Switzerland is one of leading countries for remote work

Working from the office is not for everyone. Keystone-SDA

Swiss companies are increasingly offering remote work opportunities to attract young people, who rate this highly when making career decisions.

“It’s essential to be able to offer remote working. It’s no longer an option. It’s part of our values,” Matthieu Chamorel, founding partner of the fiduciary firm DYN Group, told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.

Employers must adapt to new realities in the recruitment market. Switzerland has one of the highest ratios of job adverts offering the option of remote working in Europe.

According to analysis by an international job portal, nearly one in seven current job adverts in Switzerland includes a home office option. This is an even higher level than during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For many candidates, remote working has become a requirement. Mathias Rebetez, founder of the recruitment consultancy Licorn, talks of a generational divide. “Those over 35 tend to be open to anything – that is, with or without remote working – whilst those under 35 demand at least one or two days’ work from home,” he said.

Remote working is widespread in the digital sector, offices and public sector organisations.

The development in Switzerland over the last ten years reveals a surge during the Covid pandemic, when working from home was a necessity. But the end of the pandemic has not led to a decline in home office work.

On the contrary, the rate of remote working remains high, at around 37%. This is one of the highest rates of teleworking in the world, according to other studies (see box below).

Human contact

In many companies, video conferencing has replaced traditional face-to-face meetings, but “you don’t have the same communication; you don’t have the human contact. We sometimes feel that there are misunderstandings that would not have arisen if we had been face-to-face”, said Dino Busulini, founder and CEO of the company Energa.

Human contact is something many companies now wish to prioritise by setting limits on remote working.

World champions of remote working

According to a survey conducted by Stanford University in the United States in 2025, Canada tops the list with 38% of working days spent remotely, followed by the Britain (36%) and Finland (34%).

The survey of recent higher education graduates spanned 40 countries.

Remote workers in Switzerland are evenly split between men and women.

They are typically employed by a medium-sized or large company, hold a tertiary qualification and work in administration, insurance or finance, digital technology and communications.

Workers aged under 45 are the most likely to work from home.

In some companies, employees can work from home for up to three days a week, depending on their role.

In the public sector, up to 50% of working hours can be spent at home.

Translated from German, sub-edited by Matthew Allen/ds