Country fileCHCHFVerified 2026-09-20
CH
Employer of Record in Switzerland: what one employee really costs
Switzerland, Europe. One software engineer at $120,000 gross per year, priced through 12 providers with a published fee, on the ECB reference rates of 18 Sept 2026. Change the salary and headcount below.
- Employer on-cost
- +10.9%
- statutory charges on top of gross
- All-in per month
- $11,289 – $11,789
- salary + charges + published fee, cheapest to dearest listed provider
- Onboarding through an EOR
- 3 days
- per Deel - Hire employees in Switzerland ('your next hire could start in as little as 3 days')
Hiring one software engineer in Switzerland at $120,000 gross a year costs about $1,090 a month in statutory employer charges (+10.9%), plus an EOR fee of $199 to $699 per month depending on the provider: $11,289 to $11,789 all-in, before deposits, FX margins and add-ons. Prices checked 2–24 Sept 2026.
Disclosure Some provider links on this page are affiliate links: if you become a customer after clicking, the provider may pay us a referral fee. It never changes the price you pay, and it never changes the numbers on this page, which come from official sources and are dated. How we are paid
Cost engine · preset to Switzerland
Price your own hire, line by line.
employee inatgross / year
≈ CHF 99,078 gross / year · CHF at ECB reference rate, 18 Sept 2026
| Per employee | Rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $10,000 | |
| Old-age, survivors, invalidity and loss-of-earnings insurance (AVS/AI/APG), employer half | 5.30% | $530 |
| Occupational pension, mandatory minimum (LPP/BVG), employer half at ages 35-44 capped | 5% | $324 |
| Unemployment insurance (AC/ALV), employer half | 1.10% | $110 |
| Family allowance contribution (AFam/FAK), canton of Zurich fund | 1.03% | $103 |
| Occupational accident insurance (LAA, AAP), employer only | 0.12% | $12 |
| Compensation fund administrative levy, modelled at the 1.00% tariff band | 0.11% | $11 |
| Employer on-cost | +10.9% | $1,090 |
| Cost of employment, before EOR fee | $11,090 |
RemoFirstLowest total
$11,289/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $199
- Per year
- $135,463
- Fee share
- 1.8%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a RemoFirst quotePapaya Global
$11,589/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $499
- Per year
- $139,063
- Fee share
- 4.3%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Papaya quoteDeel
$11,689/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $599
- Per year
- $140,263
- Fee share
- 5.1%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Deel quoteEmployer charges from official sources; provider fees are list prices on the dates shown; deposits, FX margins and add-ons are not included. Not legal or tax advice. Methodology
14 providers, one scenario, all-in totals.
| Provider | EOR fee / employee / mo | All-in / mo, 1 hire | Deposit | Countries | Checked | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemoFirst EOR in 185+ countries from $199 per employee per month, no annual contract. | from $199 | $11,289 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from RemoFirst· $11,289/mo |
| Rivermate EOR in 180+ countries from $319 to $639 per employee per month. | from $319 | $11,409 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rivermate· $11,409/mo |
| Pebl Velocity Global, renamed Pebl in 2026. Prints $399 per employee per month. | from $399 | $11,489 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 22 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Pebl· $11,489/mo |
| Playroll EOR in 180+ countries from $399 per employee per month; deposit of one month's salary. | from $399 | $11,489 | Fully refundable security deposit equivalent to one month's salary when onboarding an employee (pricing page). | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Playroll· $11,489/mo |
| Multiplier EOR from $459 (annual) or $499 (monthly) per employee, plus mandated add-ons. | from $499 $459 billed annually | $11,589 | Refundable security deposit required per employee by the EOR terms (effective 1 June 2026), sized by Multiplier; not on the pricing page. | 150+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Multiplier· $11,589/mo |
| Papaya Global EOR starting from $499 per employee per month, quote-based, 160+ countries. | from $499 | $11,589 | Not stated for EOR on the pricing page (the contractor block states 'No deposit required'). | 160+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Papaya Global· $11,589/mo |
| Borderless AI EOR at $579 per employee per month, no deposit or pre-funding, 170+ countries. | $579 | $11,669 | No deposit: 'No upfront deposits or pre-funding required' (pricing page). | 170+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Borderless AI· $11,669/mo |
| Atlas HXM EOR from $599 through its own entities, plus an Agent of Record at $199. | from $599 | $11,689 | Not stated on the pricing page | 160+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Atlas HXM· $11,689/mo |
| Deel EOR in 130+ countries, starting at $599 per employee per month. | from $599 | $11,689 | Not stated on the pricing page | 130+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Deel· $11,689/mo |
| G-P EOR in 180+ countries from $599, with no minimum contract length. | from $599 | $11,689 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from G-P· $11,689/mo |
| Oyster EOR in 120+ countries at USD 699 per employee per month; refundable deposit. | $699 | $11,789 | Refundable deposit required for EOR team members 'to initiate the engagement and to ensure on-time payments' (pricing FAQ). | 120+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Oyster· $11,789/mo |
| Remote EOR in 90+ countries at $699 per employee per month, no deposit. | $699 | $11,789 | No deposit: 'We collect reserve payments in rare, high risk circumstances' (pricing FAQ). | 90+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Remote· $11,789/mo |
| Rippling EOR bundled with the Rippling platform; custom quote only. | Quote only | — | Not stated on the pricing page | — | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rippling |
| Safeguard Global EOR sold alongside entity setup and payroll; no price published. | Quote only | — | Not stated | 187+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Safeguard Global |
Same salary and statutory charges in every row; only the fee segment changes.
What Switzerland adds on top of the salary, and where each rate comes from.
Rates apply to the base named in each line; capped lines stop growing above the ceiling. Engine assumptions: Employee registered in the canton of Zurich (the family allowance rate is set canton by canton, and within Zurich by the fund) = 1; Employee is 35 to 44 years old, so the pension credit is 10% of coordinated salary and the employer's legal minimum is half of it = 5.
| Line | Employer rate | Base & ceiling | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old-age, survivors, invalidity and loss-of-earnings insurance (AVS/AI/APG), employer halfEvery employee, on the whole salary with no ceiling; identical in all 26 cantons | 5.30% | Gross salary The first pillar, and the only Swiss employer charge that is genuinely national. The official AVS memento gives the three rates and their sum - AVS 8.7%, AI 1.4%, APG 0.5%, total 10.6% - and then the split: 'En votre qualité d'employeur, vous déduisez 5,3 % du salaire de vos employés pour leur part de cotisation, part que vous versez à votre caisse de compensation AVS avec votre part de l'employeur (également 5,3 %).' There is no ceiling, which is unusual for a contributory pension: a Swiss executive on a million francs carries 5.3% on the whole of it. That is why the Swiss employer cost falls as a share of pay far less steeply than the German or Japanese one, where the main pension lines stop at a ceiling. | Centre d'information AVS/AI2026-09-20 |
| Occupational pension, mandatory minimum (LPP/BVG), employer half at ages 35-44Only the slice of annual salary between the coordination deduction of CHF 26,460 and the upper limit of CHF 90,720 is insured; below CHF 22,680 of annual pay there is no compulsory cover at all | 5% | Slice of gross salary between CHF 26,460 and CHF 90,720 / yr The second pillar, and the line that makes Swiss quotes impossible to compare without two extra facts. Article 8 LPP: 'La partie du salaire annuel comprise entre 26 460 et 90 720 francs doit être assurée. Cette partie du salaire est appelée salaire coordonné.' The federal social insurance office confirms both figures for 1 January 2026, alongside the CHF 22,680 entry threshold and the CHF 3,780 minimum coordinated salary - a floor this model does not apply, since it only bites on very low pay. Article 16 then sets the credit at 10% of that slice for a 35 to 44 year old, and article 66(1) puts at least half on the employer, so 5%. Because the insured slice is capped at CHF 90,720 while salary is not, this line shrinks as a share of pay on every senior hire. Two warnings for a buyer. First, this is the legal minimum, not the market: almost every Swiss employer insures well beyond it, and Deel lists an estimated 8% pension fund contribution among its Swiss employer costs rather than the 5% here, which alone is most of the gap between our figure and a real quote. Second, the same reasoning this site applies to Sweden applies here - what the law imposes goes in the ledger, what a pension plan adds is a contractual benefit and is named instead of guessed. | Loi fédérale sur la prévoyance professionnelle (LPP, RS 831.40), art. 8 salaire coordonné and art. 16 bonifications de vieillesse, consolidated text2026-09-20 |
| Unemployment insurance (AC/ALV), employer halfEvery employee, on salary up to CHF 148,200 a year, the limit applying per employment contract; nothing at all is charged above it | 1.10% | Gross salary , capped at CHF 148,200 / yr 2.2% in total, half each, and the ceiling is the part to re-read. The official memento is explicit that the old solidarity slice is gone: 'Jusqu'à un montant annuel maximal de 148 200 francs, le taux de cotisation à l'AC est de 2,2 %... Depuis le 1er janvier 2023, aucune cotisation à l'AC ne sera plus prélevée sur la part du salaire dépassant ce montant.' Between 2011 and 2022 a further 1% ran on the excess to repay the fund's debt, and cost pages written before 2023 still carry it - if a comparison shows a Swiss employer paying anything on the slice above CHF 148,200, it is three years out of date. The limit applies to each contract separately, so an employee with two Swiss employers reaches it twice. | Centre d'information AVS/AI2026-09-20 |
| Family allowance contribution (AFam/FAK), canton of Zurich fundEmployer-only charge on the whole AVS-liable payroll, with no ceiling; the rate is set by the canton and by the family allowance fund the employer belongs to | 1.03% | Gross salary Employer-only in Zurich - the cantonal table shows a dash in the employee column - and the clearest example of why a single Swiss percentage is a fiction. The canton of Zurich publishes 1.025% for its own family allowance fund in the contribution table it applies from 1 January 2026, next to a dash in the employee column. A provider affiliated to a different fund pays a different rate on the identical hire: Deel's Switzerland page listed a 'Family fund - 1.6%' when it was read on 20 September 2026, 0.575 points above the Zurich cantonal fund. Some cantons fix one rate for every fund instead of letting each set its own, and in some the employee contributes as well, so neither the rate nor the side of the payslip it falls on can be assumed from one canton to the next. There is no ceiling on this line, so it keeps growing after the unemployment insurance has stopped. | Kanton Zürich2026-09-20 |
| Occupational accident insurance (LAA, AAP), employer onlyEmployer-only charge on insured earnings up to CHF 148,200 a year; the premium is set by the insurer according to the risk class of the business, so an office rate is far below an industrial one | 0.12% | Gross salary , capped at CHF 148,200 / yr Compulsory for every Swiss employee and legally one-sided: article 91(1) LAA puts the premiums for occupational accidents and diseases on the employer, and article 91(2) puts the non-occupational premiums on the employee. Switzerland publishes no general tariff - office and service employers are insured with private insurers rather than SUVA, and each sets its own rate - so a declared point is used instead of a range. The canton of Zurich publishes the rate of its own administrative contract from 1 January 2026: 0.122% employer for occupational accidents with AXA Winterthur, against 0.384% for the non-occupational cover. Deel independently prints 0.1204% on its Switzerland page, within two thousandths of a point of the cantonal figure, which is the best cross-check available for an office role. The ceiling is the maximum insured earnings fixed at CHF 148,200 a year by article 22(1) of the accident insurance ordinance. | Kanton Zürich2026-09-20 |
| Compensation fund administrative levy, modelled at the 1.00% tariff bandEmployer-only charge levied as a percentage of the AVS/AI/APG contributions declared for the year, not of salary; the percentage falls as the employer gets bigger | 0.11% | Gross salary A small line with a large lesson: it is the one Swiss charge where using a provider is cheaper than running your own subsidiary, and it works the opposite way round to Belgium. The AVS memento notes that 'les caisses de compensation perçoivent en sus une contribution aux frais d'administration qui est à la charge de l'employeur' without giving a rate, because each fund sets its own. The Zurich cantonal fund publishes a sliding scale for 2026, charged on the AVS/AI/APG contributions declared: 5.00% for the smallest employers, then 4.75%, 3.25%, 2.00%, 1.25%, 1.00% from CHF 150,000 of contributions, 0.90% from CHF 200,000 and 0.70% from CHF 500,000, with lower rates again for employers filing online. Modelled here at the 1.00% band, which is an employer declaring roughly CHF 1.5 million of Swiss payroll - about the size of a provider's Swiss book, and deliberately not the cheapest band. Since contributions are 10.6% of salary, 1.00% of them is 0.106% of pay. A two-person subsidiary of your own sits in the 3.25% or 5.00% band and would pay 0.34% to 0.53% of salary on this line; a large employer filing online pays 0.03%. | SVA Zürich2026-09-20 |
| 13th month salary - contract or collective agreement, not law not in total | — | Carried at zero because Swiss law does not impose it. Article 322d of the Code of Obligations makes the point exactly: where the employer grants a special payment on an occasion such as Christmas or the year end, 'le travailleur y a droit lorsqu'il en a été convenu ainsi' - the entitlement comes from the agreement, not the statute. In practice most Swiss white-collar offers carry one, and it is usually presented as the annual salary divided into thirteen rather than as a bonus on top, which is why it can look like it costs nothing. Confirm which of the two your quote means. If the 13th month is genuinely additional, it adds 8.33% of annual gross plus the charges above on that amount; if the annual figure already contains it, nothing changes. | Code des obligations (RS 220), art. 322d, gratification ('le travailleur y a droit lorsqu'il en a été convenu ainsi')2026-09-20 |
| Non-occupational accident cover (AANP) - legally the employee's premium not in total | — | Carried at zero because the law puts it on the other side of the payslip, and named because it is the most common line to be misfiled as an employer cost in Swiss quotes. Article 91(2) LAA: 'Les primes de l'assurance obligatoire contre les accidents non professionnels sont à la charge du travailleur. Les conventions contraires en faveur du travailleur sont réservées.' It is roughly three times the occupational premium - the canton of Zurich publishes 0.384% against 0.122% on the same contract - and many Swiss employers do pay part or all of it as a benefit, which is exactly what that reserved clause allows. So it is a real negotiating item worth about a third of a point of salary, and it should appear on the employer side of a quote only if the provider has chosen to put it there. Ask. | Loi fédérale sur l'assurance-accidents (LAA, RS 832.20), art. 91(2), obligation de payer les primes2026-09-20 |
| Sickness daily allowance insurance (KTG/APGM) - compulsory only where a collective agreement says so not in total | — | No federal statute obliges a Swiss employer to insure sick pay. Article 324a of the Code of Obligations (consolidated text in force since 1 January 2026) sets the underlying duty: an employee prevented from working through illness keeps his salary 'pour un temps limité', three weeks in the first year of service and then 'une période plus longue fixée équitablement', once the job has lasted or was agreed for more than three months. Article 324a(4) lets 'un accord écrit, un contrat-type de travail ou une convention collective' replace that duty with 'des prestations au moins équivalentes' - the legal hook for a daily allowance policy - and an employer may equally self-insure. In practice most employers buy such a policy, and many collective agreements make it compulsory, in which case the employer typically pays at least half the premium. It is carried at zero because there is no public rate: premiums are set per employer by a private insurer. For an order of magnitude on an office role, Deel's Switzerland hiring page (deel.com/hiring/employees/switzerland) listed 'Sickness Insurance - 0.64%' among its Swiss employer costs on 20 September 2026, and on the same page a further 'CBA affiliation cost - 0.3% for employees earning less than CHF 12,350 only'. Both are provider figures, not rates set by a Swiss authority, which is why they are left out of the total. Treat the on-cost on this page as the statutory floor. | Code des obligations (RS 220), art. 324a, salaire en cas d'empêchement de travailler (version en vigueur au 1er janvier 2026)2026-09-24 |
| Pension cover above the legal minimum - the single largest variable in a Swiss quote not in total | — | Named at zero because it is contractual, and it is named because it explains almost the whole spread in Swiss provider numbers. The ledger above carries the mandatory minimum only: 5% of the CHF 26,460 to CHF 90,720 slice for a 35 to 44 year old. A typical Swiss plan insures salary from the first franc, uses a smaller coordination deduction or none, and credits well above the legal percentages, and the employer often pays more than half. Deel models 8% of salary for the Swiss pension fund rather than the roughly 3.2% of salary the legal minimum produces here - a gap of nearly five points, larger than every other difference between our figure and theirs put together. Deel's own summary of Switzerland reads: 'The employer cost is generally estimated between 9.81% to 21.58% of the employee salary. The variation will depend on the canton, age, salary, and multiple conditions.' That range is honest, and this page exists to say where inside it a given hire actually falls. | Deel2026-09-20 |
| Employer on-cost at $120,000 | +10.9% | $13,075 a year, $1,090 a month |
EOR or your own entity
Fees scale with headcount. An entity does not.
Switzerland inverts the usual argument. Statutory employer charges come to barely a tenth of salary, roughly half what Germany costs an employer and a third of what Austria costs, so the case for a provider is not that it saves you charges - it is that the Swiss charges you cannot avoid are the ones that need a local decision every time. You have to pick an Ausgleichskasse, and its administrative levy is 5.00% of your AVS contributions at two employees against 1.00% at fifteen, so your own small subsidiary pays a multiple of what a provider pays on that line. You have to pick a pension institution, and the difference between the legal minimum and an ordinary Swiss plan is worth about five points of salary, roughly US$500 a month on this page's example salary - the same order as a published provider fee. You have to pick an accident insurer, since an office employer is not with SUVA by default. And the family allowance rate you end up paying depends on which canton and which fund you land in. Against that, Switzerland asks for no severance fund of the Austrian or Italian kind, and the notice scale in the Code of Obligations stops at three months. The crossover comes earlier than in Germany or Italy - but the day it comes, somebody has to own four supplier choices that nobody else in your company has ever made.
Fees grow with every hire; the charges line is owed under an entity too.
| Headcount | RemoFirst fees / yr | Borderless AI fees / yr | Statutory charges / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,388 | $6,948 | $13,075 |
| 3 | $7,164 | $20,844 | $39,225 |
| 5 | $11,940 | $34,740 | $65,375 |
| 10 | $23,880 | $69,480 | $130,751 |
| 20 | $47,760 | $138,960 | $261,501 |
Statutory charges are owed either way; the provider fee is the only line an entity removes, against the cost of incorporating and running local payroll.
Employment terms that move the cost
- Paid leave
- 20 days
- Public holidays
- 9
- 13th month
- Not mandatory
- Probation
- up to 3 months
- Notice
- One month to the end of a month during the first year of service, two months from the second to the ninth year and three months thereafter (Code of Obligations art. 335c). The probation period is the first month by default with seven days' notice on either side, and may be extended by written agreement, standard contract or collective agreement to at most three months (art. 335b).
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-20
Get a quote for Switzerland.
The lowest published total here, next to the two providers searched for most often (the rule). Totals for 1 hire at $120,000. Ask each provider about deposits, FX margins and mandatory add-ons for Switzerland: those are the lines that move.
Get a RemoFirst quote· $11,289/mo Get a Papaya quote· $11,589/mo Get a Deel quote· $11,689/mo
Disclosure Some provider links are affiliate links; they never change the numbers on this page. Details
Questions people ask before booking a demo
- How much does an employer of record cost in Switzerland?
- For a Zurich hire aged 35 to 44, mandatory employer charges come to 10.9% of gross salary: 5.3% AVS/AI/APG with no ceiling, 1.1% unemployment insurance up to CHF 148,200, 1.025% family allowances, 0.122% occupational accident cover, about 0.1% of fund administration and roughly 3.2% for the minimum occupational pension. On a US$120,000 salary that is roughly US$1,090 a month on top of salary. Published EOR fees then run from about $199 to $699 per employee per month, so the all-in cost lands near $11,300 to $11,800 a month. That is the statutory floor; a normal Swiss pension plan adds several points more.
- Why does the Swiss employer cost depend on the employee's age?
- Because the second pillar does. Article 16 of the LPP sets the annual pension credit as a percentage of coordinated salary by age band - 7% from 25 to 34, 10% from 35 to 44, 15% from 45 to 54 and 18% from 55 - and the employer must fund at least half. On the salary used here that is 3.5%, 5%, 7.5% or 9% of the insured slice, which moves the total employer on-cost from about 9.9% to about 13.5% for the same role. Other countries on this site move with age too - Singapore's CPF steps down from 17% to 16% and then 12.5% as the employee passes 55 and 60, and lower after 65, Japan's nursing care levy applies only from 40 to 64 - but the Swiss steps move the employer share from 3.5% to 9% of the insured slice, and they are why a Swiss provider asks for a date of birth before it will price anything.
- Is there one employer contribution rate for all of Switzerland?
- No. AVS/AI/APG at 5.3% and unemployment insurance at 1.1% are national, but family allowances are set canton by canton and, inside several cantons, fund by fund: 1.025% at the Zurich cantonal fund against the 1.6% Deel publishes for its own Swiss fund. Accident premiums are set by a private insurer according to risk class. And the pension contribution depends on the plan your provider uses. Two honest Swiss quotes for the same salary can differ by ten points, which is why Deel itself only commits to a range of 9.81% to 21.58%.
- Is a 13th month salary mandatory in Switzerland?
- No. Article 322d of the Code of Obligations makes a special year-end payment an entitlement only where it has been agreed. Most Swiss white-collar offers do carry one, but usually as the annual salary paid in thirteen instalments rather than as an extra month, so it costs nothing beyond the annual figure. Check which of the two a quote means: if the 13th month is genuinely on top, it adds 8.33% of annual gross plus the employer charges on that amount.
- How much paid leave and how many public holidays does a Swiss employee get?
- Article 329a of the Code of Obligations gives four weeks a year, five for employees up to the age of 20 - noticeably less than Austria's five weeks or Sweden's. Public holidays are set canton by canton, and the canton of Zurich recognises nine, from New Year's Day through Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension, Whit Monday and 1 August to Christmas and St Stephen's Day. Local days such as Berchtoldstag or Sechseläuten are not legal holidays in Zurich and are only paid where the contract says so.