250,000 Swiss households employ their domestic help illegally — Clino puts an end to it. For 66 centimes a day.
The Swiss SaaS platform that automates payroll, employment contracts and social insurance for domestic workers. In 5 minutes instead of 3 weeks.
Maria’s story
Maria cleans three apartments in Zurich. Mondays for the Müller family in Oerlikon, Wednesdays for a couple in Wipkingen, Fridays for a flatshare at Limmatplatz. 15 hours a week, CHF 30 an hour, cash in hand. No contract. No social security. No accident insurance.
Maria is 47, originally from Portugal, and has lived in Switzerland for nine years. She is one of an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 domestic workers employed across the country. She does her job well. Her employers are happy. All three have given her a Christmas bonus.
But none of them has registered her.
If Maria slips on a wet staircase tomorrow and breaks her arm, she pays for everything herself. No accident insurance. No daily allowance. No continued salary. When she retires in 18 years, she will be missing decades of social security contributions. Her pension? A fraction of what she would be entitled to. Swiss taxpayers will eventually foot the bill — through supplementary benefits.
Maria’s employers are not bad people. They pay fairly. They treat her with respect. They simply don’t know how to do it properly. Or they tried and gave up.
«Maria is not an isolated case. She is the norm. In Switzerland, more domestic workers are employed illegally than legally.»
The scale of the problem
Undeclared work in Swiss private households is not a fringe phenomenon. It is the rule. And it has consequences — for the workers, for the social security system, and for society at large.
Of 500,000 Swiss households with domestic help, an estimated 40 to 80 percent do not register their employees. 83 inspectors are responsible for the entire country. At the current inspection rate, a household would statistically have to wait 1,645 years before being checked. The expected fine per year: 15 centimes.
Why it happens: a system built for corporations
The Swiss social insurance system was designed for companies with HR departments. A family employing someone four hours a week for cleaning faces the exact same bureaucratic burden as a business with 50 employees: registration with the compensation office, monthly calculation of AHV/IV/EO contributions, arranging UVG accident insurance, FAK contributions, withholding tax for foreign workers, correct calculation of holiday surcharges, factoring in the 13th month salary, and filing accident reports.
The result is predictable: the majority of families give up.
Without Clino: what a family must do
- •Contact the compensation office and open an employer account
- •Take out UVG accident insurance
- •Calculate AHV/IV/EO/ALV contributions monthly
- •Calculate FAK contributions at the cantonal rate
- •Determine withholding tax for foreign employees
- •Calculate holiday surcharge correctly (based on workload)
- •Draft an employment contract compliant with the Swiss Code of Obligations
- •Create and archive monthly payslips
With Clino: what a family must do
- •Create an account and enter your domestic worker's details
- •Set the canton, hours and hourly wage
- •Done. Clino calculates everything, generates the contract and payslips.
Eight steps filled with jargon, rates that vary by canton and zero margin for error — versus three clicks. It is not a question of morality. It is a question of system design.
Why Clino exists
Salvador Jovells moved from Spain to Switzerland in 2017. When he hired a cleaner for his apartment, he wanted to do it properly. Legally. Fully registered.
It took three weeks. Four phone calls to the compensation office. Hours of research on social security rates, withholding tax and holiday surcharges. And in the end, he still was not sure everything was correct.
«I have a technical background. If I can barely manage to employ a cleaner legally, how is an ordinary family supposed to do it?» says Jovells. «The problem is not that people don’t want to. The problem is that the system makes it nearly impossible.»
So he built Clino: a platform that reduces the entire process to five minutes.
«Nobody works off the books out of malice. The system simply makes it too complicated to do the right thing.» — Salvador Jovells, founder of Clino
How Clino works
Clino replaces three weeks of paperwork with five minutes. No prior knowledge required, no accounting expertise needed.
Create an account
Register for free. 30-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Enter the details
Name, address and nationality of your domestic worker. Set the canton, working hours and hourly wage. Clino automatically calculates all deductions: AHV, ALV, UVG, FAK, withholding tax, holiday surcharge.
Done
Clino generates the employment contract, creates monthly payslips and handles the registration with the compensation office. Everything in one place, fully compliant.
What Clino includes
What makes Clino different
Clino is not a cleaning agency. With agencies like Batmaid, the client pays CHF 35 to 55 per hour. The cleaner receives CHF 23 to 27 of that. The difference goes to the platform. Clino works differently: the family employs their domestic worker directly. The worker keeps their full wage. Clino handles the administration only.
Clino is also not just another form. The simplified AHV billing procedure has existed for years — but the forms are in German, the cantonal rates change annually, and anyone who makes a mistake only finds out during an inspection. Clino automates the entire calculation and centrally updates all rates for all 26 cantons.
Cost comparison
Clino costs less than a Netflix subscription. Less than two coffees a week. And it makes the difference between a domestic worker with no protection — and one with full insurance coverage, pension rights and a real employment contract.
Maria’s alternative future
Imagine the Müller family had chosen Clino. Five minutes of effort, CHF 19.90 a month. What would change for Maria?
Every month, social security contributions would flow into her account. In 18 years, when she retires, she would be entitled to a pension that reflects her actual earnings — instead of a minimal pension that barely covers the basics. If she slips on the wet staircase, the accident insurance kicks in: medical costs covered, daily allowance from the third day, rehabilitation paid for.
She would have an employment contract she can show her landlord. Proof the bank accepts. A document that says: I am here. I work. I exist in the system.
This costs the Müller family less than a Netflix subscription.
CHF 19.90 a month. In return, Maria is insured, covered by social security and legally protected. And the Müller family sleeps soundly, knowing everything is in order.
The vision
«A Switzerland where every domestic worker is protected.»
Every domestic worker in Switzerland insured, registered, protected. Every family able to do the right thing — without having to endure three weeks of bureaucracy. This is not a utopian goal. It is a question of the right tool. Clino is that tool.
Fact sheet
Sources
- Federal Statistical Office (FSO) (2024) — Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)
- SECO (2024) — Report on BGSA enforcement
- FSIO (2023) — AHV statistics
- Clino Research (2026) — Own calculations based on public data
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About Clino
Clino is a Swiss SaaS platform enabling households to legally employ domestic workers — payroll, contracts, social security, and accident insurance included. CHF 19.90/month. All 26 cantons. Founded 2025 in Zurich. clino.ch
