Some time ago I made a post about my partner’s experience looking for a job in gastronomy here in Switzerland, specifically in Kanton Zurich. ( https://www.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/s/uY97dCsmGh ) Just wanted to give an update now that the situation is resolved. During her job search, restaurant after restaurant expected unpaid trial shifts by default. In total she did more than 7 unpaid days. Not observation days either, actual work: serving customers, helping during service, cleaning, doing normal staff tasks. Thankfully my legal insurance covered her as well, and in the end she got paid for the time worked. Because contrary to what some restaurants try to normalize, there is no such thing as free labor by default in Switzerland. What makes it worse is this mentality of “they are giving you an opportunity”. In many cases it just feels like a way to justify taking advantage of people and getting free labor. And before people say I’m attacking the whole industry: no. She now works in a restaurant that paid her trial day, was transparent from the beginning, professional with the hiring process, and treated her with respect. So clearly it is possible to do things properly. But based on her experience, many places in the gastro market do abuse unpaid trial shifts, especially with foreigners, young people, students, or people desperate for work. One thing that really made us question it is that many of the positions she applied for are STILL online months later. Yet the answer was always the same generic rejection: “we found candidates that better fit the position”. So what is happening exactly? They really couldn’t find someone after all this time? Or are some places just cycling through candidates and making them do unpaid trial days over and over again? I’m not saying every restaurant does this. But it happens enough that people should talk about it more openly. submitted by /u/andrewclav
Originally posted by u/andrewclav on r/Switzerland