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Hiring household staff in Switzerland

As of 18 October 2026

This guide summarises what a private household in Switzerland needs to know when it hires household staff or searches through an agency: which licence the agency needs and where it can be verified, which minimum wages apply, how social insurance is settled and who may be employed from abroad. Every statement comes from a legal text or an official page and carries its source, all retrieved 18 October 2026. This text is guidance, not legal advice.

At a glance

Placement agencies: licence, register, fees

Anyone who regularly and for a fee places workers within Switzerland needs an operating licence from the cantonal labour office (Article 2 paragraph 1 Arbeitsvermittlungsgesetz, AVG, the Employment Services Act). This also applies to agencies that place butlers, nannies or housekeepers in private households. Regularly means, according to SECO's directives: at least ten placements in twelve months or a standing offer, for example through a commercial register entry, advertising or a website. Anyone who places workers to or from abroad additionally needs a licence from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO (Article 2 paragraph 3 AVG).

Together with the cantons, SECO keeps a public register of licensed businesses (Article 35b AVG) with more than 7,400 entries. There it can be checked whether an agency is licensed and for what. Luxury.me shows Swiss agencies with the status Swiss placement licence when the agency's website names the licence; if it names none, the entry says so.

Staff leasing (Personalverleih), that is the supply of employees who remain employed by the agency, needs a separate operating licence from the cantonal labour office and, for leasing abroad, a licence from SECO. Staff leasing from abroad into Switzerland is not permitted (Article 12 AVG).

From jobseekers, a placement agent may charge only a registration fee and a placement commission; the commission is owed only once the placement has led to the conclusion of an employment contract (Article 9 AVG). The fee ordinance (Gebührenverordnung) limits the registration fee to CHF 40 and the commission to 5 percent of the first gross annual salary. Both limits apply to charges on jobseekers; for fees that agencies charge the household as their client, neither the Act nor the ordinance contains a limit. The register shows which agencies publish their fees.

Wages and working conditions

Household employees in private households are covered by the federal standard employment contract for household work (NAV Hauswirtschaft) with mandatory minimum wages. It applies throughout Switzerland with the exception of the Canton of Geneva, was raised by 2 percent as of 1 January 2026 and extended until 31 December 2028. The gross minimum wages per hour, excluding holiday and public holiday compensation, have been since 1 January 2026:

The NAV covers employees who work on average at least five hours a week for the same employer in a private household. Not covered are, among others, collective households, employees whose work is predominantly childcare such as childminders and babysitters, family members, the staff of diplomatic households and agricultural households with a cantonal NAV. Deviations from the NAV are permitted only in favour of the employee. The other working conditions are governed by the cantonal standard employment contracts, which apply in addition to the federal NAV.

Geneva has its own standard employment contract for household work (CTT-EDom, J 1 50.03), last amended on 10 December 2025 and in force since 1 January 2026. It covers staff in Geneva private households including butlers, housekeepers, cooks, chauffeurs, gardeners and carers; excluded are au pairs, household employees of diplomatic households and personal secretaries. The working week is 45 hours. The mandatory minimum wages per hour in 2026 are: CHF 24.59 without qualification or with less than four years of experience, CHF 24.85 with a Federal VET Certificate or four years of experience, CHF 25.11 with another Fähigkeitszeugnis (Federal VET Diploma) and CHF 26.78 with a Fähigkeitszeugnis in horticulture. The lowest level corresponds to the cantonal minimum wage, which the Geneva Council of State set at CHF 24.59 for 2026; SECO lists the CTT as valid until 31 December 2026.

Zurich has its own standard employment contract for household employees (LS 821.12, revised version in force since 1 July 2020). It governs working conditions, including presence and rest times in 24-hour care; minimum wages in Zurich also follow the federal NAV Hauswirtschaft.

Social insurance and the simplified procedure

Anyone who employs household staff registers with the cantonal compensation office at the place of the household. In a private household, contributions to AHV, IV and EO (old-age, disability and loss-of-earnings insurance) are owed from the first franc; the exemption threshold of CHF 2,500 that applies to other secondary employment does not apply here. The only exception is employees under 25 with a salary of up to CHF 750 per calendar year. Contributions are 5.3 percent each for employer and employee; unemployment insurance costs 1.1 percent each up to an annual income of CHF 148,200 (as of 1 January 2026).

Accident insurance is compulsory: for less than eight hours a week against occupational accidents, from eight hours also against non-occupational accidents. Annual salaries above CHF 22,680 are subject to compulsory occupational pension provision; for fixed-term employment of at least three months, the threshold is CHF 1,890 a month.

For small payrolls there is the simplified accounting procedure: the individual gross salary may not exceed CHF 22,680 a year, the household's total payroll CHF 60,480, and all employees must be settled through the procedure. The household registers with the compensation office within 30 days of the start of the employment, settles social insurance contributions and a flat-rate withholding tax of 5 percent (0.5 percent federal, 4.5 percent canton and municipality) in one step, and can also pay the accident insurance premiums through the compensation office via VAvplus. SVA Zürich provides a dedicated salary declaration for household employees and caretaking for this purpose.

Withholding tax

Foreign employees who live in Switzerland and do not hold a C settlement permit are subject to withholding tax. The household as employer deducts it from the salary and remits it (Kreisschreiben Nr. 45, Circular No. 45 of the Federal Tax Administration); in the simplified accounting procedure this is the flat rate of 5 percent.

Staff from abroad

Nationals of the EU and EFTA may work for up to three months per calendar year without a permit, subject to notification: the household as employer notifies the employment online, at the latest on the day before work begins. Longer employment requires a short-term residence permit L (employment contract of up to 364 days) or a residence permit B (one year or longer); registration with the municipality of residence takes place within 14 days of entry and before work begins.

From third countries, only managers, specialists and other qualified workers are admitted, with priority for resident workers, at wages customary for the location and sector and within annual quotas; the employer submits the application to the cantonal authority, in Zurich the Amt für Wirtschaft (Office for Economic Affairs). For 2026, 4,500 residence permits and 4,000 short-term residence permits for third countries are available nationwide, of which 250 and 399 for Zurich. For households moving to Switzerland with staff from third countries, the directives of the State Secretariat for Migration on the Ausländer- und Integrationsgesetz (Foreign Nationals and Integration Act) contain a dedicated chapter (section 4.7.15, Haushalt); we have not yet evaluated its conditions.

Private household employees of diplomats and international civil servants fall under the Verordnung über die privaten Hausangestellten (PHV, Private Household Employees Ordinance): they live and work in the employer's household, receive a legitimation card from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA) and a net salary of at least CHF 1,200 in cash per month.

Sources

All sources retrieved 18 October 2026.

  1. Bundesgesetz über die Arbeitsvermittlung und den Personalverleih (AVG, SR 823.11), as of 1 July 2021, Articles 2, 9, 12 and 35b, fedlex.admin.ch
  2. SECO, Weisungen und Erläuterungen zum AVG, June 2024, secoalv.admin.ch
  3. SECO, Private Arbeitsvermittlung und Personalverleih, seco.admin.ch; Verzeichnis der bewilligten Betriebe, avg-seco.admin.ch
  4. Gebührenverordnung AVG (GebV-AVG, SR 823.113), Articles 2 and 3, text via lexfind.ch
  5. SECO, Normalarbeitsverträge Bund, seco.admin.ch; SECO, Informationen zum NAV Hauswirtschaft, as of 1 January 2026, seco.admin.ch
  6. Republic and Canton of Geneva, Contrat-type de travail de l'économie domestique (CTT-EDom, J 1 50.03), silgeneve.ch; version of 10 December 2025 at SECO, seco.admin.ch; SECO, Contrats-types de travail Genève, seco.admin.ch
  7. Canton of Zurich, Normalarbeitsvertrag für hauswirtschaftliche Arbeitnehmer (LS 821.12), zh.ch; Regierungsrat, press release of 16 April 2020, zh.ch
  8. AHV/IV, Merkblatt 2.06 Hausdienstarbeit, as of 1 January 2026, ahv-iv.ch; Merkblatt 2.07 Vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren, ahv-iv.ch
  9. SECO, Vereinfachtes Abrechnungsverfahren bei tiefen Lohnsummen, seco.admin.ch; SVA Zürich, Lohndeklaration für Hausangestellte und Hauswartung 2026, svazurich.ch
  10. Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung, Kreisschreiben Nr. 45 Quellenbesteuerung des Erwerbseinkommens, 12 June 2019, copy held by the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, ai.ch
  11. Staatssekretariat für Migration, Fragen und Antworten zur Personenfreizügigkeit, as of 6 July 2026, sem.admin.ch; Meldeverfahren, as of 1 April 2026, sem.admin.ch
  12. Staatssekretariat für Migration, Grundlagen zur Arbeitsmarktzulassung, as of 5 July 2026, sem.admin.ch; Weisungen AIG, Kapitel 4 Aufenthalt mit Erwerbstätigkeit, as of 30 June 2026, sem.admin.ch
  13. Canton of Zurich, Kontingente 2026, as of 5 January 2026, zh.ch; Aufenthalt mit Erwerbstätigkeit für Drittstaatsangehörige, zh.ch
  14. Verordnung über die privaten Hausangestellten (PHV, SR 192.126), as of 1 July 2011, fedlex.admin.ch; EDA, Private Hausangestellte, as of 1 February 2026, eda.admin.ch

Guides: hiring household staff