FAQ
Frequently asked questions
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
In the case of payrolling, the employee is employed by the payrolling agency. The employee has all the rights and obligations of a salaried employee. The payrolling agency is now responsible for the correct registration and payment of social insurance, taxes, pension funds, etc. So that means responsible for all the bureaucracy that nobody else would even want to touch with a barge pole. And the wonderful thing is that there are designated specialists at work, which ultimately pays off in terms of results.
With a salary of up to 148,200 CHF per year, the GAV (Collective Labour Agreement for Employee Leasing) applies, which has numerous advantages for the employees. For example: subsidized further education, better sick day protection, better retirement provisions, and much more. The payrolling agency enters into an employment contract with the client (legal term: hiring company). Payment is made on a daily or hourly basis. Even if the payment deadlines differ between the client (or the hiring company) and the payrolling agency (or the rental company), the payrolling agency pays the wage or salary on time. Regardless of when the client pays, the money always arrives in the employee’s account on time. After all, that’s what matters.
Yes, it is true. We are not for everyone.
We have specialized in the office professions, and in particular high-potentials such as IT specialists, project managers, scientists, and other bright minds. About half of our employees (also known as “resources” in technical jargon) that we lend to other companies earn more than the CLA threshold of CHF 148 200. This means they need more than a standard payroll. Our insurance offers, processes and all-around services are tailored to this “white collar” sector. So that the “resource” gets as much net from the gross as possible. Our clients (as we learned above, hiring companies) come from the strongest segments of the economy: i.e., banking, the IT or technology sector, insurance, pharmaceuticals, industry and, of course, the public sector. All areas with a bright future.
Other recruitment-intensive fields such as construction and ancillary construction trades, gastronomy and tourism, production, cleaning, and facility management are not within our focus. This is simply because the salary structures require different expertise in tax and pension issues. And also because of other risk classifications, less attractive insurance rates are applicable. These sectors are better off with our colleagues.
Our wage calculator just works. And it does so by taking into account various individual factors that other calculators consider only insufficiently or not at all. You simply enter target values on our website: for the customer rate, the gross salary or the net amount, and the wage calculator spurts out an overview of the corresponding total costs as well as all available insurance options. Elsewhere, you’d be searching for a long time.
The client is charged per hour of working time. This includes the payroll fee for our work and any MSP/VMS services commissioned by the client, as well as the all-in wage costs.
Our payrolling fee is usually defined as per hour of service, for certain clients at their request as a % rate of the client rate/all-in wage costs or a so-called multiplier on the gross wage is agreed upon. We are really very flexible and follow our clients’ wishes. Very much in line with our philosophy “Going the Extra Mile”, which has proved very successful.
The all-in wage costs in turn are the sum of the gross wage and the employer’s contributions. All this is displayed in detail by our wage calculator. No questions will remain unanswered.
2187 annual hours, at 42 hours per week and 52.07 weeks per year according to Article 20, Paragraph 5 which corresponds to 21.7 days with 8.4 hours each per month.
Correct! When using a calculator, both a normal year with 365 days and a leap year with 366 days give different results. But that is exactly why you calculate the whole thing with our wage calculator and not with your pocket calculator.
In addition, the RM Group salary calculator has a multiplicative calculation tool for public holidays and holidays. In other words, after entering the number of hours of work per week, the holidays and paid public holidays are offset and deducted, so that the bottom line is the number of hours of work that can be charged.
| Annual vacation | 4 Weeks | 5 Weeks | 6 Weeks |
| Working days | 19.41 | 19.01 | 18.60 |
| Holiday leave | 1.67 | 2.08 | 2.50 |
| Public holiday | 0.62 | 0.61 | 0.60 |
| Total | 21.70 | 21.70 | 21.70 |
Anyone earning more than CHF 62.55 per hour in basic wages (not including holidays, public holidays or 13th-month wages) is not covered by the CBA (the Collective Labour Agreement for Employee Leasing) and must therefore be invoiced differently. No further training contribution has to be paid for these employees. All in relation to the basic wage.
And how does this threshold value come about?
Quite simple. The maximum amount of insured earnings in the compulsory accident insurance was increased to CHF 148,200 on 1 January 2016. If you break this figure of annual earnings down to an hourly wage, you’ll get the following:
CHF 148 200 (13 basic wages according to the CLA): 13 x 12=> CHF 136 800 (12 basic wages)
CHF 136 800: 2187 hours per year basic wage CHF 62.55 (without public holidays, holidays, and 13th-month wage)
If you feel a bit dizzy now, no problem, that’s what we are here for.
| Contribution | Distribution AG/AN | Benefits |
| BVG risk premium and administrative costs | Basis: 50%/50%, with certain comprehensive models 100% (patronal) through AG | Insurance premium for benefits in the case of disability or in the event of death, see our insurances for details |
| BVG savings bonus | These funds go directly into your personal BVG savings premium, and be paid out at retirement/moving outside EU) or conversion to a recurring retirement pension. |
|
| AHV | Always 50%/50% | Old-age and survivors’ insurance-the first pillar of the Swiss pension system |
| IV | Disability pension-if you become incapacitated and are unable to work | |
| EO-MSE-VSE-BUE | Compensation for loss of earnings/maternity/paternity/care of children with severe health impairments | |
| AHV administrative levies | 100% AG | Levy for AHV administration |
| FAK family compensation fund | 100% AG | Family compensation funds – these contributions finance child allowances. Since any child allowances to which you may be entitled depend on various factors, we have not modelled them. These are CHF 200/250 in the canton of Zürich (exempt from AHV/ N/ED and BVG) |
| ALV (I&II) | Always 50% / 50% | Unemployment insurance – wages up to CHF 148,200 are insured (ALV I), a solidarity percentage is paid on wages above this amount (ALV II) |
| UVG occupational accident and supplemental insurance up to 148’200 |
100% AG | This guarantees both the continued payment of wages and healthcare services in the event of an accident. For better comparability, we have based contributions on wages up to 148’200 and surplus wages up to 315’00. |
| UVG excess wage | 100% AG | |
| KTG | 100% AG | This contribution finances the loss of earnings in the event of chronic disease. No salary is paid for the first two days (maternity leave), from the third day onwards, the insurance pays 80%; 90% for Grade 9) |
| Cantonal vocational training contribution | 100% AG | “The vocational training fund of the Canton of Zurich is dedicated to maintain and increase the willingness of companies to train apprentices. It further develops basic vocational education and strengthens its position in the education system.” As RM Group, we either pay contributions to the canton or use them to train apprentices ourselves. Source:Berufsbildungsfonds | Kanton Zürich (zh.ch) |
| Professional contribution GAV Employee leasing up to CHF148’200 per year | 100% AG | As temporary employee with an annual salary of up to CHF 148,200, you are subject to the CLA and therefore have access to the further education fund temptraining. For example, if you have worked 400 hours as a temporary employee in the last 12 months, you will receive up to CHF 3,000 for further training and a maximum of CHF 1250 for loss of earnings. |
We have compared the corresponding sample calculations in Q1 2022 and found glaring differences:
Sample calculation: Male, 40 years, CHF 100 per hour customer rate, comparison with known competitor:
| RM | Competitor | |
| Customer rate | 100 | 100 |
| Payroll Fee | -3.50 | -3.00 |
| SNB | -1.80 | -1.76 |
| AHV, ALV | -5.46 | -5.54 |
| KTG | -1.41 | -1.38 |
| Accident | -0.27 | -0.34 |
| Other (FAK etc.) | -1.32 | -1.38 |
| Gross wage | 86.25 | 86.58 |
| LOB | -1.80 | -1.76 |
| AHV, ALV | -5.46 | -5.54 |
| KTG funds | 0 (patronal) | -1.38 |
| Accident | -0.53 | -0.56 |
| Net | 78.46 | 77.34 |
Differences in price here are primarily due to the sick pay insurance.
Approaches to sick pay insurance: The competition charges a total of 3.2% of the salary when adding up the contributions of the employee and the employer. Now compare this to our rates of 1.63% for men and 2.322% for women – which are borne in total by the employer. And what’s more, our sick pay solution is more comprehensive than that of many competitors (see next chapter).
Other cost components that can vary, e.g.,
Family compensation fund (FAK): These vary from canton to canton and, to a lesser extent, from compensation fund to compensation fund. Therefore, the corresponding allowances also vary from canton to canton. In this respect, the RM Group in the canton of Zurich is on the favourable side with 1.12%.
Risk premium and administration fees of BVG insurance: We have agreed on a flat-rate percentage with Profond (irrespective of age). In the basic variant, this amounts to only 0.65% (of the compulsorily insured salary) for both employer and employee, and is thus significantly lower than many other competitors. In order to allow for comparability, we separate the savings portion. Many competitors only show the consolidated retirement percentages for savings, risk, and administration – and some of them can also show these percentages for the employer and the employee – and some can only make definitive calculations on signing up. The difference in costs (for the same benefits) can amount to more than 1% of the insured salary. It is therefore important to clarify this before signing a contract.
Cost split by employer and / or employee: There are also differences in the distribution / spilt of non-wage costs between employer and employee. Patronage contributions (i.e., contributions borne by the employer) generally reduce the AHV /IV/EO/ALV assessment basis and thus the contributions for the employee.
What matters most is what comes out in the end. We will be happy to assist you in making comparisons, if necessary.
For the payrollee (employee), in addition to the salary, the benefits naturally also play a major role and more on this in the next section.
Certain benefits such as AHV (old-age and survivors’ insurance) are of course standardized. But with all other benefits, there are sometimes significant differences in the comprehensive solutions:
Pension Fund: It already starts with the savings contribution. We explicitly show the savings contribution separately from the risk and administration fees. While this is comparable in the basic option for full-time employment, the savings contribution differs from the risk and administration fees, and significantly for the more comprehensive solutions.
The interest rate for the total BVG assets is also of great importance: because many of the well-represented insurance companies in the employee leasing sector do not pay more than the minimum interest rate set by the Federal Council. Our provider Profond, on the other hand, is a regular winner of the tagi and fuw pension fund comparison and, with an interest rate of 8% for the whole year of 2021, is once again in a class of its own.
With a well-stocked pension fund, the difference in interest rates is in the five-digit range. And that’s just for the year 2021! Risk premium and insured benefits: Again, you have to compare the relevant salary and benefits in detail. The benefits are usually shown as a percentage of the insured salary. While many payrolling providers offer no choice, at RM Group, we offer three options. Because just as our employees are not all the same, their needs are just as different.
Sick pay insurance: There are various aspects to be compared:
- RM offers 80% or 90% depending on the insurance package.
- Regardless of the waiting period agreed between the employer and the insurance company, the employer can suspend the continued payment of wages during the first days of sickness. According to general case law, a waiting period of up to 3 days is permissible. For companies that, like RM, are subject to the CBA Employee Leasing, this period is reduced to 2 days. This means 1 extra day’s pay in the event of a prolonged sickness – Money that is often urgently needed for the associated medical bills. In the case of even longer waiting periods (e.g. 30 days), it is essential to clarify how wages will be financed during the waiting period. If worse comes to worst, the accident should not also be accompanied by further insults such as a major loss of wages. In our opinion, such sample calculations are simply untrustworthy.
Additional services: RM focuses on sought-after specialists and experts in IT, project management, finance and science. For female employees on maternity leave, we do not only pay the obligatory EO daily allowance of a maximum of CHF 196 but also 80% or 90% (depending on the model) of the full salary.
Accident insurance: The SUVA insurance, which is obligatory for companies in the employee leasing sector, is comparable to them as far as the benefits are concerned. The costs, however, differ considerably.
These questions should be answered carefully:
What percentage of the payroll is insured?
RM offers 80% or 90% depending on the insurance package.
Is the entire salary insured?
The standard insurance (e.g., via SUV) usually only covers a salary of up to CHF 148,200 per year. If you earn more, you are in good hands with the RM Group. This is because we cover the entire difference above the threshold of CHF 148,200 p.a. through excess insurance. In principle, the employer is accountable. We fulfill this obligation conscientiously. Unfortunately, we are also aware of examples where the employer does not fulfill this obligation to the detriment of the employee.
In our salary calculator, the holiday entitlement is shown as a supplement to the basic salary, just as defined in the Collective Labour Agreement for Employee Leasing.
These are 8.33 % for 4 weeks’ holiday, calculated on the basis of full-time employment. 10.60% for 5 weeks’ holiday calculated on the basis of full-time employment etc.
The law and the CLA (Collective Labour Agreement) define the minimum leave entitlement as follows:
- 4 weeks’ leave per year of employment as an absolute minimum for all
- 5 weeks’ leave per year of employment for employees in the CLA from the age of 50 onwards
- Additional leave can be arranged, and our wage calculator is flexible enough to allow for up to 8 weeks leave per year. Anything beyond that, and our calculator will stop working out of sheer envy
As stipulated in Swiss labour law, leave is always paid out when taken. If the leave has not been used or has not been used in full, the remaining balance at the end of the employment is paid as additional wages.
A percentage payment of the leave entitlement is only permitted for sporadic, irregular assignments.
In principle, employers in Switzerland are only obliged to pay wages on National Holiday (1 August).
The CLA (Collective Labour Agreement) also regulates the payment of wages for all public holidays treated as Sundays. To simplify the entire procedure, these can be regulated by a flat-rate surcharge of 3.2%. The RM Group prefers simple solutions in the interests of its employees and therefore pays a default flat-rate surcharge of 3.2% on top of the salary. This is always based on the actual working hours. This simplifies the process for all parties involved.
We process the wages for our employees as soon as we receive a time tracking record approved by the customer (hiring company).
We pay the wages on the following 3rd working day at the latest. We are usually much quicker, though.
Not only that, but we also do not charge our employees a fee for the pre-financing of their wages or for the risk of default.
Other procedures often found in the marketplace are neither in line with our philosophy nor our legal opinion.
As an employer, the RM Group is subject to the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) on Employee Leasing. For our employees, this means that contributions to the parity training fund are made for every employee provision within the CLA guidelines, i.e., up to a basic salary of CHF 62.55 per hour. Accordingly, each RM Group employee subject to the CBA can take advantage of this further education provision.
According to a memo from SECO (Secrétariat d’Etat à l’économie, i.e., State Secretariat for Economic Affairs), expenses cannot be settled as a lump sum in employee leasing. Flat-rate expenses are explicitly prohibited. For this reason, we charge actual, verifiable expenses to the hiring company. Travel and meals at the place of work are not considered expenses. Anyone who abides by the law simply cannot offer flat-rate expenses. If they do it anyway, they’d be breaking the law, which is why this is out of the question for us.
Wage portage, as propagated by certain providers, implies a service contract between the client (hiring company) and the payrollee (employee). For this to be the case, the payrollee would have to be able to carry out their assignments independently without being integrated into the client’s work organization and would have to be independent of the client’s enterprise. In our experience, this distinction from employee leasing is incompatible with reality. Many assignments are full-time or at least the primary source of income for months at a time, and clients demand integration into the team (whether agile or not) without recognizable differentiation from internal employees. With assignments, in contrast to employee leasing, it is not always possible to charge for all hours worked, and in the case of (assumed) poor performance, there is a risk of not being remunerated at all.
In the case of payrolling, the employee is employed by the payrolling agency. The employee has all the rights and obligations of a salaried employee. The payrolling agency is now responsible for the correct registration and payment of social insurance, taxes, pension funds, etc. So that means responsible for all the bureaucracy that nobody else would even want to touch with a barge pole. And the wonderful thing is that there are designated specialists at work, which ultimately pays off in terms of results.
With a salary of up to 148,200 CHF per year, the GAV (Collective Labour Agreement for Employee Leasing) applies, which has numerous advantages for the employees. For example: subsidized further education, better sick day protection, better retirement provisions, and much more. The payrolling agency enters into an employment contract with the client (legal term: hiring company). Payment is made on a daily or hourly basis. Even if the payment deadlines differ between the client (or the hiring company) and the payrolling agency (or the rental company), the payrolling agency pays the wage or salary on time. Regardless of when the client pays, the money always arrives in the employee’s account on time. After all, that’s what matters.
Yes, it is true. We are not for everyone.
We have specialized in the office professions, and in particular high-potentials such as IT specialists, project managers, scientists, and other bright minds. About half of our employees (also known as “resources” in technical jargon) that we lend to other companies earn more than the CLA threshold of CHF 148 200. This means they need more than a standard payroll. Our insurance offers, processes and all-around services are tailored to this “white collar” sector. So that the “resource” gets as much net from the gross as possible. Our clients (as we learned above, hiring companies) come from the strongest segments of the economy: i.e., banking, the IT or technology sector, insurance, pharmaceuticals, industry and, of course, the public sector. All areas with a bright future.
Other recruitment-intensive fields such as construction and ancillary construction trades, gastronomy and tourism, production, cleaning, and facility management are not within our focus. This is simply because the salary structures require different expertise in tax and pension issues. And also because of other risk classifications, less attractive insurance rates are applicable. These sectors are better off with our colleagues.
Our wage calculator just works. And it does so by taking into account various individual factors that other calculators consider only insufficiently or not at all. You simply enter target values on our website: for the customer rate, the gross salary or the net amount, and the wage calculator spurts out an overview of the corresponding total costs as well as all available insurance options. Elsewhere, you’d be searching for a long time.
The client is charged per hour of working time. This includes the payroll fee for our work and any MSP/VMS services commissioned by the client, as well as the all-in wage costs.
Our payrolling fee is usually defined as per hour of service, for certain clients at their request as a % rate of the client rate/all-in wage costs or a so-called multiplier on the gross wage is agreed upon. We are really very flexible and follow our clients’ wishes. Very much in line with our philosophy “Going the Extra Mile”, which has proved very successful.
The all-in wage costs in turn are the sum of the gross wage and the employer’s contributions. All this is displayed in detail by our wage calculator. No questions will remain unanswered.
2187 annual hours, at 42 hours per week and 52.07 weeks per year according to Article 20, Paragraph 5 which corresponds to 21.7 days with 8.4 hours each per month.
Correct! When using a calculator, both a normal year with 365 days and a leap year with 366 days give different results. But that is exactly why you calculate the whole thing with our wage calculator and not with your pocket calculator.
In addition, the RM Group salary calculator has a multiplicative calculation tool for public holidays and holidays. In other words, after entering the number of hours of work per week, the holidays and paid public holidays are offset and deducted, so that the bottom line is the number of hours of work that can be charged.
| Annual vacation | 4 Weeks | 5 Weeks | 6 Weeks |
| Working days | 19.41 | 19.01 | 18.60 |
| Holiday leave | 1.67 | 2.08 | 2.50 |
| Public holiday | 0.62 | 0.61 | 0.60 |
| Total | 21.70 | 21.70 | 21.70 |
Anyone earning more than CHF 62.55 per hour in basic wages (not including holidays, public holidays or 13th-month wages) is not covered by the CBA (the Collective Labour Agreement for Employee Leasing) and must therefore be invoiced differently. No further training contribution has to be paid for these employees. All in relation to the basic wage.
And how does this threshold value come about?
Quite simple. The maximum amount of insured earnings in the compulsory accident insurance was increased to CHF 148,200 on 1 January 2016. If you break this figure of annual earnings down to an hourly wage, you’ll get the following:
CHF 148 200 (13 basic wages according to the CLA): 13 x 12=> CHF 136 800 (12 basic wages)
CHF 136 800: 2187 hours per year basic wage CHF 62.55 (without public holidays, holidays, and 13th-month wage)
If you feel a bit dizzy now, no problem, that’s what we are here for.
| Contribution | Distribution AG/AN | Benefits |
| BVG risk premium and administrative costs | Basis: 50%/50%, with certain comprehensive models 100% (patronal) through AG | Insurance premium for benefits in the case of disability or in the event of death, see our insurances for details |
| BVG savings bonus | These funds go directly into your personal BVG savings premium, and be paid out at retirement/moving outside EU) or conversion to a recurring retirement pension. |
|
| AHV | Always 50%/50% | Old-age and survivors’ insurance-the first pillar of the Swiss pension system |
| IV | Disability pension-if you become incapacitated and are unable to work | |
| EO-MSE-VSE-BUE | Compensation for loss of earnings/maternity/paternity/care of children with severe health impairments | |
| AHV administrative levies | 100% AG | Levy for AHV administration |
| FAK family compensation fund | 100% AG | Family compensation funds – these contributions finance child allowances. Since any child allowances to which you may be entitled depend on various factors, we have not modelled them. These are CHF 200/250 in the canton of Zürich (exempt from AHV/ N/ED and BVG) |
| ALV (I&II) | Always 50% / 50% | Unemployment insurance – wages up to CHF 148,200 are insured (ALV I), a solidarity percentage is paid on wages above this amount (ALV II) |
| UVG occupational accident and supplemental insurance up to 148’200 |
100% AG | This guarantees both the continued payment of wages and healthcare services in the event of an accident. For better comparability, we have based contributions on wages up to 148’200 and surplus wages up to 315’00. |
| UVG excess wage | 100% AG | |
| KTG | 100% AG | This contribution finances the loss of earnings in the event of chronic disease. No salary is paid for the first two days (maternity leave), from the third day onwards, the insurance pays 80%; 90% for Grade 9) |
| Cantonal vocational training contribution | 100% AG | “The vocational training fund of the Canton of Zurich is dedicated to maintain and increase the willingness of companies to train apprentices. It further develops basic vocational education and strengthens its position in the education system.” As RM Group, we either pay contributions to the canton or use them to train apprentices ourselves. Source:Berufsbildungsfonds | Kanton Zürich (zh.ch) |
| Professional contribution GAV Employee leasing up to CHF148’200 per year | 100% AG | As temporary employee with an annual salary of up to CHF 148,200, you are subject to the CLA and therefore have access to the further education fund temptraining. For example, if you have worked 400 hours as a temporary employee in the last 12 months, you will receive up to CHF 3,000 for further training and a maximum of CHF 1250 for loss of earnings. |
We have compared the corresponding sample calculations in Q1 2022 and found glaring differences:
Sample calculation: Male, 40 years, CHF 100 per hour customer rate, comparison with known competitor:
| RM | Competitor | |
| Customer rate | 100 | 100 |
| Payroll Fee | -3.50 | -3.00 |
| SNB | -1.80 | -1.76 |
| AHV, ALV | -5.46 | -5.54 |
| KTG | -1.41 | -1.38 |
| Accident | -0.27 | -0.34 |
| Other (FAK etc.) | -1.32 | -1.38 |
| Gross wage | 86.25 | 86.58 |
| LOB | -1.80 | -1.76 |
| AHV, ALV | -5.46 | -5.54 |
| KTG funds | 0 (patronal) | -1.38 |
| Accident | -0.53 | -0.56 |
| Net | 78.46 | 77.34 |
Differences in price here are primarily due to the sick pay insurance.
Approaches to sick pay insurance: The competition charges a total of 3.2% of the salary when adding up the contributions of the employee and the employer. Now compare this to our rates of 1.63% for men and 2.322% for women – which are borne in total by the employer. And what’s more, our sick pay solution is more comprehensive than that of many competitors (see next chapter).
Other cost components that can vary, e.g.,
Family compensation fund (FAK): These vary from canton to canton and, to a lesser extent, from compensation fund to compensation fund. Therefore, the corresponding allowances also vary from canton to canton. In this respect, the RM Group in the canton of Zurich is on the favourable side with 1.12%.
Risk premium and administration fees of BVG insurance: We have agreed on a flat-rate percentage with Profond (irrespective of age). In the basic variant, this amounts to only 0.65% (of the compulsorily insured salary) for both employer and employee, and is thus significantly lower than many other competitors. In order to allow for comparability, we separate the savings portion. Many competitors only show the consolidated retirement percentages for savings, risk, and administration – and some of them can also show these percentages for the employer and the employee – and some can only make definitive calculations on signing up. The difference in costs (for the same benefits) can amount to more than 1% of the insured salary. It is therefore important to clarify this before signing a contract.
Cost split by employer and / or employee: There are also differences in the distribution / spilt of non-wage costs between employer and employee. Patronage contributions (i.e., contributions borne by the employer) generally reduce the AHV /IV/EO/ALV assessment basis and thus the contributions for the employee.
What matters most is what comes out in the end. We will be happy to assist you in making comparisons, if necessary.
For the payrollee (employee), in addition to the salary, the benefits naturally also play a major role and more on this in the next section.
Certain benefits such as AHV (old-age and survivors’ insurance) are of course standardized. But with all other benefits, there are sometimes significant differences in the comprehensive solutions:
Pension Fund: It already starts with the savings contribution. We explicitly show the savings contribution separately from the risk and administration fees. While this is comparable in the basic option for full-time employment, the savings contribution differs from the risk and administration fees, and significantly for the more comprehensive solutions.
The interest rate for the total BVG assets is also of great importance: because many of the well-represented insurance companies in the employee leasing sector do not pay more than the minimum interest rate set by the Federal Council. Our provider Profond, on the other hand, is a regular winner of the tagi and fuw pension fund comparison and, with an interest rate of 8% for the whole year of 2021, is once again in a class of its own.
With a well-stocked pension fund, the difference in interest rates is in the five-digit range. And that’s just for the year 2021! Risk premium and insured benefits: Again, you have to compare the relevant salary and benefits in detail. The benefits are usually shown as a percentage of the insured salary. While many payrolling providers offer no choice, at RM Group, we offer three options. Because just as our employees are not all the same, their needs are just as different.
Sick pay insurance: There are various aspects to be compared:
- RM offers 80% or 90% depending on the insurance package.
- Regardless of the waiting period agreed between the employer and the insurance company, the employer can suspend the continued payment of wages during the first days of sickness. According to general case law, a waiting period of up to 3 days is permissible. For companies that, like RM, are subject to the CBA Employee Leasing, this period is reduced to 2 days. This means 1 extra day’s pay in the event of a prolonged sickness – Money that is often urgently needed for the associated medical bills. In the case of even longer waiting periods (e.g. 30 days), it is essential to clarify how wages will be financed during the waiting period. If worse comes to worst, the accident should not also be accompanied by further insults such as a major loss of wages. In our opinion, such sample calculations are simply untrustworthy.
Additional services: RM focuses on sought-after specialists and experts in IT, project management, finance and science. For female employees on maternity leave, we do not only pay the obligatory EO daily allowance of a maximum of CHF 196 but also 80% or 90% (depending on the model) of the full salary.
Accident insurance: The SUVA insurance, which is obligatory for companies in the employee leasing sector, is comparable to them as far as the benefits are concerned. The costs, however, differ considerably.
These questions should be answered carefully:
What percentage of the payroll is insured?
RM offers 80% or 90% depending on the insurance package.
Is the entire salary insured?
The standard insurance (e.g., via SUV) usually only covers a salary of up to CHF 148,200 per year. If you earn more, you are in good hands with the RM Group. This is because we cover the entire difference above the threshold of CHF 148,200 p.a. through excess insurance. In principle, the employer is accountable. We fulfill this obligation conscientiously. Unfortunately, we are also aware of examples where the employer does not fulfill this obligation to the detriment of the employee.
In our salary calculator, the holiday entitlement is shown as a supplement to the basic salary, just as defined in the Collective Labour Agreement for Employee Leasing.
These are 8.33 % for 4 weeks’ holiday, calculated on the basis of full-time employment. 10.60% for 5 weeks’ holiday calculated on the basis of full-time employment etc.
The law and the CLA (Collective Labour Agreement) define the minimum leave entitlement as follows:
- 4 weeks’ leave per year of employment as an absolute minimum for all
- 5 weeks’ leave per year of employment for employees in the CLA from the age of 50 onwards
- Additional leave can be arranged, and our wage calculator is flexible enough to allow for up to 8 weeks leave per year. Anything beyond that, and our calculator will stop working out of sheer envy
As stipulated in Swiss labour law, leave is always paid out when taken. If the leave has not been used or has not been used in full, the remaining balance at the end of the employment is paid as additional wages.
A percentage payment of the leave entitlement is only permitted for sporadic, irregular assignments.
In principle, employers in Switzerland are only obliged to pay wages on National Holiday (1 August).
The CLA (Collective Labour Agreement) also regulates the payment of wages for all public holidays treated as Sundays. To simplify the entire procedure, these can be regulated by a flat-rate surcharge of 3.2%. The RM Group prefers simple solutions in the interests of its employees and therefore pays a default flat-rate surcharge of 3.2% on top of the salary. This is always based on the actual working hours. This simplifies the process for all parties involved.
We process the wages for our employees as soon as we receive a time tracking record approved by the customer (hiring company).
We pay the wages on the following 3rd working day at the latest. We are usually much quicker, though.
Not only that, but we also do not charge our employees a fee for the pre-financing of their wages or for the risk of default.
Other procedures often found in the marketplace are neither in line with our philosophy nor our legal opinion.
As an employer, the RM Group is subject to the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) on Employee Leasing. For our employees, this means that contributions to the parity training fund are made for every employee provision within the CLA guidelines, i.e., up to a basic salary of CHF 62.55 per hour. Accordingly, each RM Group employee subject to the CBA can take advantage of this further education provision.
According to a memo from SECO (Secrétariat d’Etat à l’économie, i.e., State Secretariat for Economic Affairs), expenses cannot be settled as a lump sum in employee leasing. Flat-rate expenses are explicitly prohibited. For this reason, we charge actual, verifiable expenses to the hiring company. Travel and meals at the place of work are not considered expenses. Anyone who abides by the law simply cannot offer flat-rate expenses. If they do it anyway, they’d be breaking the law, which is why this is out of the question for us.
Wage portage, as propagated by certain providers, implies a service contract between the client (hiring company) and the payrollee (employee). For this to be the case, the payrollee would have to be able to carry out their assignments independently without being integrated into the client’s work organization and would have to be independent of the client’s enterprise. In our experience, this distinction from employee leasing is incompatible with reality. Many assignments are full-time or at least the primary source of income for months at a time, and clients demand integration into the team (whether agile or not) without recognizable differentiation from internal employees. With assignments, in contrast to employee leasing, it is not always possible to charge for all hours worked, and in the case of (assumed) poor performance, there is a risk of not being remunerated at all.
