payment of wages

How and when do you get your salary?

• Your salary is transferred to your bank account at the end of each month (normally the 25th). You get a wage statement by mail each month.
• Salaries are normally indicated as the annual gross salary. You normally get 13 monthly salaries, i.e. each month 1/13 of the annual gross salary. The 13th salary is transferred in December or one half in July and one half in December. (Some fellowships have no 13th salary. Ask your employer.)
• Gross salary (Bruttolohn/salaire brut) means salary without any deduction. Net salary means the gross salary minus all automatically deducted compulsory social insurance deductions (see our insurance section for details).
• You will have to pay taxes on the net salary. Foreign employees like postdocs or PhD candidates who do not hold a residence permit (C) are subject to withholding tax i.e. taxes are deducted monthly from the salary. See our tax section for details.
• Your exact annual gross salary must be indicated in your work contract. Work contracts often exist only in the local language. Ask somebody to translate if you don’t understand it.

What do the specifications on the wage statement mean?

You get each month a wage statement from your employer where your exact gross and net salary and all deductions are indicated. (To know more about the compulsory social insurances, see our insurance section.)

Specification in german/in french	What does it mean?	in % of the gross salary	Example in CHF
Grundgehalt, or Lohn, or brutto / salaire brut	Your monthly gross salary	100	7211.35
AHV-IV-EO/AVS-AI-APG	Your monthly contribution to the OASI, DI and IC.	5.05	383.70
ALV/AC	Your monthly contribution to the unemployment insurance	1.00	76.00
PK, or Pensionskasse/Caisse de pension	Your monthly contribution to the pension fund	varying, about 7.5%	472.50
Nichtbetriebsunfall/LAA	Accident insurance	depends on employer and employee	65.85
Netto, or Nettogehalt/Net, or salaire net	Your monthly net salary which will be transfered on your bank account.		6424.30

Remarks

• Usual working time in Switzerland: 42 hours per week.
• Holidays: Legally 4 weeks per year. Some employers give 5 weeks or more.