MOVING TO SWITZERLAND

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KEY FACTS

Official Name: Switzerland (Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera)

Capital City: Bern

Type of Government: Federal Republic

Official Languages: German, French, Italian, Romansch

Area: 41,290 sq. km/25,600 sq. mi

Population: 7.6 million

Religion: Roman Catholic 46%, Protestant 40%, other 5%, no religion 9%

Currency: Swiss Franc (SFr.)

Number of Time Zones: 1

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) plus 1 hour; Eastern Standard Time (EST) plus 6 hours. Daylight savings time is observed from March to October.

Weights and Measures: Metric system

Country Domain: .ch

Country Tel Code: 41

AT A GLANCE

Switzerland’s reputation and impact in the world are significant. Its banks and financial institutions are among the largest in the world; its products – as diverse as pharmaceuticals, watches, and chocolate – are widely used and respected; and its scenery and sports facilities, especially its skiing, are world-famous.

Switzerland boasts a diverse cultural heritage and a mix of interesting people who are at once independent, reserved and conservative, efficient and productive, responsible and serious, political, and courteous.

The Swiss can be difficult to get to know, but over time, they can become the most genuine friends.

Politics

Switzerland is a federal state with a decentralized government. It is divided into 20 full cantons, and six half cantons, with more than 3,000 municipalities known as communes. Each level of government maintains a high degree of autonomy, resulting in differences from canton to canton, such as school curricula or insurance requirements.

The federal government has exclusive responsibility for foreign affairs, national defense, customs, post and telecommunications, railways, civil, criminal and industrial legislation, and some aspects of social security and taxes. The constitution of 1848 established a system of initiatives and referendums to assure that the final word remained with the people. Thus, for issues other than defense, the popular vote directly determines policy issues and actions.

A four-party coalition dominates the parliament. The coalition has had a system of sharing the presidency since 1959, known as the “the magic formula”. They have agreed to rotate the presidency among members of the four parties who have won the largest number of seats in parliament for the four-year life of each parliament.

The Federal Council, the senior executive body of government, comprises seven members elected by members of parliament. The president is chosen to serve one year of each four-year electoral cycle on the nomination of the Federal Council. Parliament is made up of two houses. The National Council is the Lower House and consists of 200 members elected for 4-year terms to represent the population as a whole. The upper house is called the Council of States and has 46 seats – two from each canton regardless of the size of the population.

Switzerland’s famous neutrality and avoidance of political or military alliances is not reflective of a passive nation. The country has a policy of armed neutrality with an army of more than 500,000 fully trained reservists or citizen militia prepared to defend Swiss independence.

Economy

Switzerland continues to remain outside the European Union, as well as the European Economic Area (EEA). In 2002, Switzerland and the EU member states increased their ecomonic and social security cooperation after signing seven bilateral agreements, including the Agreement on the Free Movement of People. Further bilateral talks yielded cooperative agreements on banking, taxation, and other economic matters, as well as participation in the Schengen agreements. Despite its centric geographic location and long-standing Swiss-EU cooperation, many Swiss are unswayed in their opposition to joining the EU.

In a further step to end their isolation, in March 2002, the Swiss voted to become members of the United Nations.

Foreigners may find the Swiss more formal and reserved than others they are used to doing business with. They have exacting standards and a fiercely guarded reputation for quality which they will not compromise.

The country is open to foreign investors – the government accords the same incentives and privileges to foreign businesses as they do to domestic ones.

UNDERSTANDING THE PEOPLE

The Swiss people

The Swiss people, as their political history demonstrates, are a diverse and independent group. The waves of migrating tribes Etruscans, Raetians, Celts, Romans, and Germanic have influenced the character of the people. Indeed, so many cultures have left their mark that it is difficult today to make clear distinctions among the various ethnic groups.

The Swiss value “unity, not uniformity,” and encourage cultural diversity. Within that diversity, however, there are typically Swiss traits such as discipline, orderliness, cleanliness, efficiency, thrift, privacy, a sense of responsibility, protection of their environment, and the importance of the nuclear family. The Swiss also value quality and craftsmanship, readily seen in anything that is Swiss built.

About two-thirds of the population lives in urban centers, with resident foreigners accounting for some 20 percent of the population. The birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, while its life expectancy rate is one of the highest in the world. As a result, older Swiss make up a growing percentage of the population.

Languages

Switzerland has three official languages stipulated in the Federal Constitution: German, French, and Italian (a fourth, Romansch, is no longer official). This does not mean that every Swiss citizen speaks all three of the official languages, however. Some speak only one language, the dominant one in their part of the country; some people may speak another of the official languages, or English, as their second language. Depending where you go, some cities like Berne, Fribourg and Valais, are officially bilingual. Cantonal school regulations now require that Swiss children learn a second national language starting in primary school. In some cantons, English has recently taken priority over a second national language.

In Zurich, for example, public signs, instructions on the tram ticket machines, newspapers, and so on will be in German, High German to be precise. However, the language spoken on the streets, in the stores, and usually in offices will be the local dialect of German (Schwytzerdütsch) which is different from Basel and Bern and which may be quite difficult even for German speakers to understand. And in Geneva, the signs, ticket machines, and newspapers will be in French; the French spoken there is fairly standard. There is no English-language (or any other language) newspaper published covering all of Switzerland, a sign of how separate the cantons are in some fundamental ways.

German is the first language of more than 60 percent of the native population and is spoken by those living in the northern and eastern parts of the country. French speakers, about 20 percent of all Swiss, are concentrated in the west, in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Valais, Fribourg, Neuchatel, and Jura. Italian speakers, 10 percent, live primarily in Ticino in the southeast. About one percent, in the eastern Alps, speak Romansch, a distinct language derived from Latin.

Ethnic makeup

The ethnic makeup of Switzerland corresponds to the language divisions in the country. The majority of the population is German, about 20 percent French, 10 percent Italian, and one percent Romansch. The remaining population derives from various countries Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Greece, Italy, the Middle East, among others.

Culture

Culturally, there is no single Swiss heritage. Literary and artistic figures have emerged from each of the four language groups of the country.

There are many excellent museums in Switzerland. In fact, Switzerland is diligent in promoting all cultural activity, with cantons providing free concerts, student grants, and prizes to talented youth; preservation and restoration work are underwritten throughout the country.

Education

Education receives high priority in Switzerland, and the educational process is rigorous. Students are tested at various stages of their education to determine their future course, whether academic or vocational, and career paths. Much of ones place in Swiss society is determined by the results of the tests. Swiss parents consider development of the childs intellectual and social abilities to be one of their primary responsibilities and actively supervise and augment the childs education. The Swiss have one of the worlds highest literacy rates 99 percent.

Religion

There is freedom of religion in Switzerland. Native Swiss are almost evenly divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant, with a very small Jewish community.

Common attitudes

Toward women

Opportunities outside the home for Swiss women are among the most limited in Western Europe. Women did not gain the full right to vote in all cantons until 1990; and until revisions in 1988, a wife did not have equal rights with her husband in marriage. Most Swiss, including women, still regard maintenance of the home and the raising and education of children as the most important career for a woman. More women are now entering the workforce at managerial and executive levels, as well as in the traditional lower-paid and lower-skilled jobs in commerce and services. Although a number of young women have been joining the white and blue collar ranks, they often leave the workforce in the event of marriage or children. The public school system schedule and lack of childcare alternatives discourage many women from sticking it out, not to speak of the tax implications for working spouses. Unequal pay and promotion vis-à-vis their male counterparts and disapproval from family, friends and childrens teachers add to the pressures on women who try to maintain a career after marriage.

Given these deterrents, it is not surprising that few women appear around the meeting table or in an authoritative role on the job. When they do, they are sometimes received with guarded surprise. They are even mistaken for secretaries or administrative assistants rather than as team leaders or project managers.

Toward foreigners

The Swiss depend rather heavily on foreigners, in several distinct guises: as guest workers, foreigners provide many of the basic services which the Swiss themselves are too affluent to care to undertake; as tourists, foreigners and their spending are very significant; and as investors or depositors in Swiss banks, foreigners are also a major presence. Hence officially the Swiss welcome foreigners. However, the society is rather insular. The Swiss especially those who are older tend to have difficulty accepting cultural and other differences. They promote group harmony through homogeneity and look with suspicion upon individualists and those who are obviously different.

These attitudes can extend even toward other Swiss who are not originally from the area in which they are living. Traditionally Swiss do not move often or easily and therefore are very much tied to their place of origin. Even those who have been uprooted will tell you they still feel like foreigners in their new community after many years. Which schools one attended, especially Kindergarten and primary, holds a lot of weight, along with the neighborhood in which one currently resides.

Attitude toward work

An aspect of business bound to take many non-Swiss by surprise is the Swiss work ethic. This is closely tied to business hours, holidays and festivals. The normal Swiss work week is 42 hours, which is relatively high by many other nations standards. Traditional business hours are 0800 to 1730, with one hour for lunch, during which many switchboards, banks, stores, and offices are completely closed down.

Similarly, holidays, vacation and leisure time are sacred to the Swiss. Most Swiss will be somewhat surprised should you propose working through a holiday, a weekend, into vacation time, or even overtime during the week in order to get a job done as planned. So, in the two weeks around Christmas, the ten days around Easter, all of July and most of August you can count on getting very little done throughout Switzerland. There are additional “black-out” periods scattered throughout the calendar year, depending on local customs, festivals, and events. The number of holidays averages about 14, depending on in which canton you live or work. Sick leave and personal days are treated with much more generosity than is typical in some other countries.

Although the Swiss have a reputation for efficiency, their tendency to thoroughness can slow the pace of business. They tend to follow very closely the letter rather than the spirit of a law, concept, or directive. Neither fast nor slow, they are most comfortable with a middling pace that doesnt infringe on weekends, holidays, and personal time.

Toward family

The family is very important to the Swiss, and spending time with the family is considered sacrosanct. This, along with the Swiss tendency to guard their privacy, is why foreigners are very rarely invited to Swiss homes on weekends. The Swiss tend to protect their privacy with some zeal. One Swiss person described it this way: “For us, if you step over the threshold of our home, we are bound to be your friend for life. One can only have so many such friends.” So you should not expect to be welcomed into a your Swiss colleagues homes to meet the wife and the children over a beer or a barbecue.

Fine Sunday afternoons see thousands of families taking to the trails, hiking or skiing and stopping for refreshment at the many “huts” (often decent restaurants) improbably sprinkled about the countryside.

Toward hierarchy

Despite its claim to social democracy, Switzerland has a deep-seated, if difficult to uncover, social hierarchy which is based on complicated, centuries-old family, business and social relationships. Complicated factors such as birthplace, school, neighborhood, family status (single/married and children/none), and social status strongly determine most Swiss natives place in society and even socializing patterns and preferences.

Do not expect to be able to determine a strangers place in the hierarchy according to outward signs of wealth, as the Swiss generally prefer to be very discreet about this.

CITIES

Switzerland’s major cities differ from one another according to the language that predominates in each. For example, in Geneva French is the dominant language, and a certain Gallic attitude prevails. In Zürich, German is the main language, and the food and other parts of the culture reflect the Germanic influence. In those parts of Switzerland south of the Alps, la bella vida of Italy and Italian can be detected.

Distinctive regional dialects of each major language are used colloquially. In written documents, however, the “high” form of each language is used.

Historically, the Swiss have sought equal status of the cantons and have jealously guarded this equality to prevent one canton from becoming clearly preeminent. That is why Switzerland is officially named the Confoederation Helvetica – “Swiss Confederation” in Latin, a neutral language in this context. Recently, the growth of Zrich in population size and economic importance has had a disturbing effect on the traditional balance.

Basel (Bâle)

Basel is Switzerland’s leading industrial town and center of the pharmaceutical industry. Both Basel’s and Geneva’s populations fluctuate such that the two cities rival each other as the country’s second largest city after Zürich. Currently about 187,000 people make Basel their home.

Strategically situated where the Rhine River becomes navigable and acts as the border between France and Germany, Basel has long been an important river port, a factor in its industrial growth. The major industries are chemicals, drugs, machinery, and textiles.

Basel is a scenic city. The twin-towered cathedral dates from the 12th century, and there are numerous fine old houses dating from the 18th century. A promenade offers a panoramic view of the old city and the Rhine. The city is very old, dating back to at least the Roman Empire, and possibly earlier.

Culture is important to the residents of this city. Basel is home to the oldest university in Switzerland, has many museums, and countless small theatres. A series of concerts and festivals take place there throughout the year.

Bern (Berne)

In a country where cities are very old, Bern (the primarily German-speaking capital of Switzerland) is relatively young. It was founded in 1191 on what had been a local nobleman’s hunting preserve. Its name – originally Bärn, German for bears – refers to that origin.

The old city was destroyed by fire in 1405. It was rebuilt in Gothic and Baroque architectural styles that can be seen in the picturesque streets of Old Town, the core of the modern city. There are now 123,000 people living in Bern, making it Switzerland’s fourth largest city.

In addition to its political importance, Bern is a center of light manufacturing, notably scientific instruments and machine tools. There is a lively arts scene and rich cultural life.

Geneva (Genêve)

Geneva has a distinctly international character. The Red Cross was founded here in 1863. It was also the seat of the League of Nations between the two world wars, and in the postwar era has been the European headquarters of the United Nations. Geneva now rivals Zrich as a business and banking center and has become the preferred European site for many international organizations involved in biotechnology, finance, and trading.

The city is home to approximately 100,000 English speaking residents – English is the official language of most of the multinationals or international corporations based here. It is the largest city on Romandy, the primarily French-speaking section of Switzerland. It is home to 446,000 total residents.

In common with Switzerland’s other major cities, cultural life plays an important part. Geneva has attracted many famous intellectuals – Rousseau, Mme. de Staël, Voltaire, Diderot, among others. Concerts and artistic events take place all year round. Numerous museums house world famous collections.

Lausanne

The second largest city in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, Lausanne was known in Roman times as Lousonna. Archaeological excavations show that the site had been inhabited as far back as the Stone Age. About 130,000 residents live in the city.

Lausanne, a cosmopolitan university town, is the capital of the canton of Vaud and the center of a rich agricultural region. It has some light industry, the most important products being precision instruments and chocolates.

Lausanne is built on a steep hillside rising from the shore of Lac Léman/Lake Geneva. The cathedral, dating from the 13th century, is regarded as the most beautiful Gothic building in Switzerland. In the past, literary salons were popular in Lausanne, attracting many writers such as Byron, Shelley, Worsdworth, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, and T.S. Eliot, who wrote “The Waste Land” in Lausanne.

Zürich

Zürich is Switzerland’s business and economic capital, a major center of international finance, and the country’s largest city. The Greater Zurich area is home to three million residents. The city covers an area of 92 km/35 sq mi. Its stock exchange is one of the five busiest in the world, and Zrich is the world’s largest trading center for gold. Zrich consistantly ranks at or near the top among the world’s cities in quality of life and similar metrics.

A beautiful city, Zürich is situated among hills at the north end of the lake that bears its name and within sight of the glistening peaks of the Alps to its south. The history of the present city goes back 2,000 years when the Romans established an outpost they called Turicum to control strategic trade routes between the Mediterranean world and northern Europe. With the fall of the empire, the area was overrun by Germanic tribes. The city survived and developed into a prosperous commercial center during the Middle Ages. Zurich joined the Swiss Confederation in 1351.

The main shopping district is concentrated within a compact area at the heart of the city with high quality stores within easy walking distance of each other. In the historic Old Town there are many antique shops, bars, and small individual boutiques.

CLIMATE

Switzerland is located in the relatively temperate zone of north-central Europe, but has rather varied climates in different parts of the country. North of the Alps — where most of the people live — the weather fluctuates between a moderate Gulf Stream-influenced climate and a continental climate with greater extremes. Thus summer days are sometimes warm and sometimes quite hot, while winter days may be only mildly cold or very cold.

Conditions vary markedly with altitude, with higher altitudes always experiencing cooler weather. The Alps serve as a dividing point — areas south of the Alps experience a mild Mediterranean climate. Precipitation is well distributed throughout the year, with frequent rains in spring and summer.

Normal seasonal temperatures in most of the country are affected by the bise — a north wind that brings a chilling cold in winter and crisp air in summer — and the Föhn, a wind similar to the North American chinook, which brings oppressively warm, dry air from the south.

Information provided in association with Living Abroad