WERKARA
Articles › Home vs. nearby

Working from home vs. tasks nearby.

Tasks at other people’s homes pay CHF 25–45 an hour, desk work from your own home CHF 15–35. Travel time, odd hours, insurance and repeat clients decide which is better for you — a calculator shows it for your week.

Published Last updated 5 min read
Painting of a young woman with headphones working at a laptop by a tall window, and through the window a young man carrying shopping bags up the steps of the house opposite
Same hour, same street: one earns at the desk, one on the stairs.
Before we start · In plain words

Nearby pays more per hour. Home pays for odd hours. Travel time decides between them.

A task at someone’s home around the corner pays CHF 25–45 an hour; work from your own desk pays CHF 15–35, because the whole world competes for it. But nearby tasks cost travel and fixed hours. This page puts both on one scale, with a calculator for your week.

Home
Online and desk tasksTutoring by video, translation, writing, data entry, customer chat, surveys. Pay CHF 15–35 an hour. Zero travel, any hour of the day, global competition — which is why the rate is lower.
Nearby
Tasks at other people’s homesCleaning, garden, moving, assembly, babysitting, dog walking. Pay CHF 25–45 an hour. Travel, fixed hours, a limited radius — and no competition from the other side of the world.
Both
The combination most people end up withOne regular nearby slot for the money, one home task for the flexible hours. The calculator below shows which pays more for your week.
01 · Three numbers

The rates, and the twenty minutes.

CHF 25–45
an hour for a task at someone’s home nearby — cleaning, garden, moving, repairs
knows · myky [1]
CHF 15–35
an hour for work you can do from your own desk — online tutoring, writing, data entry, surveys, support
Nachhilfe · Lohncheck [3]
≈ 20 min
is the travel time that decides. Beyond that, a nearby task loses the whole advantage of its higher rate
calculated [1]
02 · Which pays more for your week?

Set the rates and the travel time.

The calculator counts travel as unpaid and assumes nearby jobs of about two hours each.

03 · Six things that tip the scale

Beyond the hourly rate.

  • Travel is unpaid, so count itA CHF 35 task that takes 25 minutes to reach and 25 to come back is a 2-hour job for 3 hours of your Saturday: CHF 23 an hour in reality. Tasks within 10–15 minutes keep their rate.
  • Home tasks fill odd hoursAn hour of online tutoring at 21:00 or a translation on Sunday morning fits where no nearby task would. If your free time is scattered, home wins even at a lower rate.
  • Home tasks are usually self-employedMost desk work on the side is invoiced, not paid as a wage: you register with the Ausgleichskasse above CHF 2 500 a year and nobody insures you. Nearby household tasks are often employed — the family deducts AHV and insures you. [7]
  • Deductions: the flat 20 % covers bothThe tax office does not care where you worked: the flat side-job deduction of 20 % (CHF 800–2 400) applies to an employed side income either way. A separate home-office deduction is only possible under strict cantonal conditions — rarely for a side job. [5] [6]
  • Nearby tasks bring repeat clientsA family you clean for recommends you to the family next door. An online survey never does. Local work compounds; most desk tasks do not.
  • Nearby means your own neighbourhood, not your cityPick the three or four streets around you. On Werkara, set the radius small. A 2-km radius in a Swiss town holds more households than you can serve.

What each nearby task pays is in Weekend side jobs: 10 tasks you can offer now; the money after AHV and tax in How much you can really earn.

04 · Questions people ask

Short answers.

Is it better to earn from home or with tasks nearby?

Per hour, tasks at other people’s homes pay more (CHF 25–45 against CHF 15–35 for desk work) — as long as travel stays under about 20 minutes. Home tasks win when your free time is scattered or late in the evening. Most people combine one regular nearby slot with a flexible home task.

What can I earn from home in Switzerland?

Online tutoring CHF 25–40 a lesson, translation and writing CHF 25–35 an hour for experienced people, data entry, support chat and surveys CHF 15–25. Rates are lower than for local tasks because the competition is worldwide.

Can I deduct my home office for a side job?

Rarely. A home-office deduction needs a separate room used mainly for work and, in most cantons, a substantial share of your work done at home. For a side job the flat 20 % deduction (min. CHF 800, max. CHF 2 400) is what applies.

Is travel time to a task paid?

Not unless you agree it. Price nearby tasks so that travel is covered — or keep the radius small enough that it does not matter.

Who insures me when I work from home?

Nobody automatically: desk work on the side is usually self-employed. Keep accident cover in your health insurance. When a family employs you nearby, it insures you against accidents at work.

Painting of a designer working at a drawing tablet in a sunny studio

Every task. One app.

Werkara connects people who need help around the house with verified taskers nearby. Register in a few minutes and get your first task this week.

Become a tasker
References

Where the rules come from.

  1. [1]
    knows.com — Stundenlohn Schweiz — local hands-on tasks CHF 25–50 an hour. www.knows.com
  2. [2]
    myky — Stundenlohn Reinigungskräfte (March 2026) — CHF 29–35 gross. www.myky.ch
  3. [3]
    Nachhilfe-Vergleich Schweiz — Kosten Nachhilfe — online and in-person tutoring prices. nachhilfe-vergleich-schweiz.ch
  4. [4]
    Lohncheck — Student hourly rates — CHF 22–35 depending on region. lohncheck.ch
  5. [5]
    Pfeffersack — Homeoffice-Pauschale Schweiz 2026 — when a home office is deductible; federal flat rate 3 % of net salary (min. CHF 2 000, max. CHF 4 000). pfeffersack.ch
  6. [6]
    Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) — Berufskosten bei Nebenerwerb — flat 20 % deduction (min. CHF 800, max. CHF 2 400) covers travel and small costs of a side job. www.estv2.admin.ch
  7. [7]
    Suva — BU/NBU — accidents on the way to work are insured; under 8 h a week via the job (BU), at home via health insurance. www.suva.ch
  8. [8]
    Swiss Confederation — Labour Act (ArG), Art. 2 — private households are outside the Labour Act. www.fedlex.admin.ch
  9. [9]
    Federal Statistical Office (BFS) — Mehrfachbeschäftigung — 7.7 % of employed people hold a second job. www.bfs.admin.ch

Checked against the sources above on 5 October 2026; figures are for 2026 and change each January. The “last updated” date at the top changes whenever a figure is refreshed. Rates are market observations; the calculator is a model, not a quote. This page is general information, not tax advice.