Surprisingly, he can't score many points when it comes to salary, but he can point to other Swiss advantages, says headhunter Erik Wirz. However, some struggle with one peculiarity.
Erik Wirz in an interview with Golem.de, Peter Ilg
Erik Wirz is the founder and owner of Wirz und Partners, a leading executive search company in Switzerland. As a headhunter, the company searches for high-ranking managers, with digital transformation being one of the focal points. Around a third of the positions that are filled in this context are filled by applicants from abroad, three-quarters of whom come from Germany.
"In high-level functions, incomes do not differ significantly between European countries", says Wirz. Nevertheless, there are financial aspects that speak in favour of moving to Switzerland. However, this would then have to be mandatory. Otherwise, the commitment usually fails in the first year or two without relocation, including the family.
Mr Wirz, as a headhunter in Switzerland, you have an unbeatable argument in the search for candidates compared to your colleagues in Germany: the money. Are the high salaries in Switzerland a competitive advantage in your work?
These salaries are essentially based on the industry, the size of the company, and less on the location of the company. Although the salaries for the above-mentioned group of people are higher in Switzerland than in Germany, so is the cost of living. The higher Swiss salary is, so to speak, a premium as compensation.
What salary is negotiated at the C-level in IT companies in Switzerland?
Erik Wirz: It depends on the size of the company and the role of the person being sought. When searching for IT executives, we specialise in roles such as Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer. Companies with a turnover of around one billion euros or more separate these functions and responsibilities.
While the CIO is the manager responsible for all IT, the CISO is in charge of cybersecurity and reports to the CIO. The income of a Chief Information Security Officer starts at around a quarter of a million Swiss francs per year and ranges up to 400,000 Swiss francs. The CIO's income can be up to half a million Swiss francs.
What about taxes and the social security system?
Erik Wirz: Taxes on wages are noticeably lower in Switzerland than in Germany, but they differ from canton to canton and also from municipality to municipality. What many Germans don't realise are the substantial differences, especially when it comes to pensions.
We have three pillars: statutory, occupational, and private. The statutory and occupational pensions are compulsory. At the C-level, incentives are often created via extended benefits in the statutory pension, which is highly interesting from a tax perspective. When candidates factor these reasons into their calculations, they are usually pleasantly surprised at how much they improve financially without their salary increasing significantly.
Is there a lot of haggling over income during the interviews?
Erik Wirz: Very rarely between the candidates and us as representatives of the companies. But rather between us and our clients. They ask us how high the salaries are for a particular position. We know the sums from our work, reflect them back to the clients, and work with them to define salary bands within which we can negotiate on a financial level.
In the vast majority of cases, the people we approach are not looking for a new job. They are satisfied with their current job and therefore see no need for action. They earn X today, and if we can't offer X Plus, there is no motivation for them to change jobs and move to another country to do so. That's why it's mainly us who haggle over high salaries, because otherwise it's difficult to fulfil our mandates.
How important is relocation?
Erik Wirz: This step is crucial for the long-term success of the recruitment process. On average, people at senior management levels stay in office for around four years.
Nobody commutes for such a long time because it is socially incompatible. If the relocation of the centre of life, i.e., the family's move to Switzerland, is not completed within a reasonable period of time, the commitment to the new company often does not work out.
We advise companies against commuter solutions. We recently completed an assignment where one of the requirements was that if the person came from abroad, we would remove them from the process if they were not willing to relocate with their entire family.
If the salaries are not so much higher than in Germany, what does Switzerland have to offer that justifies the big step of relocating?
Erik Wirz: Our very high quality of life. I spent 16 years travelling internationally, so I know what I have here. It starts with the binding nature of the authorities combined with legal certainty. I reorganised companies in Germany and therefore often had to deal with official bodies. In Switzerland, you can talk to the authorities, ask them something, and they are willing to help.
The authorities in the canton of Zug, where we are based, see themselves as a service provider for companies and citizens. It took me less than five minutes to get a new passport a few days ago. Major international technology companies such as Google are based in Switzerland and operate research laboratories here. They do this not only because of the low taxes, but above all because of the access to highly qualified specialists.
They have often studied at renowned universities such as ETH Zurich, HSG St. Gallen, or EPFL in Lausanne. For managers with children, the high quality of the school system, combined with the very high density of top universities, can be an important reason for relocating.
Why do Germans fail to relocate to Switzerland?
Erik Wirz: It has nothing to do with nationality, but with the fact that people assimilate and adapt to Swiss customs. As a country with four different national languages plus English, we are very open and intercultural in many places. This is especially true for larger economic centres such as Zurich, Basel, or Geneva, where many expats live. In other places, integration could be more complex.
And what is the most important prerequisite for successful migration to Switzerland?
Erik Wirz: That people consistently implement their decisions. They want to integrate and do something about it. Companies are prepared to support their new employees, for example, in finding accommodation, registering, and sometimes also in choosing schools for their children.
However, the new Swiss must also do their bit by getting involved in their neighbourhoods, going out for a beer with colleagues, or joining a club, because Switzerland is a country of clubs and associations. Those who commute in on Monday and out on Thursday and continue to maintain all their social contacts in their old place of residence cannot integrate.
Is there an aspect beyond personal integration that speaks in favour of or against a managerial job in Switzerland?
Erik Wirz: Yes, there is, and it has to do with the Swiss mentality. We have an extremely pronounced grassroots democratic decision-making process. This is reflected in society in our numerous referendums and in the same way in Swiss corporate culture. Like almost everything in life, this type of decision-making has advantages and disadvantages.
I sometimes notice that managers from abroad find it difficult at first because they feel that things are progressing too slowly and laboriously. However, when they realise after a while that implementation, acceptance, and intrinsic motivation work much better with grassroots democratic decisions than when they are simply made top-down, are therefore hierarchical, and are communicated and managed without discussion, they often change their mindset.