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.
Dialog: the new appraisal interview format
In 2024, ETH Zurich will be implementing a new appraisal interview format called “Dialog” for all employees. The idea is to foster ongoing discussion and mutual feedback exchange between employees and supervisors. The format was tested and evaluated as part of a pilot project in autumn 2023.
"No one is at the mercy of their emotions"
Since the beginning of March, members of ETH Zurich have been able to take advantage of the Respect programme to deepen their skills in respectful collaboration. The first live event is dedicated to the topic of emotion regulation. Nadia Dörflinger-Khashman, Head of Diversity and Cooperation, explains how we all benefit from the input lecture.
The new Respect programme
“Respect – Reflect – Respond”: Starting today, you’ll come across this slogan at various places at ETH Zurich. It’s part of the new Respect programme aimed at all members of the university community. These three words summarise how we should treat each other at ETH: on equal terms, willing to reflect on our own thoughts and actions, and responding appropriately in a variety of contexts.