← All modules
People & organisation

Reference letters

Reference letter, interim reference and employment confirmation in minutes: truthful, benevolent, free of hidden codes, in your company's standard layout.

3 typesreference letter, interim reference and employment confirmation under CO Art. 330a
0 hidden codesthe AI writes truthfully and benevolently, without ambiguous coded phrasing
1 layouttitle, order, closing formula and signature come from the company template, not the AI

A reference letter must be truthful and must not needlessly hinder the person's career (CO Art. 330a). Striking that balance takes time, especially after a difficult separation, and the usual reference language with its hidden gradations does not make it any easier.

HREasy guides you through the reference with a short assistant: type, duties, assessment of performance and conduct, special achievements. The suggestions come from employee development, the wording from the AI, and the layout from your fixed company template. The text remains editable before it is saved as Word in the personnel file.

Sound familiar?

  • The reference drags on for weeks because nobody finds the right wording.
  • Every reference looks different depending on who wrote it.
  • You are never sure whether a sentence is meant kindly or will be read as hidden criticism.
  • Duties and achievements from past years have to be pieced together from old e-mails.
Type of document

Reference letter, interim reference or employment confirmation

The final reference on leaving takes the leaving date from the personnel record. The interim reference asks for a reason, for example a change of line manager.

The employment confirmation under CO Art. 330a para. 2 only states the type and duration of employment, without assessment and without AI. Recipient and purpose are optional; the salary only appears if explicitly requested.

  • Reason for leaving not mentioned by default
  • Selectable: at own request, by mutual agreement, end of fixed term, termination by the employer
  • Trigger an interim reference directly from the termination assistant
Assessment

You assess, the AI writes

You rate performance and conduct on a scale from very good to unsatisfactory. The AI receives this assessment as an instruction for the wording, never as a grade that appears in the text.

Instructions to the AI: truth and goodwill, no hidden codes, no ambiguous sentences, nothing invented. Without an assessment, the overall tone stays factually positive and not exaggerated.

  • The AI suggests duties based on the job
  • Special achievements can be added freely
  • Signatory and their function selectable
From development

Suggestions from what was recorded during the year

If you run employee development in HREasy, you get a suggestion without AI, purely by taking over data: duties from the job and goals, performance from the rating of the last completed review, conduct from the assessment of social skills, achievements from goals reached, training and promotions.

Personality assessments, warnings, absences and reasons for termination are deliberately not taken over. The assessment was collected for development, not for a reference letter.

  • Purpose limitation under FADP Art. 6 para. 3
  • Goodwill under CO Art. 330a
  • Every suggestion can be changed
How it works

From request to finished reference

Whether the person requests an interim reference in the portal or you start it when they leave: the path is the same.

01

Request

Employees request an interim reference or employment confirmation in the portal; you accept with one click.

02

Details

Enter type, duties, assessment of performance and conduct and achievements in the assistant.

03

Write

The AI writes the text blocks; the company template sets title, order and closing.

04

Adjust

Edit the text in the editor; «Vorlage wiederherstellen» (restore template) resets it.

05

File

As Word with letterhead or by e-mail; the reference is kept in the personnel file.

How it connects

Everything works together

No module stands alone. What you enter here flows automatically to wherever it is needed, without entering it twice.

Features

What HREasy offers

Three document types

Reference letter on leaving, interim reference with a reason, and employment confirmation with type and duration only.

No coded language

The AI writes without hidden codes or ambiguous sentences, truthfully and benevolently.

Consistent layout

Title, personal details, order, leaving sentence, closing formula and signature are set by the template.

Suggestion from development

Duties, performance, conduct and achievements from reviews, goals and competencies, taken over without AI.

Reason for leaving only on request

The default is «do not mention». You choose any other wording deliberately.

Editable

The text can be changed freely and reset to the template at any time.

Word and e-mail

Export with company letterhead or send as a Word attachment to the person.

Request from the portal

Accepted requests generate the letter automatically and attach it to the event.

Employment confirmation without AI

Type and duration only; the salary only if explicitly requested.

In detail

What you should know

Truthful and benevolent at the same time

CO Art. 330a requires a reference covering the type and duration of employment as well as performance and conduct. It must be truthful and should not needlessly hinder the person's career. Coded gradations contradict this principle.

That is why the AI only receives the assessment as an instruction for the tone. A «satisfactory» is worded factually, not translated into a stock phrase that insiders read as a warning.

What does not belong in a reference

Personality assessments were collected with consent for development purposes. Using them for a reference breaches purpose limitation. Warnings, absences and reasons for termination have no place in a benevolent reference either.

HREasy therefore never takes this data into the suggestion. What appears in the reference comes from ratings, goals, competencies and recorded achievements, and from your own input.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a right to a reference letter?

Yes, employees can request a reference at any time (CO Art. 330a). On special request it is limited to type and duration; that is the employment confirmation.

Does HREasy use the usual coded reference language?

No, no hidden codes. The wording is clear, truthful and benevolent.

Can I change the text?

Yes, freely. «Vorlage wiederherstellen» (restore template) resets it to the generated version.

Is the reason for leaving mentioned?

Not by default. You can choose it deliberately, for example «at own request» or «by mutual agreement».

Where do the suggestions on performance and conduct come from?

From the rating of the last completed performance review and the assessment of social skills, provided employee development is run in HREasy.

More modules

People & organisationEmployees & personnel fileOne file per person: master data, every event from hiring to departure and all documents, guided by an assistant that backs every field with the CO and the CEA.People & organisationEmployment contracts & templatesHave the AI draft contracts or fill them from templates, check external contracts against the CO, Labour Act and CEA, and track the signed copy coming back in the file.People & organisationDocuments & regulationsAn archive with folders, tags, permissions and versions. The AI checks regulations against the CO and CEA, and everything HREasy creates is filed automatically.People & organisationOrganisation chart & locationsThe organisation chart draws itself from your hierarchy: company, business units, divisions and teams with management, staff positions and contacts, searchable and printable.Time & absenceTime tracking & overtimeWorking time accurate to the minute, overtime and excess hours kept strictly apart, projects and work schedules included, checked against the Labour Act.Time & absenceHolidays & absencesHoliday requests, pro rata balances, cantonal public holidays and every type of absence in one place, with automatic effect on time balance and pay.Time & absenceSickness & accidentReport sickness and accidents digitally, upload the medical certificate, keep UVG and daily sickness benefit deadlines in view, with a direct effect on time balance and pay.Time & absenceExpensesPhotograph receipts, check them against your regulations, approve them and pass them into payroll, with VAT split, foreign currency and detection of duplicate receipts.PayrollPayrollSwiss payroll with AHV, ALV, BVG, UVG, KTG, FAK and withholding tax, built from the same data as time tracking, absences and expenses.Talent & developmentRecruitingWrite job ads with AI, pre-screen applications against each requirement, schedule interviews and keep a talent pool that complies with Swiss data protection law.Talent & developmentEmployee development & reviewsAppraisals, goals, competency profiles, performance review and assessment in one place, with the year-end result filed straight in the personnel file.AI assistantHR CopilotYour AI assistant that knows your company data, answers questions on Swiss employment law and gets things done directly in the system, from a contract draft to an absence.AI assistantLegal questions & knowledge baseAnswers on the Code of Obligations, the Labour Act and collective agreements from a curated knowledge base, with official sources, a catalogue of collective agreements and verified minimum wages.Management & operationsReporting & key figuresHours, absences, expenses and headcount analysed, drillable down to the individual person and exportable as Excel, PDF or PowerPoint.Management & operationsDashboard & set-upWhat needs your attention today: key figures, alerts and open tasks on one page, plus a guided company set-up.Management & operationsRoles, data protection & securityFour clear roles, restriction to locations, encrypted personnel data and a separate database for every company.For employeesEmployee portal & appClock in, request holidays, report sickness, photograph expense receipts, fetch payslips: employees take care of their own matters.

Ready to automate reference letters?

Set up in 5 minutes, no HR knowledge needed. The agent takes care of the rest.

Request trial access now