Swiss Work Certificate Template: A Complete Example with Explanations

Below is a complete Swiss work certificate (Arbeitszeugnis) for an HR administrator, assessed as good to very good. After the template, we explain what each section does and what you need to adapt. A template doesn't replace the real work. Duties and assessment have to fit the person, or the certificate reads as interchangeable.

The template

Work certificate

Ms Sandra Keller, born on 18 June 1988, worked in our company from 1 February 2019 to 31 August 2026 as an HR administrator with a workload of 80%.

Muster AG is a logistics company with around 240 employees at three locations in German-speaking Switzerland.

Ms Keller was responsible for all HR administration for around 120 employees. This included onboarding and offboarding, preparing the monthly payroll, keeping the personnel files and corresponding with social insurance institutions and authorities. From 2023 she also looked after the commercial apprentices and deputised for the Head of HR during her absences.

Ms Keller has sound expertise in social insurance and employment law, which she continually expanded. She worked independently, accurately and to deadline, even when several urgent tasks came up at once. By introducing a digital personnel file, she cut the processing time for new hires from around two weeks to three days. Her performance always earned our full recognition.

Ms Keller was helpful and open towards managers and colleagues. Employees valued her friendly and discreet manner, and the apprentices her clear and patient guidance. Her conduct was always impeccable.

Ms Keller is leaving us at her own request to take up a position as an HR specialist with management responsibility. We thank her for her great commitment, very much regret her departure and wish her every success in the future, professionally and personally.

Zurich, 31 August 2026

Muster AG
[Name], Head of Human Resources · [Name], Head of Logistics

What each section does

The first paragraph identifies the person and the role. Date of birth, start date, end date and role always belong here, and so does the workload (Pensum) for part-time staff. The Swiss place of origin (Heimatort) is possible but no longer the rule.

The sentence about the company helps readers who don't know it. Running HR administration for a small business is very different from doing it for a large group.

The duties are listed in order of importance, not by share of time. Later additional duties, such as looking after the apprentices, show development and belong in the certificate with the year.

The performance assessment links qualities to evidence. The sentence about the digital personnel file carries more weight than any adjective, because it shows what changed through her work. The last sentence of the paragraph sums up the performance.

Conduct is assessed towards every relevant group. For Ms Keller, those are managers, colleagues, employees and apprentices. If a group is missing, readers notice.

The closing paragraph gives the reason for leaving, because Ms Keller wants it included, and ends with thanks, regret and good wishes. There's more on this part in our article on the closing statement in a work certificate.

What you need to adapt

• Describe the duties specifically for the role, with figures where there are any.
• Match the assessment to the actual performance, not to the template. Using this template for average performance produces an untrue certificate.
• Name every group the person dealt with in the conduct section, and for managers also assess their leadership.
• Include the reason for leaving only with consent, and match the strength of the regret to the overall assessment.
• Use company letterhead, add the date and have an authorised signatory who is senior to the employee sign it.

Where templates reach their limits

Templates from the internet often come from Germany and follow German conventions, such as a grading scale of 1 to 6 that has little to do with Swiss practice. And a template knows nothing about the person. If you only swap names and dates, you get a certificate that experienced readers recognise as boilerplate straight away.

The assessment itself is harder than filling in the blanks. Every sentence has to fit the performance, and the gradations must not contradict each other. A certificate that calls conduct "always impeccable" and performance merely "adequate" needs a closing statement that fits both.

Create a certificate like this template in ZeugnyAI

In ZeugnyAI you enter the duties and rate each aspect on a scale of 1 to 5. ZeugnyAI turns that into a certificate with the structure of the template and wording that matches your ratings, in English, German, French or Italian. For any sentence, you can ask which rating it expresses.

Create a work certificate with ZeugnyAI →

The legal basis is explained in our guide to Swiss work certificates.

General information, not legal advice for individual cases.