The mountainous country that is Switzerland is very different from bigger neighbours such as France and Germany, and also – with a population of 7.6m people – not to be categorised with tiny countries such as its neighbour, Liechtenstein, with which it has close links.
The country has long had a reputation as a clean, safe place where people go about their business quietly, and while the atmosphere inside busy offices might be every bit as hectic as it is elsewhere, quality of life in general is measured outside the workplace.
Although its geographical location in the Alps means the weather is cold in winter, the country as a whole enjoys pleasant summers. In the warmer months Switzerland is a popular destination for tourists, who appreciate the peace and quiet and natural beauty of the mountains and lakes.
While, wherever we go, it pays to at least attempt to speak the local language, most people in the finance industry in Switzerland are fluent in English. They might answer the phone in French (Geneva) or German (Zurich), and there might be Italian spoken in some parts, plus a little-used language that is all Switzerland’s own, but most Swiss are gracious enough to accommodate the English-speaker by immediately switching to Anglais.
The tax haven issue
With the financial world in the state it is, the recent G20 summit in London and the associated OECD lists took on huge importance for all jurisdictions, keen to maintain their reputation. While Switzerland will not have been delighted to be placed on the ’grey list’ of places that have some way to go before they satisfy the international community’s clamour for co-operation and an end to secrecy, the process of coming to an agreement with the USA on tax information exchange is underway. The mood in Switzerland is calm on this, with decades of integrity, albeit while operating in a different way from the rest of the world, underpinning the country’s confidence.
The prospects of an individual finding a new job in Switzerland at the moment are no better or worse than in many jurisdictions around the world. Everyone in business is watching the balance sheet, keen to make savings and cautious about recruiting, but life goes on and vacancies occur that have to be filled.
Those who are keen to work in Switzerland will, of course, be subject to the country’s immigration laws and should do their own research before going too far down the line, but what follows is a brief snapshot.
Switzerland has a two-tier system for work permits, with priority given to workers from EU member states and a more restrictive admission policy for non-EU citizens.
Although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, some 900,000 EU nationals live and work there.
Non-EU citizens can get a work permit only if their employer proves that it could not fill the position with a Swiss or EU citizen, although there are exceptions for highly specialised and top-level positions. It can be a long and frustrating process, but take comfort from the fact that the UN has its second-biggest global presence there, so the problems are clearly not insurmountable.
Geneva is the main seat of the UN in Europe, mainly due to the presence in the city of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Switzerland is one of those countries, along with Brazil, Canada and Australia, where the capital city is not the biggest or best known. Berne became the capital in 1848, but with a current population of less than 130,000, has since been overtaken in terms of population and public awareness by Geneva, Zurich, Basle and Lausanne. The currency and car registrations both use the letters CH, which are clearly not an abbreviation of the country’s name. In fact they stand for Confoederatio Helvetica: Switzerland is a confederation, a federal republic consisting of 26 states, known as cantons.