Employment & work
You work at ETH Zurich? Here you will find useful information about your employment. If you have any questions, please contact the Vice-Presidency Personnel Development and Leadership.
Open positions
ETH Zurich encourages internal job changes Please also note the external job postings
Leaving
In case you are leaving ETH Zurich, there are a few things to keep in mind.
ETHIS: Personal data
With the ETHIS employee portal, you can independently maintain your personal data, view your employment data or pay slips, and record your working hours.
Vocational training
ETH Zurich offers various vocational apprenticeships for young adults.
Welcome Center
The Welcome Center provides you with non academic information on topics such as immigration, accommodation, childcare, health insurance and living in Switzerland.
Further topics
Increase in the reference age for women
In Switzerland, the current legal retirement age is 64 years for women and 65 years for men. The AHV 21 reform, which aims to stabilise the state pension system, foresees a gradual increase in the reference age (formerly known as retirement age) for women to 65*. Starting on 1 January 2025, the reference age will be increased by three months each year. Starting in 2028, the same reference age of 65 will apply to both women and men. The AHV 21 reform provides compensation measures for women born between 1961 and 1969. The affected female employees at ETH have already been informed of these changes.
*Currently, women at ETH Zurich can continue working until age 65 if they so desire. Requests of this kind must be made to one's line manager in writing no later than six months before reaching the reference age.
Impact on employment pension plans
The gradual increase of the reference age also has an impact on employment pension plans. The conversion rates for women aged 63 and 64 are currently being reviewed by the Publica pension fund's parity commissions. The changes will be announced in 2024 and implemented in tandem with the amended pension legislation, which will take effect on 1 January 2025.
- Holidays must be taken in the year in which they accrue. In consultation with your line manager, a maximum of two weeks (for a 100% workload) may be carried forward to the following year. The holiday carryover must be taken by 31 March of the following year. If your holiday balance is nevertheless higher at the end of 2023 and exceeds six weeks, the holiday credits are older than five years (holiday balance carried forward to 2019) will be automatically cancelled in accordance with the Federal Personnel Act (Art. 17a) (external pageBundespersonalgesetz, BPG, German onlycall_made) and your entitlement will expire.
- Two consecutive weeks' holiday must be taken every calendar year.
- Please note that as of 1 January 2024, a maximum of 100 working hours can be carried over into the new year. Hours worked in excess of 100 hours will be automatically cancelled. Overtime must be compensated during the year with time-off of the same duration.
- Loyalty bonuses (DAG) in the form of paid leave must be taken within five years, after which your entitlement will expire.
Any request for retroactive ordinary tax assessment for the year 2023 must be submitted to the competent cantonal tax office (canton of residence) by 31 March 2024.
Employees who are subject to withholding tax are required by law to report any additional sources of income to ETH Zurich on an ongoing basis.
This information and any changes to partner data, family situation or place of residence must be entered promptly in ETHIS under Persönlich > Anstellung & Lohn > Withholding tax.
Stay curious! – Learning event for all ETH employees
What does lifelong learning mean and what does it bring us to go through (working) life with curiosity? With the learning event in November, we invite all ETH employees to exchange ideas. Be inspired by experts from neuroscience, time research, leadership culture and other exciting topics.
The future of work at ETH
Remote working, lifelong learning and digital transformation: for some ETH employees, this is already a reality. Others have had little contact with these developments to date. Thanks to a new position paper and a range of support offers, all ETH employees should now be able to engage more closely with the future of work.
Better balance between caring for family members and working life
Many people at ETH Zurich are faced with the challenge of combining their professional activities with caring for family members. A new, comprehensive website and events are designed to support ETH members in this endeavour.