Potential job offer - Switzerland

Chronically Bad Farts

Hello,

I may have a potential job offer in Switzerland but I have no idea what to ask for pay wise.
Currently i'm on 45 euro an hour in Ireland with very little living expenses, rent is 300 a month, take home pay after tax and rent is about 4k per month (working 40 hours). To consider taking the new role I would want to earn at least the Swiss equivalent of this adjusted for Swiss cost of living, plus ideally a good bit more to make it worth moving there.

I'm not sure if they will pay my accommodation & transport or I need to factor in these costs in the hourly rate. From my research it seems renting is almost impossible & that I will have to stay in a hotel. Would 200 euro a day be a reasonable budget for this? 200x7 days = 1400 week, 1400/40 hours = 35 euro an hour just to cover accommodation & transport. I'm thinking to ask for 65 euro base hourly + the 35 for costs = 100 euro an hour. Is this reasonable or am I way off the mark?
Thanks.

Jim2007

You need to understand that location has a major impact in taxes, cost of living etc.... Also since you needer tell us the job type and employment type, comments can only be general, but I'll assume it a contract position.

Swiss agencies usually offer all in rates, so a rate of 800 per day would be subject to
- Double social security taxes, say 11%
- Double pension contributions, say at least 14%
- And depending on where you live, withholding taxes anywhere between about 12% and 23%

On top of this, you need to pay mandatory health insurance and this again depends on where you live, but could be between 300 - 500 per month.

Since you give no indication of the job it is difficult to comment. For an IT contractor in Zurich, the upper end of the rates is about 800 - 900 and you'd need a lot of experience and the right skillset to land that at the moment.

Chronically Bad Farts

Jim2007 wrote: »

You need to understand that location has a major impact in taxes, cost of living etc.... Also since you needer tell us the job type and employment type, comments can only be general, but I'll assume it a contract position.

Swiss agencies usually offer all in rates, so a rate of 800 per day would be subject to
- Double social security taxes, say 11%
- Double pension contributions, say at least 14%
- And depending on where you live, withholding taxes anywhere between about 12% and 23%

On top of this, you need to pay mandatory health insurance and this again depends on where you live, but could be between 300 - 500 per month.

Since you give no indication of the job it is difficult to comment. For an IT contractor in Zurich, the upper end of the rates is about 800 - 900 and you'd need a lot of experience and the right skillset to land that at the moment.

Thanks for the info Jim, much appreciated. Looking at all that, even on 800 a day I would come out worse off than I am now (relative to cost of living there). Are all those taxes and pension contributions absolutely mandatory?

Yes it is a contract role for a validation engineer role (pharma manufacturing equipment) and it will involve a lot of travelling between Bern and some other place that I can't remember. How does canton tax work if you're going back and forth between cantons?

Jim2007

Chronically Bad Farts wrote: »

Are all those taxes and pension contributions absolutely mandatory?

Yes agencies usually use the minimum options, so they put as much cash in your pocket as possible.

Chronically Bad Farts wrote: »

How does canton tax work if you're going back and forth between cantons?

It is all based on the canton you reside in. If your employer does not pay travelling costs then you can deduct it in the tax calculation.

If you are based in Bern on a rate of 800 I can't see how you wouldn't be able to save 2,000 - 3,000 per month.

Chronically Bad Farts

Jim2007 wrote: »

Yes agencies usually use the minimum options, so they put as much cash in your pocket as possible.



It is all based on the canton you reside in. If your employer does not pay travelling costs then you can deduct it in the tax calculation.

If you are based in Bern on a rate of 800 I can't see how you wouldn't be able to save 2,000 - 3,000 per month.

Thanks.
Seems I need to ask for alot more to make it worthwhile relocating

MightyMunster

Chronically Bad Farts wrote: »

Thanks.
Seems I need to ask for alot more to make it worthwhile relocating

Did you make the move? How did it work out? Did the rate meet your expectations?

Chronically Bad Farts

MightyMunster wrote: »

Did you make the move? How did it work out? Did the rate meet your expectations?

No I didn't. I had another chat with the potential employer & they were only offering salary, not hourly rate. I asked for 130k euro and they never got back to me.

Jim2007

Chronically Bad Farts wrote: »

No I didn't. I had another chat with the potential employer & they were only offering salary, not hourly rate. I asked for 130k euro and they never got back to me.

I'm not really surprised if you were looking for €130K. That would cost them about €160K when all your benefits are taken into consideration. For example, they would have been kicking about €25K pa into your pension fund every year on those figures alone. There is a reason why most Swiss IT professional have pensions saving of around €1m when they retire

Chronically Bad Farts

Jim2007 wrote: »

I'm not really surprised if you were looking for €130K. That would cost them about €160K when all your benefits are taken into consideration. For example, they would have been kicking about €25K pa into your pension fund every year on those figures alone. There is a reason why most Swiss IT professional have pensions saving of around €1m when they retire

Give me the cold hard cash straight up front any day and I'll invest it myself. Not a fan of pensions, "benefits" & all that b*llox

Jim2007

Chronically Bad Farts wrote: »

Give me the cold hard cash straight up front any day and I'll invest it myself. Not a fan of pensions, "benefits" & all that b*llox

And who is that going for you so far??? Have you been putting €35K aside each year for the past number of years... growing by about 12% pa so that it doubles every 5 years???

I have heard that statement over and over through the years and most who said it are still trying to gather up the money, while the rest of us are planning to retire early over the next few years. But it is your life, your changes and risks.