Since you are a small company, it means that it is likely you can fit all in a room with the CEO and politely express your points of view. The CEO might act on them, or might not. If they do not, then there is little you can do (see the other answers, and the several comments). However, the employees-management relationship will take a hit, which will be difficult to heal.

On the other side, rest assured that the CEO did not come to you with the information of the relocation just because they do not want to upset you, or because they value your input much. The employees are NOT the first people to find out about the important changes in the company. They are usually the last, after the heavy work was already done.

It means that the CEO already solved most of the problems for moving. It is possible that the new offices are already mostly finished to be used. Also, I am 99% sure that they took into consideration that a lot of people would leave the company, and accepted that loss. The CEO already has a strategy for catching up and recovering.

If you search the internet carefully, you will see that sudden relocations have happened before, and the CEO's did not change their minds just because the employees were unhappy.

And please do not forget that the CEO's reasons for moving might be totally different compared to the ones advertised. In that case, your chances of winning the negotiation are slim to none.

If I were now in your situation, I would surely update my CV, and most likely get ready to switch companies (if the commute is not a realistic option). If you wait until the moving is inevitable, you make your life less funny - because many of your colleagues will be hunting the same jobs that you would be hunting.

In situations like this, "team" and "teamwork" tend to be volatile terms. Also, you need to decide which team is more important: the team of your CEO, or the team waiting for food at home?

I wish you all good luck navigating this situation, to a positive outcome.

I just noticed one detail I missed before:

• have an office that is better structured for collaboration

While a few businesses can take advantage from special in-office (face-to-face) collaboration, most businesses can do collaboration in any office. It was proven recently (2020-2022) that collaboration can work even without an office. People physically located in various places on Earth can connect and collaborate very well.

So if the CEO moves the business to another city for "collaboration" reasons, then it is quite likely the CEO has his own "collaboration" to do in that city. Whatever that means.

^{One type of business where face to face collaboration might be crucial is advertising (especially when the clients are involved). Medical facilities too. And perhaps a few others.}

Moving locations is a fact of (corporate) life and there isn't whole lot you can do about it.

An office move is a significant investment in terms of money, disruption, and temporary loss of productivity. So chances are that your company is not doing this on a whim but has thought this through carefully.

Every move will come with some amount of unhappiness and attrition. That is expected and your company will have factored in some of this into the decision.

Your best shot here would to be present a "rational" (not emotional) argument that points towards a mistake in their impact assessment.

and slightly more than 40% of the employees are unhappy about this

Slightly over 40% may be a point of leverage here. However it's not clear how you got this data and what specifically "unhappy" means. There is a big difference between "being grumpy for a week and then settling in" vs "handing in your notice". If you can show that there is a significant attrition risk ("definitely will quit", "actively looking for a new job" etc.) for more than 10% of the workforce and that choosing an alternative location would reduce this significantly (say to less than 5%) then you might have a leg to stand on.

If a direct discussion with your CEO doesn't produce any results, there's a couple of avenues that could be worth exploring, in order to understand your rights under Swiss employment law and how you can oppose or mitigate the impact of moving office.

1. Works Council (or Employee Representative Body). If your company has over 50 employees, you can start a Works Council to put forward your concerns and negotiate with the management.
2. Allow a mediation agency to help with your dispute and find a way that can benefit both parties
3. Labor Courts. You'll probably need some assistance here, but Swiss Labor Courts can arbitrate in situations where employees are in conflict with their management.

Worker representation and workplace conflicts in Switzerland

Is it possible that this represents a modification of your contract?

I'd be interested if this constitutes a modification of your employment contract - which in Switzerland it looks like you'd need to be consulted on and agree to, or be terminated, but only after an extensive consultation process with severance. My contract in the Netherlands states working locations, with addresses listed.

I'd imagine it sort of depends on how far the change is - you could see a local move of offices being something a judge would not feel represented a substantial change, but, say, an extra 45 minutes/1 hour commute each way would be a major alteration.

I don't know enough about swiss law, but this would be what I'd look at, as a group.

It's worth noting that the process has two possible outcomes - a negotiated contract, or termination, and I'd enter the process with a variety of possible solutions in mind.

For example, would extra days working from home help compensate for this? Additional travel allowance? It is unlikely to get the office moving reversed, but it is possible, probably, to win some reasonable concessions in the process. It is worth noting that doing individualized consultation and negotiation with all of their employees, and paying severance to those who can't reach an accord with the company, is a substantial burden for a small business. You probably can't reverse the decision, but it seems like you'd have some leverage.

I do not know the Swiss work law, but I think it is similar to the German one.

Then the boss, even if you are a small company, probably can not fire you really easily.

I think, that many of you will resign after that, is more like an intended side-effect.

The decision to move is a decision on many reasons, and that it might be also a "re-vitalization", "neustrukturierung" :-) of you, is surely among the reasons.

You might ask a work lawyer (do you have legal insurance?), what to do. Very likely, that is not so easy, that he simply declares, from tomorrow either you are working in the Antarctica, or you are fired. However, going into a legal battle while you are employed, is probably not a good idea.

You might provide some pressure, like growing and having multiple offices for a while. Or get some delay. You do it better if you do it in a network.

That’s a tricky situation. Try collecting feedback from your team and share it with the CEO. Show how a closer location could meet the same goals while keeping employees happier and more productive.