals — which, as recruiters, is the part we actively manage for you.
Only if they are genuinely self-employed. Swiss compensation offices decide self-employment status case by case — one client, fixed hours and integration into your organisation mean the arrangement is employment regardless of the contract label, and reclassification means back-dated AHV, BVG and accident-insurance contributions, paid largely by you. For a genuine single-client arrangement with a foreign employer, the ANobAG route exists — but it must be set up properly. Our partners audit and convert existing contractor setups before the compensation office does.
No — and that is deliberate. JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm and your expansion partner for Switzerland: over years of placing candidates here we have built a vetted network of the best employment lawyers, fiduciaries, payroll bureaus, accountants and SECO-licensed EOR providers — and we recommend exactly the specialists your case needs. You contract directly with the partner at their standard rates; the recommendation costs you nothing, and we stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the search: if the candidate doesn’t exist yet, our Swiss headhunting finds them — in German and French.
Across Europe
The same specialised technical sales search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are expanding into.
Hiring in several markets at once?
Hiring at leadership level? Our executive search practice:
Candidate found — and now need a compliant way to employ them?
Talk to us — no strings attached. We get back to you within 24 hours.
Our mission is simple: placements that open new markets.
30-minute intro call
Two quick steps — tell us what you need and how to reach you. Within one business day you get an intro call and, where it fits, a direct introduction to the right specialists from our vetted network.
Your contact person Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment +49 1525 2077583 [email protected] Thank you — we’ll get back to you within one business day to schedule your intro call.
An honest read on your vacancy & market — in your first call.
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Before you go
Every month a key sales seat stays empty pushes your expansion plans back — and leaves serious revenue on the table. We fill technical sales positions within weeks, so you hit your expansion targets on schedule.
Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment Free vacancy check · reply within 24 hours
