They will screw you over at every opportunity they get. Here is some info on their contract, and some negotiating advice.
Some specifics in their contract:
- Instead of paying you a fixed salary, they'll pay you 70% fixed, and 30% "billing bonus" which you only get when you're working for a client. In-house work, vacation, illness, etc. ? No billing bonus. They argue that this is to keep consultants in house in between gigs, but it's a lie. They'll fire you at the drop of a hat.
- If they fire you, they shall pay for one month from the day of firing, rather than one month + till the end of the month, which is standard.
- They offer 4 weeks of vacation instead of the 5 that nearly any other competitor does.
- They own everything you develop on your own time. This is likely inapplicable, but still.
And now some negotiation advice:
They have a huge turnover with no long term prospects, so don't think you'll stay there. Make sure you know what your mission is, because that's what you want.
- They shall try to pay you as low as they can, regardless of market prices, so make sure to know what you're worth in Switzerland before you talk.
- They shall tell you that the client that you want is in a hurry. This means "sign now, or you'll lose the gig". This is a lie, so take your time.
- When you finally see the contract, they'll tell you "all this is non-negotiable, and you need to sign it for tomorrow". So all the crappy clauses(As mentioned above, I'm sure there are more) are difficult to remove. So once you've got the contract, you actually have one more round of salary negotiation: Say "ok, but you'll need to pay me more because of these clauses".
Hit them where it hurts!
