Hiring a first employee in Switzerland rarely stops at the employment contract. A specific layer of rules, the collective bargaining agreement (in French convention collective de travail, or CCT), often sets the minimum wage, working time and notice periods for a given role. These agreements vary by canton and by sector, and many apply even to employers who never signed them. For a foreign company using an Employer of Record, the practical question is simple: which CCT applies to this hire, and what does it change in the contract and payroll?
Direct answer: Swiss CCTs are sector- and canton-specific. When an agreement has been declared of general application, its minimum conditions bind every employer in the covered scope, including a foreign company hiring through an EOR. Verifying the applicable CCT before signing is the only reliable way to secure wages, working hours and social contributions.
Key takeaways for foreign employers hiring in Switzerland
- A CCT sets minimum employment conditions negotiated between employer and employee representatives.
- When extended by federal or cantonal authorities, a CCT becomes binding on all employers in its scope.
- Rules differ by canton and sector, so the same job title can trigger different obligations in Geneva, Zurich or Vaud.
- An EOR runs payroll and the contract, but CCT compliance remains a shared operational responsibility with the client company.
- Checking role, canton, sector, applicable CCT and payroll setup before signing avoids most compliance incidents.
What is a collective bargaining agreement (CCT) in Switzerland?
A CCT is a written agreement between one or several employer organisations and trade unions. It fixes minimum conditions of employment for a defined sector or profession: wages, working time, holidays, notice periods, contributions to joint funds and sometimes training rules. The legal basis sits in Article 356 and following of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) and in the Federal Act on the Extension of Collective Agreements (LECCT, 1956).
There are two main situations to keep in mind. A voluntary CCT only binds the employers and employees who are members of the signatory organisations. A CCT declared of general application (force obligatoire) binds every employer and employee that falls within its geographic, professional and personal scope, even without membership. Extension can be decided at federal level by the Federal Council, usually on a proposal reviewed by the Secrétariat d’État à l’économie (SECO), or at cantonal level by the cantonal government. According to the statistics officielles des CCT étendues published by SECO, extended CCTs were in force in Switzerland on 1 July 2025, covering roughly 831.12 million employees.
When a foreign employer wants to hire an employee in Switzerland without setting up a local entity, an EOR Switzerland arrangement can take on the formal employer role, manage payroll and apply the relevant CCT framework once it has been identified. Although an EOR does not alter the legal applicability of an extended CCT, it helps translate the resulting requirements into the employment contract and ensure they are reflected in each payroll cycle.
Swiss acronyms you will meet in a CCT context
- CCT — convention collective de travail, the collective labour agreement itself.
- AHV/IV/EO — old-age and survivors insurance, disability insurance and loss-of-earnings compensation, the three mandatory federal social insurances funded by employer and employee contributions.
- BVG — occupational pension (second pillar), mandatory above a salary threshold.
- LECCT / OBLF — the federal law and ordinance governing the extension of CCTs.
How do CCTs vary across cantons and sectors?
Variation comes from two mechanisms. First, some CCTs are extended only at cantonal level, which means they apply exclusively to employers active in a given canton and sector. Second, several cantons have introduced a statutory cantonal minimum wage that interacts with sector minimums. A role in construction in Geneva, hospitality in Ticino or industrial work in Jura will therefore not share the same pay floor as the same job in a canton without such rules.
The Canton of Vaud illustrates how fragmented the picture can be. Each sector decree has its own renewal date, which means the applicable rules can change on different timelines inside the same canton.
Statutory cantonal minimum wages add another layer. An analysis by the University of Neuchâtel notes that five cantons (Neuchâtel, Jura, Ticino, Geneva, Basel-Stadt) and two municipalities (Zurich, Winterthur) have introduced a legal cantonal minimum wage.
The practical consequence for payroll is direct: a role priced at a given gross salary in Zurich may need to be repriced for the same work in Geneva, both because of a cantonal minimum wage and because a different sector CCT may apply. Working time, overtime premiums and holiday pay can also diverge.
| Check point | Canton with cantonal minimum wage (e.g. Geneva) | Canton without statutory minimum (e.g. Zurich) |
|---|---|---|
| Wage floor | Statutory cantonal minimum, generally prevailing over extended CCT unless CCT is more favourable | Minimum defined by applicable extended CCT, if any |
| Reference text | Cantonal law + sector CCT | Sector CCT (federal or cantonal extension) |
| Update cycle | Annual cantonal indexation + CCT renewal dates | CCT renewal dates only |
The table is a reading grid, not an exhaustive legal comparison. Each hire must be checked against the actual texts in force on the day the contract is signed.
What foreign employers must check before hiring in Switzerland
Before signing a Swiss employment contract, a foreign employer should run a short but structured compliance review. The goal is to identify the applicable CCT, align the contract with its minimum conditions and configure payroll with the correct federal and cantonal elements.
- Identify the workplace cantonStart from the location where the employee will actually perform the work, which determines cantonal extensions and any statutory minimum wage.
- Classify the sector and the roleMatch the activity to a sector CCT (construction, hospitality, retail, metal, etc.) and check whether the role falls into a specific classification grid.
- Check extension statusConfirm whether the CCT is extended at federal or cantonal level, and therefore binding regardless of membership.
- Compare pay and working timeBenchmark the planned gross salary, weekly hours, overtime, holidays and notice against both the CCT and any cantonal minimum wage.
- Configure social contributionsEnsure AHV/IV/EO, unemployment insurance, accident insurance and BVG are set up, plus any joint fund contributions required by the CCT.
Who is responsible: With an EOR, the EOR is the legal employer and runs payroll, including CCT-driven items. The client company stays responsible for defining the role, workplace, working time and actual pay level. CCT compliance is shared in practice: the EOR applies the framework, the client ensures the economic conditions it mandates are respected.
Practical steps to ensure CCT compliance when hiring Swiss employees
Turning the checks above into a repeatable process keeps hiring predictable, even when roles are spread across several cantons. A short internal workflow, applied the same way each time, usually prevents the most common mistakes: wrong CCT, missing joint fund contribution, salary below a sector minimum, or overlooked cantonal update.
A practical sequence is to document the role (title, duties, workplace, working time), then run the CCT identification against the canton and sector, then draft the contract clauses that mirror CCT minimums (wage, hours, holidays, notice, probation, overtime). Payroll setup follows: AHV/IV/EO, unemployment and accident insurance, BVG above the entry threshold, and any CCT-specific joint fund contribution. Finally, a monitoring routine ensures that renewals of extended CCTs and annual indexations of cantonal minimums are reflected in payroll in time.
Cas pratique
A German software company wants to hire a technical sales profile based in Lausanne, covering French-speaking Switzerland. The role is office-based, no fieldwork. The EOR verifies that no sector CCT extended in Vaud covers software sales for this activity, then applies the general rules of the Swiss Code of Obligations plus the Vaud framework for working time and holidays. If the same role were instead a workshop technician in a garage in Lausanne, the Vaud extension decree for the garage sector would apply, with its own minimum wage grid, working time and joint fund contributions. Same employer, same canton, two different compliance paths.
For companies hiring repeatedly in Switzerland, delegating this workflow to an EOR partner such as Numeriq centralises the identification of the applicable CCT, the drafting of compliant contracts and the monitoring of renewals. The arrangement does not remove the employer’s responsibility to describe the role accurately, but it absorbs most of the operational complexity linked to cantonal and sector variations.
Watch out for retroactive adjustments: If a salary is set below an applicable CCT minimum, the employee can claim the difference retroactively, with interest and potential joint fund corrections. Checking the pay level against the CCT before the first payroll run is far cheaper than correcting it afterwards.
When you are ready to move from analysis to implementation, the next step is usually to validate the role-canton-sector combination with an EOR specialist and align the draft contract and payroll setup accordingly.
Frequently asked questions about Swiss CCTs and EOR
Does a Swiss CCT apply to an employer without a local entity?
Yes, if the role is performed in Switzerland and falls within the scope of a CCT declared of general application. The extension mechanism binds every employer in the covered sector and geographic area, regardless of nationality or membership in a professional organisation. With an EOR, the EOR is the formal Swiss employer and applies the CCT in the contract and payroll.
Is the EOR responsible for CCT compliance?
The EOR, as legal employer, is responsible for running a contract and payroll that respect the applicable CCT. The client company remains responsible for describing the role, workplace and working time accurately and for funding the resulting labour cost. In practice, CCT compliance is a shared operational responsibility clarified in the EOR service agreement.
What happens if the salary is below the CCT minimum?
The employee can claim the difference between the salary paid and the CCT minimum, usually retroactively. Depending on the sector, joint CCT control bodies may also audit the employer and request adjustments to joint fund contributions. In cantons with a statutory minimum wage, the higher of the two floors generally applies.
Do Swiss CCTs change over time, and how can I stay informed?
Yes. Extended CCTs are renewed, revised and sometimes replaced; cantonal minimum wages are indexed. SECO publishes federal extension decisions, and each canton maintains its own list of extended CCTs, as Vaud does through its cantonal employment authority. An EOR partner typically monitors these updates and reflects them in payroll on the applicable date.
Swiss CCTs will not become simpler in the short term, but they are navigable with a disciplined approach. Mapping each hire to its canton and sector, confirming the applicable CCT, aligning the contract and configuring payroll correctly covers most of the risk. The complexity does not disqualify the EOR route; it is precisely the reason many foreign employers choose it. For general information purposes only, this article does not replace legal advice tailored to a specific hire or sector.