The Resilient Entrepreneur, Edition #84
Hi there
I hope you had a great week!
Here are the topics in today's edition:
- Sick Leave Uncovered: The Costs You See and the Benefits You Don’t
- Why Incorporating a Company in Switzerland Feels Like the Stone Age
Please reach out if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for articles!
Talk soon 👋
Tom
KickKerK
LEADERSHIP FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Sick Leave Uncovered: The Costs You See and the Benefits You Don’t
Sick leave exposes the tension between finance and solidarity. But supporting your colleagues in tough times pays off more than you think.
If you’re an employee and you don’t feel well, you can call in to report sick. The same applies if adversity strikes and you have an accident to recover from.
At least that’s the case in Switzerland, my home country. You still get paid when you’re sick or injured.
If your absence is less than a month, your company will cover the costs. If it is more than a month, the social security insurance will take over.
Sounds easy? Well, it isn’t. Let’s look at some real-life examples from Yonder, the company I co-founded.
Some Examples
A Mother Who Died
A few months ago, the mother of one of our team members died. The death came as a surprise, leaving the surviving father alone in a large house far away.
Taking care of the surviving father took quite some time for our team member, and this duty came on top of the sadness about the loss.
Of course, our colleague departed for his father’s house immediately, taking the necessary time to mourn and to sort things out. Of course, the employment continued, and the salary was paid despite the absence. But what happened to the unfinished work? All non-urgent tasks were delayed, and the team colleagues took over the urgent tasks in addition to their own tasks.
Shoulder Surgery
Recently, another team member was informed by his doctor that he needs urgent shoulder surgery to fix some long-term damage. In contrast to the death example above, he had a few days’ notice to sort things out.
Once the surgery was over, our colleague had to keep his arm completely still for six weeks.
In this case, too, employment continued, and his salary was paid despite his absence. The first month was covered by our company. After this period, the social security insurance took over.
What about the work that was left behind? Same principle as for the death example: Non-urgent tasks were delayed, and the team colleagues took over the urgent tasks on top of their own work.
Serious Brain Disease
A few years back, a good friend and now one of our colleagues suffered serious brain disease and was on sick leave for several months. That was before he was employed at our company.
When he got better, he needed a place for reintegration. His old company wasn’t supportive. So he called me and asked if we would have an opportunity. We did. We were a young company at the time and could use whatever help we could get.
At first, he could only work a couple of hours per day. Gradually, his health improved, and his workload increased. Up to the point when he fully recovered from his sickness, and we could employ him as a full-time member of our team. Five years later, he is still with us and serving in an executive role.
In this example, it wasn’t us paying the salary for the colleague in recovery. The social security insurance covered the salary during his reintegration.
Consequences for Companies
Colleagues in illness and recovery are a burden for teams, especially in a small company: Work needs to be redistributed to team members on top of their own burden, often at the worst possible times.
Illness and recovery are a burden for a company’s finances, too: Even if you live in a country where social security insurance covers at least some of the costs, the first few weeks are always at the company’s expense. But from the examples above, it’s a give and take: From our own experience, our company didn’t just bear the costs for sick and recovering colleagues, we could also take advantage of the work of a colleague in recovery at no cost.
But there are more important things than finances. In Switzerland, we have an unofficial motto: One for all, all for one. That’s true for all the health hardships you encounter in a company – it’s better to bear some additional work and cost than to leave your colleagues in the rain in difficult times. You never know when it will be your turn.
LIFE HACKS FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Why Incorporating a Company in Switzerland Feels Like the Stone Age
Incorporating a company in Switzerland feels outdated, slow, and costly. Why we should be inspired by progressive countries such as Estonia
Founding and growing a company is hard. Finding investment for your startup is even harder. But once you’re there, another administrative challenge awaits: You will need to get the funding registered and your company incorporated.
Sounds easy? At least in Switzerland, my home country, it is not so. It is a costly, time-consuming, and paper-based process.
I know from first-hand experience as the Founder & CEO of Yonder, a B2B SaaS company. Let’s dive into the details.
The Agony, In 4 Acts
Capital Deposit Accounts
You finally received all the commitments from your investors, and now you can proceed with the closing of your financing round.
It starts with the investors wiring their pledged amounts. It doesn’t work by them just sending the money to your company account. It needs to go through a capital deposit account—a special type of account designed to prevent the investment money from being spent before the round is closed.
Not a bad thing, but do we really need setup and balancing costs of hundreds of dollars for such an account? Is it really not possible to show the balance of the capital deposit account in your eBanking app? In our last financing round, I had to call my bank every day to check which investors had sent their money and which ones I needed to follow up with.
Public Deed
Once the capital is neatly deposited in your capital deposit account, you’re ready for the next step.
If you think the next step is to work out an investment agreement and a shareholder’s agreement, you’re wrong. That’s a precondition for the administrative agony to start at all.
Now you need to prepare a public deed to let the world know you closed your financing round. That’s another piece of paper that you need a registered notary to prepare. And yes, you will have to sign it with a pen. Under the watching eyes of the registered notary. In return, you’ll get a fat invoice and a sealed and laced-up version of the document.
Registration with the Commercial Register
On to the next hurdle. With the copy of the public deed, you can register your capital increase with the commercial register. It’s a formality, but an important one: Before your capital increase is registered with the commercial register, you cannot release the raised money from the capital deposit account to your company account.
And because the commercial register authority doesn’t have the same sense of urgency as a startup in the funding phase, it can very well take a couple of weeks before you receive your certified excerpt of the commercial register. On paper, that is.
Issue Levy Tax
Do you think you’re done now? Not quite. There is a last step to take. Your government expects you to send 1% of the raised money to them, in the form of an issue levy tax. Within 30 days from registration with the commercial register.
That’s your homeland’s way of saying thanks for all your hard work and for creating jobs.
A Blueprint for A Modern Solution
What I described above is the reality in a developed, prosperous European country in 2025. It reads more like colonial red tape from the 1960s, doesn’t it?
I can buy a car, pay by credit card, and walk up to my new car that already sports the new license plates. The purchase is a fully digital process, including proof of insurance and proof of identity. Why does this not work with a capital increase?
I can buy a holiday home at the other end of the country without seeing a notary. Sending an apostille, the mortgage confirmation from my bank, and wiring the money is enough. The next step is to get the key from the real estate agent. Why does this not work with a capital increase?
In Switzerland, we tend to explain to the world why our processes make sense and why they must stay the way they are. Hey, we’re a successful country, so why change?
That’s dangerous. Other countries move much faster with process digitization. Think of Estonia, the digital frontrunner among European countries.
Maybe we should just copy-paste their digital incorporation processes.
About Me
Growing a company 📈 in uncertain times 🔥🧨 is like running a marathon — it demands grit, strategy, and resilience.
As a tech entrepreneur 💻, active reserve officer 🪖, and father of three 👩👦👦, I share practical insights and write about entrepreneurship, leadership, and crisis management.
When I’m not solving problems, I recharge and find inspiration in the breathtaking mountains 🏔 around Zermatt 🇨🇭.
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