Employing Someone At a Not for Profit

Hey all,

I have a question from a non English-Forum colleague of mine. They have been running a volunteer led non for profit association in Switzerland for a few years. Its income is <100 000 CHF/year so it's not registered.

They're looking to employ someone for the first time, either in Switzerland, or abroad for a 20% position but they're not sure how to go about this (they've never employed anyone).

Does anyone have any advice or pointers regarding who to ask. Are employment lawyers the point of contact, or some Amt? Sorry, I/they have no experience in this.

I always wonder what "non-profit" really means. If you get 50k a year in donations and the owner/directors salary is 50k a year. that's non-profit, right?

Many organisations use this term "non-profit" to give the impression it's all volunteers often to 'hire' volunteers to work for them under that premise.

Data from the US show that only 2% of non profits pay compensation to their board members (see link below), so that is not the modus operandi of the vast majority of non-profits.

https://www.erieri.com/blog/post/non...to-pay-in-2018

Regardless, this is question is not about board member compensation, (they are not compensated in this non-profit, nor is there any plan) its about beginning to compensate the other volunteers for their work and how to go about doing that.

In Switzerland there are many 'startup' support organisations, and also supporting not-for-profits.

I would suggest:

ifj - https://www.ifj.ch/incorporate/service

vitamin B - https://www.vitaminb.ch/

You have not said 'for what purpose' the person will be employed.

There may be a freelancer or small administrative support company that you can provide minimal services at minimal cost.

I certainly would not start with an employment lawyer - that is going to be highly expensive, and it's not difficult to employ people- surely the organisation has people within their community/board who can provide advice for free ? If not - find someone!

I don't know about employing someone, here, who works abroad.

AHV (Social security)

To employ someone in Switzerland, the employer must register that person with the AHV (social security office). For the employer to be able to do that, the employee must already be living in Switzerland with a valid permit, or be Swiss.

The employer must declare to the AHV office the anticipated salary over the next period. You'd have to check in your Canton what that is; typically for one quarter, for six months or for the whole year. Then, the AHV sends the employer a bill for the corresponding contributions, which the employer must pay in advance. The employer pays, to the AHV, the employer's and the employee's contributions, i.e. 50% each.

Each month, the employer deducts, from the employee's salary, the 50% due by the employee. This must be clearly declared on the salary slip.

At the end of a year or so, the AHV asks the employer about the actual amount paid, and tallies up, charging more if needed or giving a refund for overpayments.

AHV office in Bern:

https://www.bern.ch/politik-und-verw...-zweigstelle-1

Accident insurance

The employer must also buy accident insurance for the employee. If the employee works, on average, less than 8 hours per week, then the employer must buy only the obligatory BU (Berufsunfallversicherung) which covers the employee for the costs of accidents at work and also on the direct, uninterrupted journey between work and home. If the employee works, on average, 8 hours or more per week, then the employer must also buy NBU, which includes BU, but also covers the employee during all their free-time. It is irrelevant if the employee already has such cover through some other employer; it is still obligatory. The costs of the NBU can be passed on to the employee, and deducted from their salary. Some employers do this, others just bear these costs themselves.

This kind of insurance can be bought from many insurance companies, and it can be good to tack this on to any other insurance the organisation already may have.

Vacation

Vacation pay must be declared in the contract, and specified separately in the salary slip.

Four weeks is the usual amount, of which at least two weeks must be taken at once.

Salary or hourly wage?

For small percentage jobs, as this would be, and depending on the level of remuneration and the consistency of the workload, it might be easier to pay an hourly wage rather than a salary. Then, of course, it become essential to have a proper recording system (time-sheet).

Even staff working on an hourly basis have a right to paid vacation. Then, though it is common to pay that surcharge out to them, together with each hour's wage. However, it is law to declare that, separately (see above).

Those links are perfect, thank you!

An employment/administrative agency is an interesting idea, I'll pass it on but I don't think it would work in this situation. Regarding the other advice, the people in the non-profit are all Ausländers and relatively young hence the lack of knowledge about these matters also explains the reaching out of EF .