Below is a draft email I put together yesterday for a client I interviewed for and "won" a contract with. I originally posted this on the English.ch forums which I found useful in researching the possibilities of taking a contract in Switzerland, but it was suggested there that it would be better posted here if my intention was to warn others (which it was).
If you're new to Switzerland (as I am) the differences cf the UK may come as a bit of a shock and hopefully this post will give some clues as to the "hidden costs" of such contracts and the way agencies will (deliberately, in my view) try to hide them from you. I should add that I've worked in other countries in the past - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany and Ireland - and this was by far my most painful experience.
Feel free to comment if you think my experiences are unfair to Switzerland or untypical, but I get the impression (from the numerous agency references to "getting burnt" by previous contractors who fell for what was on offer and then "did a runner" when they discovered the realities) that my experience is very typical and in some ways I'm lucky I worked out the situation before I signed any contract and wasted even more time and money.
I have changed the name of the UK agency rep to "Fred" and used names like "UKAgency" and "SwissCo" to protect the guilty!
You have probably heard from Fred at UKAgency that I have declined the offered contract. My reasons for doing so follow and I hope that you will have the time and patience to read through them as I think that improvements in the information provided could have benefits in future UK recruitment efforts. But first let me emphasise that they are nothing to do with SwissCo or the work itself, with which I was excited about getting involved.
1.The higher tax (due to not being able to use my own company as in the past without a deposit of 10,000CHF, which I am not prepared to do)
2.The compulsory insurances deducted from salary which the UK tax man doesn’t recognise as being eligible towards UK tax
3.The high cost of accommodation and living expenses
4.The risk of being charged an additional 15% UK tax (on top of the Swiss 25% rate) if I return to the UK in less than“six months and 1 day”
5.Terms and conditions which could mean that if I am “let go” within 20 working days I will not be paid for those days
6.The high probability that the exchange rate will deteriorate when UK base rates rise in September (as hinted at by the Bank of England), thus making it harder to cover my UK commitments.
When Fred originally contacted me he was proposing a contract that offered UK£80 over my UK daily rate. I assumed this would be sufficient to cover my accommodation and (monthly) flight back to the UK, with the rest being roughly equivalent to a UK contract rate. Unfortunately, this was Fred’s first Swiss contract and he was as naive as I was about the working costs (and environment?). My own investigations revealed that conditions there are very different from my previous European contracts. Never-the-less, I was very keen to work for SwissCo and was prepared to take the reductions in disposable income for an “adventure” out of London.
SwissAgency (UKAgency's chosen Swiss “salary” company) had stated that they would “help with accommodation”, claiming that their reputation would give me access to properties that would otherwise not be available to me as an individual with no track record. They also informed me that rent would be deducted from my salary automatically, which I assumed meant that they would deal with the financial arrangements when something suitable was found. MainContact1 at SwissAgency said that 1000CHF/month would be enough but alarm bells started to ring when he indicated that they could not give further assistance with accommodation or anything other than a vague promise to “help” until AFTER I signed the contract. This is unacceptable, a risk too far, so, after meeting Fred (UKAgency) for the first time on Friday 6th May I decided that a visit to Switzerland at my own cost was necessary to discover the real situation.
On the following Tuesday I arranged to meet MainContact1 andMainContact2 (SwissAgency) (UKAgency not having thought to do so) and MainContact2 mentioned two available apartments which were both more expensive than the figures previously discussed on the phone with MainContact1, one at CHF1800 and another at CHF2500. She recommended the more expensive one as the other was in “the red light district” and I require somewhere quiet, preferably away from the city but on a convenient public transport route. (When checking with them the next day it transpired that both flats had already gone.) MainContact2 made it clear that her role was to “help” on a “best efforts” basis only, which I felt was a contradiction of previous telephone discussions. I also discovered during this meeting that if one is unfortunate enough to be ill a sick note is required (at a cost of CHF200) as well as c.CHF300 per month to be registered with a doctor. All this in addition to the Health Insurance deduction from salary.
After I met you and the rest of the team on Wednesday I followed up some other accommodation opportunities I had discovered myself and found “Serviced accommodation” from someone who is also a SwissCo employee, available on 25th May @ CHF850 per month. It was far from ideal and certainly not a long term possibility but was affordable (a small, very hot room with little ventilation in a noisy downtown area) and may suffice while looking for something more suitable. However, when I contacted SwissAgency about the references and (hopefully) payment of the required deposit(to be deducted from salary as rent) it became clear that they will not help with guarantees, deposits etc. Fred (UKAgency) agreed to investigate whether or not they could help but apparently not. So, all-in-all, it is a “No go”.
I realise that none of this is your problem and want to say that the ONLY part of the whole process that has been in any way positive has been meeting you and your team and visiting SwissCo offices. I would like you to understand why, at what must seem like the last minute, I have changed my mind. In truth I feel that I have been totally misinformed throughout every step of the process by the agencies responsible for placing me. To say that I am extremely disappointed with this entire recruitment process is an understatement. Their sole desire appears to be to hook someone so that they can get their fee. It has been a steep and very expensive learning curve for me which would not have been necessary if they had done their job properly and been upfront about the realities. It only remains for me to wish you and the team good luck with your future applications and working with technology-X, and apologise for the fact that your time has been wasted.
After I drafted the above email the "serviced accommodation" mentioned is looking less likely as the person offering it is struggling to find suitable alternative accommodation that he needs to move his family into to free up the serviced accommodation. ClientCo have several times mentioned a "cheap hotel" at 80CHF/night next to a bus stop as a possibility. On Friday afternoon I finally got the details and it looks very nice (single room in a small family-run hotel in a vineyard) but the cheapest room is advertised at 110CHF/day and after trying to negotiate a better deal I was informed the only offers they made were 3000CHF/month for a whole month payable in advance, but in fact they are fully booked apart from 4 or 5 days for the whole of June anyway.
I've "burnt bridges" with a UK client (by taking time out to investigate what was on offer, reneging on a verbal offer to help them out with 2-3 weeks work before I was due to start in Switzerland), wasted the best part of a week and 1000UKP (last minute flights and two nights hotel) researching this "opportunity" and am very angry at the way the agencies have continually tried to obfuscate the realities of working in Switzerland as a UK contractor.
I'm posting this here as a warning to others, who may find themselves in a similar situation in the future.
If you're new to Switzerland (as I am) the differences cf the UK may come as a bit of a shock and hopefully this post will give some clues as to the "hidden costs" of such contracts and the way agencies will (deliberately, in my view) try to hide them from you. I should add that I've worked in other countries in the past - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany and Ireland - and this was by far my most painful experience.
Feel free to comment if you think my experiences are unfair to Switzerland or untypical, but I get the impression (from the numerous agency references to "getting burnt" by previous contractors who fell for what was on offer and then "did a runner" when they discovered the realities) that my experience is very typical and in some ways I'm lucky I worked out the situation before I signed any contract and wasted even more time and money.
I have changed the name of the UK agency rep to "Fred" and used names like "UKAgency" and "SwissCo" to protect the guilty!
You have probably heard from Fred at UKAgency that I have declined the offered contract. My reasons for doing so follow and I hope that you will have the time and patience to read through them as I think that improvements in the information provided could have benefits in future UK recruitment efforts. But first let me emphasise that they are nothing to do with SwissCo or the work itself, with which I was excited about getting involved.
1.The higher tax (due to not being able to use my own company as in the past without a deposit of 10,000CHF, which I am not prepared to do)
2.The compulsory insurances deducted from salary which the UK tax man doesn’t recognise as being eligible towards UK tax
3.The high cost of accommodation and living expenses
4.The risk of being charged an additional 15% UK tax (on top of the Swiss 25% rate) if I return to the UK in less than“six months and 1 day”
5.Terms and conditions which could mean that if I am “let go” within 20 working days I will not be paid for those days
6.The high probability that the exchange rate will deteriorate when UK base rates rise in September (as hinted at by the Bank of England), thus making it harder to cover my UK commitments.
When Fred originally contacted me he was proposing a contract that offered UK£80 over my UK daily rate. I assumed this would be sufficient to cover my accommodation and (monthly) flight back to the UK, with the rest being roughly equivalent to a UK contract rate. Unfortunately, this was Fred’s first Swiss contract and he was as naive as I was about the working costs (and environment?). My own investigations revealed that conditions there are very different from my previous European contracts. Never-the-less, I was very keen to work for SwissCo and was prepared to take the reductions in disposable income for an “adventure” out of London.
SwissAgency (UKAgency's chosen Swiss “salary” company) had stated that they would “help with accommodation”, claiming that their reputation would give me access to properties that would otherwise not be available to me as an individual with no track record. They also informed me that rent would be deducted from my salary automatically, which I assumed meant that they would deal with the financial arrangements when something suitable was found. MainContact1 at SwissAgency said that 1000CHF/month would be enough but alarm bells started to ring when he indicated that they could not give further assistance with accommodation or anything other than a vague promise to “help” until AFTER I signed the contract. This is unacceptable, a risk too far, so, after meeting Fred (UKAgency) for the first time on Friday 6th May I decided that a visit to Switzerland at my own cost was necessary to discover the real situation.
On the following Tuesday I arranged to meet MainContact1 andMainContact2 (SwissAgency) (UKAgency not having thought to do so) and MainContact2 mentioned two available apartments which were both more expensive than the figures previously discussed on the phone with MainContact1, one at CHF1800 and another at CHF2500. She recommended the more expensive one as the other was in “the red light district” and I require somewhere quiet, preferably away from the city but on a convenient public transport route. (When checking with them the next day it transpired that both flats had already gone.) MainContact2 made it clear that her role was to “help” on a “best efforts” basis only, which I felt was a contradiction of previous telephone discussions. I also discovered during this meeting that if one is unfortunate enough to be ill a sick note is required (at a cost of CHF200) as well as c.CHF300 per month to be registered with a doctor. All this in addition to the Health Insurance deduction from salary.
After I met you and the rest of the team on Wednesday I followed up some other accommodation opportunities I had discovered myself and found “Serviced accommodation” from someone who is also a SwissCo employee, available on 25th May @ CHF850 per month. It was far from ideal and certainly not a long term possibility but was affordable (a small, very hot room with little ventilation in a noisy downtown area) and may suffice while looking for something more suitable. However, when I contacted SwissAgency about the references and (hopefully) payment of the required deposit(to be deducted from salary as rent) it became clear that they will not help with guarantees, deposits etc. Fred (UKAgency) agreed to investigate whether or not they could help but apparently not. So, all-in-all, it is a “No go”.
I realise that none of this is your problem and want to say that the ONLY part of the whole process that has been in any way positive has been meeting you and your team and visiting SwissCo offices. I would like you to understand why, at what must seem like the last minute, I have changed my mind. In truth I feel that I have been totally misinformed throughout every step of the process by the agencies responsible for placing me. To say that I am extremely disappointed with this entire recruitment process is an understatement. Their sole desire appears to be to hook someone so that they can get their fee. It has been a steep and very expensive learning curve for me which would not have been necessary if they had done their job properly and been upfront about the realities. It only remains for me to wish you and the team good luck with your future applications and working with technology-X, and apologise for the fact that your time has been wasted.
After I drafted the above email the "serviced accommodation" mentioned is looking less likely as the person offering it is struggling to find suitable alternative accommodation that he needs to move his family into to free up the serviced accommodation. ClientCo have several times mentioned a "cheap hotel" at 80CHF/night next to a bus stop as a possibility. On Friday afternoon I finally got the details and it looks very nice (single room in a small family-run hotel in a vineyard) but the cheapest room is advertised at 110CHF/day and after trying to negotiate a better deal I was informed the only offers they made were 3000CHF/month for a whole month payable in advance, but in fact they are fully booked apart from 4 or 5 days for the whole of June anyway.
I've "burnt bridges" with a UK client (by taking time out to investigate what was on offer, reneging on a verbal offer to help them out with 2-3 weeks work before I was due to start in Switzerland), wasted the best part of a week and 1000UKP (last minute flights and two nights hotel) researching this "opportunity" and am very angry at the way the agencies have continually tried to obfuscate the realities of working in Switzerland as a UK contractor.
I'm posting this here as a warning to others, who may find themselves in a similar situation in the future.
) on the other you want me to add a whole bunch of "helpful" information about accommodation. Now I'm the one who's confused.
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