Employer of Record in Switzerland: 19 Providers Compared (2026)

Employing someone in Switzerland: key facts

Switzerland has no federal minimum wage and splits most employment rules between the federal Code of Obligations (OR) and cantonal law — the figures below give the federal floor plus the cantons and the Zürich-specific numbers that matter most to an EOR-placed hire.

Minimum wage

Only five cantons set their own statutory minimum wage; everywhere else, pay floors come from sector collective agreements (GAVs/NAVs) or, for leased staff, the GAV Personalverleih.

• Outside these five cantons (and the city of Lucerne), pay floors come only from sector GAVs/NAVs or, for leased staff, the GAV Personalverleih below — not from a cantonal law (silgeneve.ch, checked 2026-10-01).
• For staff placed through a licensed leasing/EOR company where the GAV Personalverleih applies, Zürich’s “Hochlohngebiet” unskilled sector floor is CHF 22.39/hour as of 2026-01-01 — a collective-agreement wage, not a cantonal minimum wage (fachkraft.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Employer contributions

Illustrated for a Zürich-based employer on AHV-subject gross wage, per Kanton Zürich’s official 2026 rates:

• BVG age bands: 25–34 total 7% (employer ≥3.5%); 35–44 total 10% (≥5%); 45–54 total 15% (≥7.5%); 55–65 total 18% (≥9%) (zh.ch, checked 2026-10-01).
• KTG (sick-pay) insurance isn’t federally mandatory for ordinary employers, but is mandatory for staff covered by the GAV Personalverleih — commonly ~1–2% of payroll for 80%-of-wage cover, with the employee paying at most 50% of the premium, capped at 3.5% of wage.
• NBU (non-occupational accident insurance) is by default 100% employee-paid and isn’t counted above.

Working hours and overtime

• No single statutory full-time week: the Arbeitsgesetz caps weekly hours at 45 for office/technical/sales staff and large retail, and 50 for other employees (Art. 9 ArG).
• Actual contractual full-time hours for Zürich office/IT roles are typically 40–42 hours/week, set by contract rather than statute (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).
• Overtime beyond the contractually agreed hours is paid at a 25% premium unless compensated with equal time off, or validly excluded by contract/GAV (Art. 321c OR); separately, a non-waivable minimum 25% cash premium applies to hours worked beyond the statutory 45/50-hour ArG ceiling for the categories it covers (Art. 13 ArG) (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Annual leave and public holidays

• Minimum 4 weeks of paid vacation per year, rising to 5 weeks for employees until the end of the calendar year they turn 20 (Art. 329a OR). 5 weeks is also a common contractual/GAV standard regardless of age in white-collar Zürich employment, but isn’t the federal floor for adults (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).
• Only August 1 (Swiss National Day) is a federal public holiday (Art. 110 para. 3 BV); all others are set cantonally. Zürich recognises 9 days treated as Sundays: Jan 1, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May 1, Ascension, Whit Monday, Aug 1, Dec 25, Dec 26 (zh.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Probation

• Default statutory probation is the first month of employment, terminable by either side on 7 days’ notice at any time (Art. 335b OR).
• Can be shortened, waived, or extended up to a maximum of 3 months by written agreement, standard employment contract, or GAV (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Notice and severance

Source: fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01 (Art. 335c OR; always to the end of a calendar month unless otherwise agreed; may be extended by contract/GAV, shortened only via GAV and only below 1 month for the first year).

• No general statutory severance on ordinary termination. A “departure indemnity” (Art. 339b–339d OR) applies only when the employee is at least 50 years old and has at least 20 years’ service with that employer — amount left to agreement/court discretion, commonly 2–8 monthly salaries, but usually reduced to zero by any employer-financed BVG pension benefits the employee receives (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

13th salary and bonuses

• No OR provision mandates a 13th-month salary.
• It’s near-universal by contract/market practice in Swiss white-collar employment, and explicitly mandated for workers covered by the generally-binding GAV Personalverleih — i.e. where leasing is the provider’s main activity (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Mandatory benefits

• AHV/IV/EO and ALV contributions are compulsory from the first franc of wage.
• BVG occupational pension is compulsory for employees earning at least the CHF 22,680/year entry threshold (2026).
• UVG accident insurance is compulsory for every employee: occupational cover (BU) 100% employer-paid; non-occupational cover (NBU) by default 100% employee-paid for staff working ≥8 hours/week.
• Continued salary during illness/accident is owed under Art. 324a OR on a cantonal scale (e.g. the “Zürcher Skala”) for a period scaled to seniority, unless replaced by KTG sick-pay insurance paying at least the same benefit.
• FAK family/child allowances are funded 100% by the employer, with no employee deduction (bsv.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Work permits

• EU/EFTA nationals benefit from free movement: they register for a permit (B for contracts over 1 year, L under 1 year, G for cross-border commuters) once hired, with no quota and no labour-market test.
• Non-EU/EFTA nationals need a quota-limited permit tied to a specific employer and role, granted only for specialists/managers where no EU/EFTA/Swiss candidate is available (Art. 18–23 AIG); annual quotas are set by the Federal Council and allocated to cantons.
• Critical for EOR: SECO guidance bars a licensed leasing company from employing anyone holding a short-stay or annual residence permit tied to one specific employer or activity — in practice it can’t be the sponsor for a brand-new non-EU/EFTA work-permit application. It can only employ non-EU/EFTA nationals who already hold a permit without that restriction (e.g. a C settlement permit), or EU/EFTA nationals (SECO, checked 2026-10-01).

Currency and payroll

• Payroll runs in Swiss francs (CHF) (snb.ch, checked 2026-10-01).
• Art. 323 para. 1 OR requires salary to be paid at the end of each month unless a shorter period is agreed; monthly payment by bank transfer is the overwhelming market standard, including for EOR-run payroll (fedlex.admin.ch, checked 2026-10-01).

Is Employer of Record legal in Switzerland?

Allowed, with limits. Switzerland has no EOR-specific law. Legally, an EOR arrangement is Personalverleih (personnel leasing) under the Federal Act on Employment Services and the Hiring of Services (AVG) of 1989 (SECO Merkblatt, checked 2026-10-01). That brings several constraints:

• A cantonal licence, from the canton of the registered seat, is required to lease staff within Switzerland; a federal SECO licence is required the moment the activity crosses the border — a newly arriving foreign hire, or staff leased to a client abroad (goldblum.ch, checked 2026-10-01).
• A security deposit of CHF 50,000 (under 60,000 deployment hours/year) rising to CHF 100,000 above that, plus a further CHF 50,000 for the federal licence — so CHF 50,000–150,000 in total depending on scale (SECO Merkblatt, checked 2026-10-01).
• Leasing from abroad is banned outright. A foreign, non-Swiss-licensed leasing company cannot lease staff into Switzerland (Art. 12 para. 2 AVG) — the client must use a Swiss-entity EOR or a Swiss-licensed partner.
• The GAV Personalverleih, a generally-binding sector collective agreement, attaches once leasing is roughly over half an EOR’s revenue, imposing sector minimum wages, a mandatory 13th-month salary, day-one occupational-pension cover and a mandatory collective sick-pay (KTG) scheme (Legal 500, checked 2026-10-01).

For the client, three risks follow. Knowingly using an unlicensed provider is itself an offence: a fine up to CHF 40,000 for the client, separate from the up to CHF 100,000 fine the provider faces, and the contract itself can be held void (Legal 500, checked 2026-10-01). A foreign client can’t be leased-to directly from abroad — including for a fully remote hire, since Swiss commentary treats the subordination relationship, not physical location, as decisive (internationalhrs.com, checked 2026-10-01). And using an EOR doesn’t eliminate permanent-establishment risk: Swiss tax authorities weigh economic substance — who directs the work — over legal form (Roedl, checked 2026-10-01).

Who actually employs your hire in Switzerland

Vendors describe their entity model globally (“own entities in 170+ countries,” “owned + partner network”) far more often than they confirm it for Switzerland specifically. Here’s what each vendor’s own Switzerland-facing page — or Switzerland’s commercial register (Zefix, via Moneyhouse/Northdata) — actually says:

Eight of these 19 don’t say whether Switzerland is served by their own entity or a partner’s, including Rivermate, Playroll and RemotePass. That matters more here than in most countries: the entity employing your hire needs its own cantonal Personalverleih licence, and a federal SECO licence for any cross-border element — not just a local address. Before signing, ask the vendor directly: “Does the entity employing my hire hold its own cantonal staffing licence, and can you name the canton and licence number?” A vendor that answers with a licence detail or a registry record is a different risk profile from one that repeats its global “owned + partner network” line.

How to choose an EOR in Switzerland

Hiring a non-EU/EFTA national on a brand-new work permit? None of the vendors above can be the sponsoring employer for that application — SECO guidance bars a licensed leasing company from sponsoring a new non-EU/EFTA permit. You’ll need your own Swiss entity for that hire, unless the person already holds an unrestricted permit or is an EU/EFTA national.

Want the clearest evidence of who’s actually employing your hire? Remote, Deel and Borderless AI each state in their own words that they own their Swiss entity; Boundless is the only one of these 19 stating it holds the staffing licence Switzerland actually requires. Atlas HXM, Safeguard Global, Justworks and Rippling are all confirmed through the Swiss commercial register even where their own marketing copy doesn’t say so.

Weighing price against fee transparency? In CHF terms, Deel discloses the lowest Switzerland-specific figure, CHF 5,740/year (about CHF 478/month). In USD terms, Skuad is lowest at $549/month (discounted from $699), G-P’s flat USD 599/month carries no minimum contract length, and Borderless AI’s $579/month comes with no setup fee. Most other vendors publish only a global list price or nothing at all for Switzerland.

Hiring in a canton with its own minimum wage? Geneva, Basel-Stadt, Neuchâtel, Jura and Ticino each set their own floor — up to CHF 24.59/hour in Geneva — and none of these vendor pages confirm compliance canton by canton. Check the minimum-wage table above regardless of which provider you pick.

What it costs to employ someone in Switzerland through an EOR

Two illustrative salaries — CHF 80,000 and CHF 150,000 — bracket a typical Zürich-based EOR office/IT hire. They aren’t literal conversions of a USD 50k/100k benchmark: at the current spot rate, USD 50,000 converts to only about CHF 41,800, which is below full-time minimum wage in Geneva and an unrealistic hiring scenario here (xe.com, checked 2026-10-01).

On a flat CHF 80,000 Zürich salary, these employer contributions (AHV/IV/EO, ALV, FAK and BVG) have barely moved since 2021 — CHF 8,825 in 2021 to CHF 8,857 in 2026, under half a percent — so there’s no separate trend chart for it (zh.ch, checked 2026-10-01). BVG above is modelled at the statutory-minimum age-35–44 rate; many EOR pension plans are more generous (“umhüllend”), which would raise the real cost further. NBU and KTG are excluded: NBU is by default 100% employee-paid, and KTG is insurer-quoted rather than a flat statutory percentage — commonly ~1–2% of payroll where the GAV Personalverleih applies.

The EOR’s own fee is on top of the above. Published Switzerland-specific numbers in our data range from about CHF 478/month (Deel’s CHF 5,740/year) to $699/month (Remote); G-P quotes a flat USD 599/month with no minimum contract length, Borderless AI $579/month with no setup fee, and Skuad $549/month (discounted from $699). Most other vendors publish only a global list price ($99–$639/month) or nothing at all for Switzerland — Safeguard Global and Rippling publish no price without a sales conversation.

Hidden costs, where actually published: Borderless AI, Boundless, RemoFirst, Playroll, Rivermate and Pebl all state — as global claims, not confirmed for Switzerland specifically — that they charge no setup fee; Rivermate and Pebl add no termination fee, and Borderless AI adds no security deposit. None of them publishes a Switzerland-specific deposit, minimum term or termination fee to go with that. Where the field is blank in the table above, treat it as unpublished, not zero.

When you don’t need an EOR

• A genuinely independent contractor. Cheaper and closer to the real relationship if the person sets their own hours and tools and can serve other clients. See how to pay contractors in Switzerland and our hiring guide for the classification tests.
• Your own Swiss entity. The route needed if the hire is a non-EU/EFTA national who needs a brand-new work permit, since a licensed leasing company can’t be the sponsor for that application.

What changed in 2026

• 2026-01-01 — Geneva’s cantonal minimum wage rises to CHF 24.59/hour (from CHF 24.48); agriculture-sector rate CHF 18.07/hour.
• 2026-01-01 — Basel-Stadt’s cantonal minimum wage rises to CHF 22.20/hour (from CHF 22.00).
• 2026-01-01 — Neuchâtel’s cantonal minimum wage rises to CHF 21.35/hour (from CHF 21.31).
• 2026-01-01 — SVA Zürich’s AHV compensation-fund administrative surcharge rises to 0.30% of the AHV/IV/EO wage base, from 0.20% in 2025.
• 2026-04-20 — Ticino’s Gran Consiglio approved a further staged increase of its minimum-wage bands from 2027 (to CHF 20.50–21.00/hour), a compromise against a competing union initiative for about CHF 25/hour; the 2026 rate itself (CHF 20.00–20.50) is unaffected until 2027.

Numbers vendors haven’t updated

• RemoFirst’s Switzerland guide cites cantonal minimum wages of CHF 24.32/hour (Geneva), CHF 22.00 (Basel-Stadt), CHF 22.19 (Jura), CHF 20.46 (Neuchâtel) and CHF 19.00 (Ticino); current 2026 rates are CHF 24.59, CHF 22.20, CHF 21.40, CHF 21.35 and CHF 20.00–20.50 respectively.
• Pebl’s Switzerland page cites Geneva’s minimum wage as “CHF 24/hour, ~US$26, as of 2025”; the current 2026 rate is CHF 24.59/hour.

How we built this page

Facts were collected and checked on 2026-10-01 against Swiss federal law (fedlex.admin.ch), SECO guidance, and cantonal government sources (Geneva, Basel-Stadt, Neuchâtel, and Kanton Zürich’s own payroll tables). Vendor entity claims were checked against Switzerland’s commercial register — Zefix, via Moneyhouse and Northdata — where a registry entry could be found, and against the vendor’s own Switzerland-facing page otherwise; where a vendor states only a global entity model, we recorded Switzerland as not disclosed rather than assuming. The ranking above puts confirmed, Switzerland-specific own entities first. Nobody pays for placement on this page.