UK to Switzerland - Salary right?

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hi,

I have been offered a permanent role in Zurich with a salary of 125K CHF.

I have around 15 years experience and currently earning £90K in London.

For my current salary level is this a fair, better or worse salary for Zurich? Can anyone who made the move from UK to Switzerland advise?

Also, how level of salary considered generally?

Looking forward to some advise.

Regards

2
It’s quite low. Gbp 90k would be around at 140-150 mark here.

3
Worse, stay in London unless they increase to 150k plus

4

Fixed that for you.

5
I wouldn't do it if I was in your place.

You need to remember that living costs in Switzerland are fairly high compared to UK. You can go to website like comparis.ch and get an idea of rents, medical insurance etc.

So unless it comes to 140K+, it is not worth it. Unless of course you love the country and want to settle here

6
You won't starve by any means, but it's not great.

7
Low. My employer has fairly standard grade levels around the world.

A UK £60-70 grade is on CHF140-150 here.

Also don't forget that in CH you will be paying for health insurance (mandatory, about 200-300 chuffs a month per person for the cheapest option)

8
Great stuff.

Many thanks. I think they are going to increase to 130K but based on the advise and comments here that is still lower in general.

9
Yes still too low - you should be looking at 150/160k at the very least as a comparative salary.

As others say you won't starve, but I think 90k in London gets you further than 120k in somewhere like Zurich based on the sheer cost of stuff here...also depends on if you are coming alone, with a partner, children etc.

10
Thank you, I will be coming alone so the expenses will just be for myself.

For the salary, they have revised to 130K CHF now.

The last salary was £90K but generally I have been getting put forward to roles at 75K -80K max now in London.

So in a way looking at equivalent of £80K in Zurich.

11
There have been many many similar questions over the years, as a search will tell you, but they all tend to have one thing in common: cost of living is a lot more than you expect. Seriously, for many normal food items you are looking at almost double the UK price,

If I'm ever doing a "how much would that be in old money" question I generally (very rare that I bother these days, mind) work on a realistic exchange rate of about 2 francs to the pound. When I first came here it was even higher, at around 2.40, but even then many items, especially meat, seemed incredibly expensive in comparison.

It takes a long while to get your head round it, but as an example in context, our local pizza house does a few non-pizza dishes, including a very acceptable (and quite large 250g ish) fillet steak, for chf37 including salad starter and chips/veg. That is an absolute bargain by Swiss standards, and you'd expect it to be normally well over 50 francs. Compare that with a UK steakhouse where it might set you back 20-odd quid and you'll see what I mean.

Of course, not everything is that much higher, but you really need to set your internal calculator at around the two to one mark to avoid fainting in shock every time you look at a price. And for that to be realistic you clearly need to be earning at something like the same comparative rate.

12
Really do your research on this one.

I agree with everyone else, I think this is at the low end for life here. Avoid making the comparison with your UK salary and do your due diligence on the cost of living here in CH. There are so many great posts on this site providing insightful details on this topic.

Be realistic about the lifestyle that you want to live. If you are someone who likes to go out and socialise a lot then you may need to have a rethink. A decent Mojito here is at least CHF20

I have had the most amazing time here in Switzerland but I will confess that was probably made even better by the fact I had a very good salary that meant I could have a car, live in a great apartment and do lots of travelling. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it quite so much if I was constantly worrying about having enough money.

13
BritKate, I don't think 120k single would cause anyone to worry about money...

That being said, got to love how the corporations here are doing their best to hire unsuspecting foreigners on the cheap. My company almost exclusively recruits from East Europe now, despite having local qualified candidates.

14
That's low. I was paid about £10k less than you in London and was offered 20k more in CHF. That's in Basel rather than Zurich- but I don't think that matters much.

That said, I'd still consider moving here if you are British and want to be here long term what with Brexit.

I find that costs are actually not very different from London personally. Commuting is way cheaper. At least for me getting into Basel. And the taxes are much better.

I'd go for it, especially if you can get a bit more out of them. Life's better here than London, at least in my view.

15
Times have changed. When I went permie in 2002 my Swiss salary Francs was close to 3 times that of UK employees in the same role in Pounds.

16
1 jan 2002 £1 = 2.37 £60k = 142 CHF

1 jan 2020 £1 = 1.27 £111k = 142 CHF

Over that time Swiss salaries have fallen an offer of 180k CHF in 2002 is probably 120k CHF today. IT salaries were on a roll due to fear on the millennium bug.

17
I got almost exactly double in 2019, although I got another offer for 25k less.

18
I was a manager. Mine was only double what I got in the UK (in 2002).

19
and surprisingly hard to find a really good steak at any reasonable price. The cheapest I've paid for a good blue steak, with a side of chips is nearer to the 100chf mark.

The one that got me was the price at Migro. Went to the butcher counter, saw a nice tomohawk at 25chf/kg or so, so asked for the thing. Got to the till, and found out it was 25chf/100g, not per KG.

Same reaction when I moved, and went to the shop and asked for "nine or ten rolls of 110l bin bags (zuribags)", thinking I could put all the bubble wrap and moving junk in there.... (bin bags in Zurich are around 6chf/bag, not per roll... and kept behind the till usually)... so my asking for 50bags or resulted in a "wtf" moment being presented with a 300chf bill at the till for a few bin bags). Oh and you cannot bring your own - you pay your garbage taxes through these special bags (or via a stamp)

What isnt' too expensive is beer... Compare a pint in Zurich, where it's around the 7CHF mark for a pint at the brewery near my office for their house brew... I remember paying £4-5 a pint in London at the pub, so that's pretty comparable.

20

The Bundesrat will be furious if they find out about that