Is here someone that could help with changing Arbeizeugnis letter.
Based on the information I was given be recognizing hidden HR code - I got
very bad reference that can prevent me form getting new job.
Is there someone who could help me professionally with changing it so I could submit it to the HR ?
As a first step you could try ChatGPT analyse it… I just put through one of my old Arbeitszeugnisse (which I drafted myself). Apparently I forgot to put in how well I worked in a team…
There are several service providers which offer to review your letter. If you want a definitive answer, you will probably need to go to an employment lawyer.
https://www.zav.ch/en//fuer-rechtssu…altssuche.html
Some companies will change it if challenged, but you have to give them some reason.
You also have the right to an Arbeitsbestätigung which just shows you worked somewhere without any commentary; depending on your position and what sector you work in that may or may not be acceptable / better than a bad reference.
- Never having heard of it or having heard of it but no idea how it works
- Believe they know it, but have no reference to the rules
- Arguments between people as to what a reference actually says because they interpret phrases differently
- Being unsure if the letter is in code or not
Bottom line there is no magic code just the same as with English references a collection of commonly used phrases whose interpretation is highly dependent on the reader.
So my advice would be to start by getting a couple of HR types and ideally someone from the RAV to have a read of it and see what the consensus is and what might need to be changed.
Switzerland is a small place and the expat employment market is even smaller, so once you have been around for any length of time you’ll be known and someone at your perspective new employers will be able to get that background on you in any case. And these days with so many firms offering cheap background checking services, I don’t think a reference counts for much.
You could also copy the key parts here (anonymised of course), I am sure people would be happy to share their views.
At least in a big company, it is likely your manager will use a prepared template form and be asked to select from 4-5 options for each sentence/paragraph - e.g. "....fulfilled her duties..." could have these options and even though all are 'positive' it is clear which is the least positive:
...consistently on time and to our fullest satisfaction
...to our satisfaction
...within the scope of her role
...in a friendly manner
Whether this is 'code' or not is debatable and hard to prove unless you know the available options in the system.
What you can do is look to include positive superlatives wherever possible - fullest satisfaction, highest quality standards, always on time, consistently exceeded our expectations in all areas, etc, etc.
impuls in Zürich offers assistance to re-work employment reference letters for Fr. 195. The reference letter must be in the German language:
https://www.sah-zh.ch/impuls/angebot…is-online.html
The OP might wish to discuss the unfavorable reference letter with his/ her friendly RAV adviser. The RAV adviser might propose next steps to deal with the situation including involving impuls .
Good luck to the OP!
You can go as far as court to change a reference letter, I did that in 2006. But the one thing you cannot change in the letter is the last paragraph..if they don't want to regret your departure (a key thing many HR look at, as it indicates if you left on good terms or not) then there is nothing you can do about it.
Completely and utterly useless pieces of paper. Pointless. I worked for a French company once and when I asked my boss for a reference for my next job he asked "why, are you going to become a domestic servant?".
I work in service industry and yeah in the German area so I believe that it is still valid to have it. I believe it makes the trying to find the new work much more difficult.
I had to do it once, since the employee wasn't happy with two sentances. I didn't want to do it, HR came back with the reference from legal departement. then we decided that we will just delete the two sentances that the employee didn't like.
this was the reason why HR in my previous company didn't find really benefit in Arbeitszeugnis.
unfortunantly, I do not know any more the reference to swiss law about it.
would be good to look for that as a solution.....
Confirm, for IT engineering position it doesn't matter. The only place where I was asked for my work certificate was the unemployment office.
On the other hand gossips happens in Switzerland and no reference letter can change it. When I left a sinking ship, I've learned through networking malicious gossips were spreading about me. Doing something about it seems next to impossible, how to find people ready to testify at the court, and then how to chase all the scandalmongers... Ironically that gave me the push to advance in my career. How much is the malicious gossip from a "fallen unicorn" under the management of pimple-headed rookies worth when employment in a leading company undeniably confirms your competencies. But otherwise it's a disgusting terrible thing.
1 The employee may at any time request from the employer a reference concerning the nature and the duration of the employment relationship, the quality of his work and his conduct.
2 At the employee’s express request the reference must be limited to the nature and duration of the employment relationship.
(1 = Reference / Arbeitszeugnis, 2 = Confirmation / Arbeitsbestätigung)
But it obviously has to be accurate or there could be a question of defamation (StG Art 173/174).
So they don't have to change it, but most decent managers and HR departments will take a close look and probably tone down any negative points until you find a compromise. The changes I've made have usually been when an employee wants to emphasise some part vs some other part, but I did have one situation where we couldn't agree (the employee was fired off the back of a detailed performance process, what they were asking for in the reference was a fantasy) and we ended up just doing a Bestätigung with HR & legal agreement.
Remember, it can have an impact the other way. If an employer writes a glowing reference letter for a incompetent worker, they may also be held liable.
First of all, as mentioned before, there must be a performance process in place with a paper trail to support anything. Otherwise employer know they'll loose at the court so they always agree to your version after a ping-pong game.
On the last thing, it's hard to see how they would be held liable under basic obligations, as the old company has no contract with the new one.
Sure, but that's about real falsification, like firing someone immediately for a big thing (life threatening behavior, big bucks fraudulent, etc) and then giving a superb/normal reference. Most of the time people are arguing here about petty nuances, where the last boss's ego burn him/her in the anus, so they don't want to give the proper credits