Kompassby ZeugnisPilotThe new standard for modern Swiss employment references.
Kompass is the methodology behind ZeugnisPilot: structured performance areas, observable behaviour, clear language without hidden codes. Benevolent yet truthful — the benchmark for modern employment references in Switzerland.
- Clear
- Fair
- Legally sound
- Without hidden codes
Why Kompass is needed
Swiss employment references are legally significant, administratively burdensome — and often lacking in substantive content. Secret codes, stock phrases and vague judgements have shaped the picture for decades. Anyone writing a reference falls back on text modules. Anyone reading one searches between the lines for hidden messages. Both sides lose time — and employees lose clarity about what was actually said about them.
The Kompass Standard does not solve this with even more templates, but with a better process: structured performance areas, observable evidence, clear language, fully compliant with Art. 330a CO. The result is a document that HR professionals, managers and employees alike understand without a decoder lens.
The five performance areas
Instead of free prose, Kompass uses a consistent structure. Every reference assesses the same five areas — comparable, verifiable, transparent.
1. Professional contribution
What did the person concretely contribute professionally? Which tasks were independently owned? Backed by observable results, not by stock phrases.
2. Execution & reliability
How were tasks carried out? Pace, diligence, punctuality, quality. Kompass describes this through concrete behavioural examples.
3. Collaboration & impact
How does the person come across in the team, towards superiors, customers, stakeholders? Clearly, without hidden codes such as "made consistent efforts".
4. Learning & adaptation
How does the person handle new requirements, feedback and changes? Evidence shows the learning curve and adaptability.
5. Leadership & development
Where relevant: how does the person lead others? Coaching impact, development of employees, responsibility as team lead. Optional, depending on the role.
The six principles
Observable behaviour instead of stock phrases
Instead of "demonstrated strong social skills", Kompass describes concrete situations: what the person did, in which context, with what impact.
No hidden codes
Ambiguous wording such as "made consistent efforts" or "showed an understanding of his duties" is forbidden in the Kompass Standard. Judgements are made transparent.
Duty of truth and benevolence
Both duties belong together. Kompass is worded benevolently, without sugar-coating — and truthfully, without being hurtful.
Structured and verifiable
Every Kompass piece of evidence follows the pattern Context → Behaviour → Impact. Statements are thus traceable and provable in case of dispute.
No false precision
Kompass uses no stars, percentages, radar charts or progress bars. Assessments are anchored in language — not disguised numerically.
Orientation instead of phrase soup
Anyone reading Kompass knows by the end what the person can actually do and where they fit. That is exactly what an employment reference is for.
Observable behaviour — what that means in concrete terms
Perhaps the most important principle of Kompass is observable behaviour instead of stock phrases. A statement like "demonstrated strong social skills" says nothing about what the person actually did. Kompass formulates such statements based on concrete situations.
Before (classic, with code risk)
"Ms Muster demonstrated strong social skills and the ability to work in a team in her role. She was always correct towards superiors and colleagues."
After (Kompass Standard)
"Ms Muster ran weekly alignment sessions with the five-member project team and three external stakeholders during the migration of the CRM system. She independently mediated conflicts between the business unit and IT — the migration went into production without any open escalations."
The second text is not longer by chance: it contains context, observable behaviour and demonstrable impact. Anyone reading it knows what the person can do. Anyone writing it can prove it in court.
What Kompass deliberately does not do
Modernisation does not mean reinventing everything. Kompass deliberately forgoes some trends that are widespread in other HR tools:
- No stars, no points, no percentages. Employees are not hotel rooms. Assessments are anchored in language.
- No radar charts or progress bars. Visual false precision masks substantive content.
- No numeric scales in the finished document. The five-grade scale under Art. 330a CO is reflected through its standard formulations, not through digits.
- No emojis, no icons in body text, no marketing speak. An employment reference is a legal document, not a pitch deck.
How the generator implements Kompass technically
The ZeugnisPilot wizard guides you through the Kompass methodology step by step, without you having to know the manual. For each performance area it asks for observable behaviour — the AI prompt for text generation contains the Kompass principles as a binding rule. In the compliance check, the draft is then checked again against typical code patterns. If the software finds, for example, "made consistent efforts", it suggests a concrete behavioural description.
The AI prompt itself clearly specifies: no secret codes, no double meanings, no stock phrases, but Swiss High German ("ss" instead of "sz"), benevolent wording in line with Art. 330a CO and transparent assessment. So every initial draft is already Kompass-compliant — the HR responsibility for the final approval naturally remains with you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kompass its own legal standard?
How does Kompass differ from classic Swiss employment references?
Do HR professionals still understand Kompass references?
What does "Context — Behaviour — Impact" mean?
Does Kompass forbid the Swiss grading scale?
How is Kompass implemented in the generator?
Is Kompass also available as a whitepaper?
The Kompass Standard as a complete paper
Methodology, five performance areas, status verbal scale, evidence-based design, sample reference. For HR professionals, executive management and legal departments who want to introduce the standard internally.
Try out Kompass in your own reference
Start for free in the generator — the wizard automatically guides you through all five performance areas.