Work culture in Switzerland

My friend pointed me to this article the other day and I just had to share it.  The work culture here is so incredibly different than the USA.

Here are a few direct quotes from the article.  It's worth a read if you have a few minutes.  I shared a little while ago about some basic differences about living here, mostly trivial things.  The article shares many detailed differences regarding work and family life.

The Swiss have a culture of professional part-time work, and as a result, part-time jobs include every benefit of a full-time job, including vacation time and payment into two Swiss pension systems. Salaries for part-time work are set as a percentage of a professional full-time salary­ because unlike in the United States, part-time jobs are not viewed as necessarily unskilled jobs with their attendant lower pay.

During my Swiss career, I was employed by various companies from 25 percent to 100 percent. When I worked 60 percent, for example, I worked three days a week. A job that is 50 percent could mean the employee works five mornings a week or, as I once did, two and a half days a week. The freedom to choose the amount of work that was right for me at varying points of my life was wonderful and kept me engaged and happy.

When I took only 10 days for a trip to Spain, my colleagues chastised me for taking so little time off

Not owning a car is financially freeing — and it saves the environment, too. In Switzerland, 21 percent of households do not own a car, versus 9.2 percent in the US.

Swiss law also mandates a 14-week maternity leave at a minimum of 80 percent pay. I was lucky enough to receive 100 percent pay. Compare that with the US, where new mothers aren’t guaranteed any paid time off after giving birth. In Switzerland, it’s also common to choose how much work to return to after having a child. Since my Swiss job at the time had been full time, I chose to return at 60 percent.

We had great careers, we had balance, and we also had a Swiss government that paid a monthly child stipend whether we needed it or not. For Americans like me, Swiss Reality was privilege.

It's been just over a year since we moved here.  The truth is, so many things about life here are pretty great.  There are a lot of advantages--this article points to many of the reasons like vacation time and the work/life balance.  On top of that, so many beautiful places are so easily accessible for us right now.  Bryce and I often find ourselves saying, "that will be hard to deal with when we move back" which is unfortunate.

People back home often ask, "so how much longer will you stay there?"  At this point, we are staying past his original contract.  We will definitely be here for another year, but beyond that, it's uncertain.  While life here is really good, it's also true that nothing replaces the blessing of living near (or within driving distance) of family and lifelong friends.  It's really tough to get phone calls or FaceTime when the family is together with all the cousins Easter egg hunting together, or when grandparents are babysitting grandkids for the parents to go on an overnight vacation, or when most of the family is together hanging out after church on a Sunday, or worse, when a health issue comes up with one of our immediate family members, then there's weddings, births, graduations, and special events like a very special change of command for our military brother.

With all of this in mind, we know that our time here (and even this stage of life) is precious, one that we'll never forget, no matter how long it is that we're here.   Too bad everyone can't just move here, right?!  

Day trip: Stoos & Fronalpstock

We've been doing our best to take advantage of living so close to the mountains.  In the last few weeks, we went hiking to three different places, all less than 2 hours away, all in the Swiss Alps, and all on our list of places we want to visit.

 

We had decided to go hiking one Saturday and as usual, it was beautiful weather all week then rainy and cool over the weekend.  So, in the spirit of 'carpe diem', we grabbed our rain gear and got in the car.

We took the train up to Stoos.  We walked around the tiny car-free mountain town and dropped by a small place for lunch.  We ate lunch in the empty restaurant while the owner sat at a table and ate his lunch.

 After lunch, it stopped pouring rain and we did one of the most frightening things I've ever done: take a baby and a toddler on a ski chairlift up a mountain.  I had Carter in the Ergo, but Maddie and her determined independence had both of us on edge.  We made it safely to the top--Fronalpstock.  It was so beautiful at the top.

We just did the short panorama trail at the top.  It was 360 views with a playground and a restaurant at the top (which is very typical for mountain tops here).  I love how family friendly hiking can be here in Switzerland.  They make it so easy to just get to the top quickly, see amazing views, and do an easier hike at the top, even get a snack or drink at a restaurant.  Not only family friendly, but friendly to all ages.  For us, it's way better than spending hours hiking up the mountain with kids and food in tow, only to end up exhausted and stressed.

We used our favorite site again to find this gem of a place.  Her blog is so fun to browse when we're thinking of what to do on a Saturday.

Riding bikes

Early in the Spring, we bought bikes.  We live about 10 minutes from the airport in a car.  There are great biking trails everywhere, including one that goes to the airport.  A couple months ago, the three of us spent a couple hours biking around and watched planes land.

My kids hate being strapped down to anything, so there's usually crying and fussing even with abundant snacks.  But I'm hoping that the more we ride, the more enjoyable the rides will be for all of us.  For now, I try to keep bike rides under an hour.

I'm really enjoying the bikes.  Bryce made fun of me when we were trying out bikes at the store because I was so unnatural and awkward on the bike.  The last bike I owned was hot pink with streamers coming out of the handle bars.

He HATES his helmet.  She does fine if she's in the seat on the back of my bike. 

A few weeks ago, we rode about 5 miles to Eglisau on the river.  It was gorgeous.  The ride there was actually very pleasant.  The ride back was quite stressful (about 5pm, everyone hungry and tired, not ideal).

We hung out by the river for a couple hours, played in the water, fed the ducks, ate more snacks, people watched, and then rode back home.

USA visit May 2015: Out on the boat

Papa has a few fun toys, the boat being one of them.  I can't remember the last time I went out on it.  We spent just a couple hours at Lake Belews about 20 minutes from the house.

Carter's 1st Birthday celebration

We celebrated Carter's birthday just the four of us at home on Carter's actual birthday as well as a celebration while in North Carolina.

We got Carter a new push bike.  We also got Maddie a special gift to celebrate.  Here they are on their new wheels.  They love them!

This is one of my most favorite photos of them.

This picture shows his cute pre-haircut fly aways haha

He wasn't really into eating the cake, but rather just playing with it, squishing it between his fingers and rubbing it all over his face.

When we were at home in the States, we also celebrated with the family.  It was so fun to have all the cousins together.

He had a lot of help opening presents :-)

USA visit May 2015: North Carolina

Another photo-heavy post from our trip home.  Too many cute pictures that show you the joy it was to be at home with family!

On the drive from West Virginia to North Carolina, Maddie had her first Frosty.  Yum!

First Haircuts!

(Maddie, 2.5 years, and Carter, 13 months)

While we were home visiting, we scheduled their first ever haircuts.

Before haircuts, they were both looking scraggly.

I was excited to get his hair trimmed.  I was nervous that cutting her hair would cause her to lose all the curl.

He did so well.  We gave him a lollipop and he sat there completely still, even when she used the razor along the back and ear area.