Up to 450 Full-Time Jobs at Sunrise Are at Risk, While Shop Workers and Apprentices Are Shielded

Sunrise, the Swiss telecoms group, is evaluating the loss of up to 450 full-time positions as part of a multi-year overhaul of how it runs the business. Measured against a workforce of around 2,900 full-time positions, that is roughly one job in six. Nothing has been decided, and no one has been given notice. Staff in shops, sales and customer service are to be largely exempt, and apprentices will not be affected at all. If you work in a head office, network, IT or support role at Sunrise, this is the moment to learn what Swiss law and your collective agreement actually give you. At Metaintro we look past the headline to the rulebooks that decide what happens next, the statute, the union contract and the jobless insurance pages, because that is where a worker's real options are written down.

What Exactly Is Sunrise Planning?

A review first, cuts later. The company is examining a comprehensive realignment of its operating model, aimed at efficiency, customer experience and faster product launches. In a first phase it will check supplier contracts and evaluate a potential reduction of up to 450 full-time positions.

The wording matters for anyone reading it from inside the company. The release describes a transformation still under examination, with further details to follow once the evaluation is complete. It does not name departments, sites or a savings target.

Management has kept the savings figure private. The company declined to put a number on the expected savings because the evaluation is not finished. The broader goal is substantial savings in the medium term through a lower structural cost base.

Which Sunrise Workers Are Most Exposed, and Who Is Protected?

The exempt groups are clearer than the exposed ones. Employees in shops, sales and customer service are to be largely spared, and apprentices are fully excluded from any cut.

Everyone else sits inside the review. All business areas are in focus for the new operating model, including customer facing and internal processes and the systems behind them. That points toward office based work, such as finance, marketing, product, IT operations, network planning and support functions, even though the company has not published a list.

Automation is part of the picture. The broad use of artificial intelligence and automation is also being evaluated, though the company rejects any simple formula linking new technology to a fixed number of lost jobs. The race to hire a telecom AI chief shows how seriously operators now take AI.

Why Is This the Second Round of Cuts This Year?

Because the first one only just finished. Sunrise cut 147 jobs in a round announced at the start of the year and completed in the summer. That round had originally been planned at 190 positions, and the dismissals included a number of managers.

The two rounds together are large. With the new plan, total cuts could reach up to 600 posts. The earlier round alone was expected to lower staff costs by around 5%.

The top team has been changing at the same time. The chief financial officer was due to step down by the end of August, and a new CFO was named in July.

The union reaction has been sharp. syndicom, the media and communications union that holds the collective agreement at Sunrise, has condemned the plan and asked the company to stop it, arguing that a second major cut within a few months leaves the whole workforce in a permanent state of emergency.

The cuts are a proposal, not a notice. Under Swiss law the staff get to argue for fewer redundancies before the employer decides.

What Does Swiss Law Require Before Anyone Is Let Go?

A formal consultation, and it comes before the decision. The Swiss Code of Obligations treats notices given within 30 days for reasons unrelated to the workers themselves as a mass redundancy once they reach at least 30 employees in a business that normally employs at least 300.

An employer planning a mass redundancy must consult the body that represents the employees, and give it a real chance to propose ways to avoid the cuts or limit their number and soften their consequences. The employer must also put in writing:

• the reasons for the mass redundancies
• the number of employees to be given notice
• the number of employees normally employed
• the period in which the notices are planned

A copy of that information goes to the cantonal employment office. Once the consultation ends, the employer notifies that office in writing with the results, and the office looks for solutions to the problems the redundancies create.

The timing rule protects people who are let go. A job ended as part of a mass redundancy finishes no earlier than 30 days after the notification to the cantonal office, unless a longer notice period applies. A notice given without the required consultation is unlawful, and compensation for that breach is capped at two months' salary.

Sunrise has placed this step on the calendar. It will hold the consultation with the employee representatives and syndicom in the fourth quarter, as soon as the information the law requires is ready.

Does Sunrise Have to Offer a Social Plan?

Yes, and one already exists. The Code of Obligations requires an employer with at least 250 employees that intends to make at least 30 people redundant within 30 days to negotiate a social plan. Redundancies spread over a longer period but based on the same decision are counted together.

A social plan is the agreement that sets out how redundancies will be avoided, reduced and cushioned, and it must not put the company's survival at risk. If the two sides cannot agree, an arbitral tribunal is appointed and issues a binding plan.

At Sunrise, the negotiation is already written into the contract. The collective agreement between Sunrise and syndicom commits both parties to early social plan talks whenever the company intends to dismiss at least 30 employees within 30 days. A social plan agreed between the social partners took effect together with the agreement, and it governs how the money is used, for example on job placement, retraining and severance pay.

The union's weight in that process is spelled out too. For a mass redundancy, both syndicom and the staff council hold the right to be heard and to make proposals before the employer decides, and on the legal social plan syndicom holds a right of joint decision.

How Much Notice Would a Sunrise Employee Get?

More than the legal minimum, especially with long service. Under the collective agreement, notice after probation is 2 months in the first year of service and 3 months from the second year, always to the end of a month.

Older staff with long tenure get more. From the 10th year of service combined with a completed 50th year of age, the notice period rises to 5 months. Members of the syndicom company board or of the staff council also carry a five month notice period, and can only be dismissed on limited grounds.

Compare that with the default in the statute. The Code of Obligations sets notice at one month in the first year of service, two months from the second to the ninth year and three months after that. If you are covered by the agreement, the union terms are the ones to check.

Not everyone is covered. The agreement runs from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028 and applies to all Sunrise employees except the executive committee, roles from level 5 upward, people working under eight hours a week on average and short fixed term contracts. Senior managers should read their individual contract, because the union terms may not apply to them.

If you work at Sunrise with long service, check your tenure and age now, because the union contract can stretch notice to five months.

What Can Laid Off Workers Claim From Swiss Unemployment Insurance?

A share of their insured salary, if they meet the contribution rule. To qualify you must prove you paid contributions for at least 12 months during the past 2 years, and you must be willing and able to take a suitable job.

The rate depends on your situation. The daily allowance is 80% of the insured salary if you support children under 25, if your insured salary is not more than CHF 3,797, or if you draw a disability benefit for a disability level of at least 40%. In all other cases it is 70% of the insured salary.

A few practical rules catch people out. Payment starts after a standard waiting period of 5 days of monitored unemployment, allowances are paid for five days of each week, and claims not submitted within 3 months expire. The unemployment fund needs your employer's certificates covering the last two years, so ask HR for them as soon as notice is confirmed.

Taking a lower paid job while you search does not have to cost you. If you earn less than your unemployment benefit in a temporary role, the insurance makes a compensation payment for at least 12 months.

Is Sunrise Still Hiring While It Cuts?

Yes, mostly in the areas it says it will protect. At the time of writing, its careers site listed 36 open roles, and 21 of them were apprenticeships. The same search showed 6 roles in Sunrise shops, 3 in network and engineering, 2 in corporate functions and 2 in customer success.

Several of the apprenticeship postings are for the 2027 intake. They include IT platform development and commercial training in marketing and communication, plus retail apprenticeships in shops from Uster and Zug to Luzern, Schaffhausen and Zurich Bahnhofstrasse. The company pitches its programme as a path into technology, people facing and creative work, with extra holiday and discounts from day one.

That mix tells you where the company still sees its future workforce. Frontline selling and young trainees are being protected, and the review is focused on the layers behind them. For a school leaver, a Sunrise apprenticeship remains a live option. For an experienced head office worker, the listings offer little cover.

What Pay Floor Does the Union Contract Set?

A minimum annual salary of CHF 59'000 gross for employees covered by the agreement, which can only be undercut in justified individual cases and does not apply to apprentices.

That floor matters for anyone weighing a move to another operator or into a different industry. It sets a reference point when you compare offers, and it shapes the insured salary on which unemployment pay is calculated. Keep your last six months of payslips, since the benefit level depends mainly on the salary you received on average over the last 6 months, or the last 12 if that is better for you.

What This Means for Sunrise Staff, and What Should You Do Next?

Our view is that Sunrise employees have more time and more leverage than the headline suggests, and they should use both. The cut is still a proposal, the consultation has not started, and the contract gives syndicom a formal voice before any final decision. The most useful thing an office based employee can do in the next few weeks is prepare, not panic.

Here is how we would act on it:

• Office, IT and network staff. Work out your own notice period under the agreement, based on your years of service and age. If you are near the ten year and fifty year mark, that detail may add months of pay.
• Everyone in scope. Send proposals through the staff council or syndicom during the consultation. The law requires the company to hear ideas on limiting the number of cuts, such as internal moves, reduced hours or voluntary exits.
• If you receive notice. Register with the regional employment centre quickly, gather two years of employer certificates, and file your claim well inside the three month window.
• Job hunters from outside. Watch Swiss operators and IT service firms that may pick up experienced telecom staff, and note that automation roles are the growth side of this same shift, a trend visible in Germany's push on AI too.

The one thing not to do is treat the number as final. A potential reduction of up to 450 full-time positions is a ceiling set before the consultation, and the process that follows exists precisely so that workers can push it down.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs is Sunrise cutting?

A: Sunrise is evaluating the loss of up to 450 full-time positions, with shop, sales and customer service staff largely exempt and apprentices fully excluded. No final decision will come before the consultation with the staff council and syndicom.

Q: When will Sunrise employees know if they are affected?

A: Not before the consultation, which the company has scheduled for the fourth quarter. Any job ended in a mass redundancy runs until at least 30 days after the notification to the cantonal employment office, or longer where the notice period requires it.

Q: How much unemployment pay do laid off workers get in Switzerland?

A: The daily allowance is 70% of the insured salary, rising to 80% for people with children under 25, a low insured salary or a qualifying disability benefit, provided they paid contributions for at least 12 months in the past two years.

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