I have been living in Vaud for nearly a year now and am finally looking at working again. My kids are 17 months and 3.5 years old, and the question of having them properly looked after is driving me insane. I'd love to go back to work part-time, but if I do that we'll be ending up losing money... Even if I do go back full time all the money I will be earning will be eaten up by the childcare!
To make matters worse: My boy will be 4 next year, ready to start the ecole enfantine which amazingly is on only 4 days a week from 9-12. Is the only solution a private school that provides all day care? And who the f*** is going to pay for all of this?!? When we moved here we thought that my husband was on a decent salary, but obviously we greatly underestimated the cost of things here if you want to do things a certain way...
So I am just wondering... if one of you isn't a diplomat/CEO or millionaire, how do you do it?
Good question. Would also appreciate any answers. In Geneva most of the Creches have huge waiting lists also and impossible to get into. Also they say that they are meant for working mothers when you go to register for them . So if u are not working u dont get priority!! My question is if u cant park your kid somewher how do u look for a job? It is a chicken and egg situation . Nannies / Baby sitters are equally expensive.
Through my experience of trying to work I am afraid to say that your answer is -probably you do not do it. Unless you are in the fortunate position of having a network of family members living nearby, and being a foreigner you will not have this luxury then nothing makes it easy unless you secure a job with a company with a creche. I remember one morning after dropping my daughter off at school coming back to my appartment and there was a lady standing outside in a state of panic as her childcare had not turned up. I had never met her before and she tried to persuade me to look after her baby for the day- a total stranger. It seems that the pressure of some working mothers leads them to desperate measures.
I'm afraid I have to agree with smackerjack, if you have'nt family/good friends, or the resources to have hired help, the way things are designed here make it very difficult.
There are changes that I hear of and slowly it is being recognised that one wage isn't always enough (shades of the fifties?) and mothers need or want to get back into the workforce.
Unfortunately here, there a few resources, esp if you have children that are not of school age.
At the same time tho, perhaps in Geneva they have a similar setup as we have where I live, i.e maybe you could find someone through the "Frauen Verein" ( sorry, have no idea what that might be in French). This is a group of mainly volunteer women in the community,who canhelp you to find someone who would be willing to help out.
Mostly, it's women who add their name to a list, to say they would be willing to be "Tagesmütter" (again, the French word I don't know).
When you find someone through this 'Verein' you really pay a token amoun, as compared to professional organisations.
Often, these are women with small children of their own who would like company for their own child/children and getting a little compensation for it at the same time.
I work part of the week in the office and part at home. I had to balance the cost of daily care for my child against what I was earning. If he would be in nursery the whole week, it wouldn't be worth it, hence the split between office and home.
Having said that, it was important for me to get back into the work place even if we were a bit out of pocket because here you are at a disadvantage if you have been out of work for a long period of time.
Finding childcare was a bit of a nightmare and we started well before our baby was born. One lady in a nursery told us with a straight face that they had a 5 year waiting list for new intake. Fortunately, we found a suitable nursery which could take him and he's a happy bunny there.
We found our nursery by spending ages with the phone book and internet ringing around everything in the Zurich area. We were invited to visit a few where they kind of "interview" you, which was err.. interesting, and from there we were able to select one.
thanks for your replies. It seems that my somewhat glum view of the world is normal...
I hope I'll get a couple of interviews and see how much they offer. As long as we end up not paying money for the pleasure of me working I decided that a sane and happy mother is a lot better than a nervous wreck looking after the little ones!
Hello Swisskat .. It`s a big shock coming to live in Switzerland from the Rest Of The Western World and realizing how little emphasis is put towards Qualityl childcare and Pre-School Education.. up until the last ten years or so it wasn`t really a part of the Swiss culture that mums go out to work.. Recently the Swiss Government realeased plans that the infra-structure for childcare from pre- kindergarten to after school care and homework groups..also lunch time supervision for children whose parents work fulltime will be implemented by 2014.. ya.. and welcome switzerland to the real world of parenting .It would have been lovely to not have to work.. unfortunately the most parents don`t have this option and at last the powers that be are doing something about it hey 2o14... better than nothing.
As a working mum with 4 year old twins in daycare I can tell you each day is fraught. The costs of my kindergarten take up nearly half my next salary and in addition I pay for after school help because I can't always guarantee to be finished by 5.30pm. (In fact I rarely can guarantee to be finished by then).
I am lucky that my employer helps with some of the costs but it still makes a very large dent in the available coffers. If there is one thing guaranteed to send me back to England its the difficulties and attitudes I have encountered to working mothers (take the GP who refused me medication for a slipped disc until I worked less than 8 hours a day and spent more time at home!! And she was female). Having worked up to being a qualified professional and battled against prejudice in the working day its really hard to come here and find it in simple things like childcare choices.
If its any consolation the strength of reaction to this post simply proves you (we) are not alone...... Role on 2014....How ridiculous is it that it takes that long?
I was lucky to find a great nursery for my kids that has a pick-up & delivery service to & from kindergarten, it is also open from 06:30 until 18:30. I found that being flexible & not just sticking to the English speaking nurseries helped a lot when I was searching for a place as the Swiss nurseries tend to have no or shorter waiting lists than the bi-lingual places.
Went for my 1st interview yesterday, a job well below my qualifications. It's a 20% job (didn't even know that existed!), so I would work 8.5 hours a week. I am thinking of going back today and beg them to GIVE ME THE JOB!!!!!!!!! Just going to the interview and being asked "adult" questions made me realise how much I want to go back to work, no matter what ridiculous hours and arrangements involved.
I feel your pain! I was offered a job which I seriously considered until we worked out that I would lose money. Our daughter would need to use the school bus and that alone costs 20chf a day, that was just the start. Petrol for our car would run to about 150 chf a week, care for her after school would be in the region of 20chf a day and the list went on. For the forseeable future, I will be a housewife
I'm devastated. Although it was a shitty little job, it still made me realise how much I hate being a housewife.
I don't know how all my neighbours, happy Swiss housewives, can cope with it and actually enjoy it. If this was a woman's fate, why send them to school at all? Well, I suppose it helps if they can read recipes and knitting instructions.
Note to moderator: Maybe this thread should be moved to the complaints corner now. I certainly could complain about it all day.
A balance would be perfect - I'm at the other end of the scale. I work 100% and go mad from not being able to spend time with my son and get all the stuff done in the house (looks like a bomb has gone off usually, plus there is a pile of ironing which is beginning to scare me).
I aim to drop to 60-80% in the New Year which should take some of the pressure off me at home while keeping my foot in the door of the working world.
Don't beat yourself up about not getting the job; just keep your eyes and ears open for another opportunity. In the meantime, enjoy your kids and think of me and my frantic mornings struggling with a 2-mins-before-we-leave-the-house pooey nappy.
I have been in similar situation in the past so I can totally understand. In my openion the arguments and the outcome of the discussions so far are fair. If the Job is less than 3-4 K for full time then it is not worth it. Also the life will become very hectic, even if you get more than that.
Having said that if you look at the brighter side, Switzerland still is one of the best job markets and here the working moms have the possibility of working 60% etc as well which is rare in other places, specially considering that inspite of it being a part time job you get same respect and proportionately almost the same money.
I think one of the key idea could be working on skills, rather than chasing jobs for months. I am saying this because I have experienced this. Language, no specilized skills and non swiss doesn't help to chase for a job which doesn't require any specilized skills or are easily replacable (Infact thats what we look at, even my cat can do this kinda work).
I discovered that working patiently on one / two basic skills for couple of months helps a lot. I see a lot of jobs / work here in Switzerland in which they look for people with communication, coordination and analysis skills. I am talking about junior analysts or coordinator in any business dapartment, including IT, finance or marketing. Having extra knowledge in one of fields related to IT and business process makes your chances much better. Also we people are not as demanding which sometimes work in our favor. I have done that for some time. Though I am not hugely rewarded till now, but I think it is good start.
Working on skills need some time and good coaching. I was lucky to get that. I think going to a class to do a adcvance access or sql course is a waste. In my openion the best is to learn it from the people who come from industry and business and that too, not in a class room format. Or ask your husband to help you and also you can go to online courses etc.
On the experience with Swisskat I think the key to happy ending here is perseverance. You might think very low, but think about what you actually lost. Earlier I applied for jobs which were not as good but I was desparate and after no getting it I was very frustrated. But now when I look back I think it was good. So the good news for you is that you have much better coming in future and so you need not worry .
From FG (I liked that movie a lot):' My mooma says life is like box of chocolate, you never know what you gonna get' (in our case it is going to be a nice lindt pack of best 25 )
Wow this is a tuf question and Im sure its one of a very few subjects which the EF would like to drill into...
TBH, I dont have much experience on this subject but one of my close friends is a single mom and she had to put her kid on boarding school. That leads to the discussion of how much you are worth?
If you are not able to earn enough to afford child care or to the maximum boarding school then all you have left with is your innovation and creativity of using your skills in other areas... Think about areas where you can work from home and gain money at the same time look after your kid...
With the internet, anything is possible. List down the things you can do or capable enough of doing even if you havent done it before and look for jobs which may suit you....