⚠️ This article is for the new version of the platform. ⚠️ If you are on Coople Classic, you can find relevant articles here. |
What changed
Costs used to be shown as a single factor applied to the wage. They now appear in two parts: Labour cost and Coople fee. The social insurance contributions Coople pays as your workers' legal employer have their own line inside Labour cost, instead of being folded into the Coople fee.
Your total is unchanged, and so are your agreement and your rates.
Coople gives you full cost transparency. You can see what a shift costs, and what makes up that cost, at the moment you plan it. Open the cost breakdown on any shift, day or week, and every figure is explained.
Your total is made of two parts:
Total cost (excl. VAT) = Labour cost + Coople fee
Labour cost is what any employer pays to get the work done: the wage, any surcharges, and the social insurance contributions legally owed on that wage. You carry these costs under any staffing model, including when you employ people yourself.
Coople fee is what you pay Coople for the service: finding and matching workers, and running payroll, HR administration and the platform.
Each part is explained below, with a worked example at the end. All figures in the product are shown excluding VAT.
1. Labour cost
The cost of the work itself. It has three components: gross wage, surcharges and social insurances.
Gross wage
The gross hourly wage is the base wage plus the wage components owed by law and by the applicable collective labour agreement (CLA):
Base wage: The hourly wage under the applicable CLA. It depends on the job title, wage class and work location.
Holiday pay: Pro-rated compensation for statutory public holidays. The rate depends on the CLA (for example 3.2% under the CBA Staff Leasing, 2.27% under the L-CLA).
Vacation pay: Pro-rated compensation for annual leave. Under the CBA Staff Leasing this is 8.33% (for workers aged 20–49) or 10.6% (under 20 or over 50); under the L-CLA it is a flat 10.65%.
13th monthly salary: Pro-rated compensation for the 13th monthly salary, at 8.33%.
Gross wage = base wage + holiday pay + vacation pay + 13th monthly salary
Open the Gross wage line in the breakdown to see these four components with their rates and amounts.
Example, per hour (CBA Staff Leasing):
Base wage | CHF 22.39 |
+ Holiday pay (3.2%) | CHF 0.72 |
+ Vacation pay (8.33%) | CHF 1.92 |
+ 13th monthly salary (8.33%) | CHF 2.09 |
= Gross wage per hour | CHF 27.12 |
The composition of the gross hourly wage depends on the applicable CLA and may vary. Company rules and CLA provisions on shift work and regular Sunday work can add their own wage supplements, and those cover staff supplied by Coople too. Let us know if different rules are in force at your company.
What are collective labour agreements (CLAs)?
In Switzerland many industries and professions are governed by collective labour agreements between employer associations and unions. They set minimum wages, working hours, surcharges and holiday entitlement. Coople determines the applicable CLA and calculates all costs accordingly. We currently support the CBA Staff Leasing and the L-CLA (hospitality), and more may be added over time. The platform enforces the statutory minimum wage and guides you to a permitted amount when you set a wage.
Surcharges
Surcharges apply when a shift falls into certain time windows or exceeds working-time limits. Which ones apply depends on the CLA. For each time segment, only the highest applicable surcharge is charged.
Under the CBA Staff Leasing:
Night work (25%), statutory night hours, typically 23:00 to 06:00. May vary by company rules.
Sunday work (50%), work between Saturday 23:00 and Sunday 23:00.
Public holidays (50%), work on statutory public holidays.
Overtime (25%), more than 9.5 h a day or 45 h a week.
Under the CLAN-CLA hospitality:
Night work (25%), statutory night hours, typically 23:00 to 06:00.
Overtime (25%), more than 12 h a day or 50 h a week.
There is no Sunday or public-holiday surcharge under the L-CLA.
Each percentage is calculated on the wage base defined by the applicable CLA, which is not always the full gross wage. Under the CBA Staff Leasing it is the base wage plus the 13th monthly salary. Under the L-CLA it is the gross wage.
Open the Surcharges line to see each surcharge with its rate and the number of hours it applies to. When a shift has no surcharges, the line is not shown at all.
Social insurances
As your workers' legal employer, Coople pays the social insurance contributions legally owed on the total wage: Social security (AHV/IV/EO), Unemployment insurance (ALV), AHV administration fees, Family allowance contribution (FAK), CLA contribution (GAV), Accident insurance (UVG), Occupational pension (BVG). Coople also covers continued salary payments in the event of illness or accident, and trainings to entitled workers.
Social insurances are charged at a flat rate on the wage (gross wage plus surcharges). The rate is the same across CLAs and worker types.
This is a cost every employer carries under any staffing model, and it is not a Coople fee. It sits transparently inside labour cost.
2. Coople fee
What you pay Coople for the service. It is split into two lines so you can see what each one covers:
Coople Pool Usage: Access to Switzerland’s largest pool of flexible workers, screened and matched to your shifts by the platform.
HR Admin & Software: The platform plus the administration it takes off you: contracts, work permits, time tracking, payroll, insurance and invoicing.
Both are shown as a share of labour cost. The amount depends on the worker pool and on the applicable CLA:
Worker type | Coople Pool Usage | HR Admin & Software |
Staff Leasing (CBA Staff Leasing) | 9% | 16% |
Staff Leasing (L-CLA) | 9% | 12% |
Payrolling | 0% | 16% (CBA Staff Leasing) / 12% (L-CLA) |
Workforce Planning (internal workers) | 0% | 0% |
These are our standard rates. The rates agreed with your organisation may differ. Displayed amounts on the platform are rounded for simplicity. You can see your specific rates under Organisation Settings → Organisation.
Payrolling workers which you register with Coople yourself carry no Coople Pool Usage fee: you bring the worker, so you pay only for the HR administration and the platform. Internal employees you schedule in Coople add no cost at all.
3. Expenses
To apply expenses, turn on the feature under Organisation Settings → Workspaces.
Allowances, deductions and reimbursements agreed for the shift or period: travel, meals, materials and similar. Open the group to see one line per item. Amounts that reduce your cost are shown with a minus, for example “−CHF 40.00”.
Expenses carry no Coople fee. They are passed through to your invoice at cost.
When expenses apply, they are added to your total on top of labour cost and the Coople fee. If there are none, the group is not shown in the breakdown.
4. Total cost (excl. VAT)
Example, per hour (CBA Staff Leasing, external Coopler, no surcharges):
Gross wage | CHF 27.12 |
Social insurances | CHF 4.07 |
= Labour cost | CHF 31.19 |
Coople Pool Usage (9% of labour cost) | CHF 2.73 |
HR Admin & Software (16% of labour cost) | CHF 4.86 |
= Coople fee | CHF 7.59 |
Total cost per hour (excl. VAT) | CHF 38.78 |
Figures vary by CLA, worker type, wage class and shift times.
Why do I sometimes see a cost range?
For shifts that are still open, the cost depends on who fills them, in particular the worker's qualification and wage. The breakdown then shows a range, from the lowest to the highest possible cost. The range narrows as shifts get assigned, and becomes a single figure once every shift is filled.
The range covers the hours as planned. If a shift ends up running longer, the extra hours add cost on top, and any hours falling into a surcharge window under the applicable CLA carry a supplement.
Min. is the lowest possible cost: if every open shift is filled by the cheapest eligible worker at the lowest wage and pool type that apply.
Max. is the highest possible cost: if every open shift is filled by a qualified external worker at the highest eligible wage, plus any surcharges.
What influences your shifts' costs?
Role, qualification and wage class: these set the minimum wage under the CLA.
Worker age: affects vacation pay under the CBA Staff Leasing. Good to know: Open shifts default to age 25, which is why the cost can change once a worker is assigned.
Shift times: night, Sunday, public-holiday and overtime hours can carry surcharges, depending on the CLA.
Overtime: applies when daily or weekly limits are exceeded.
Worker pool: external, payrolling and internal workers carry different Coople fees.
Coverage: A shift that is not staffed with a worker will not cost anything, if there was no termination outside of the termination period.
Questions?
If you have a question about a specific cost breakdown, or about which minimum wage applies to a shift, contact Coople Support. We can tell you which CLA applies and how the figures were calculated.