Time Tracking in Switzerland: What Is Mandatory and What the Labour Inspectorate Checks

Yes, recording working time is mandatory in Switzerland. Employers must record, for every employee covered by the Labour Act, daily and weekly working time including its timing, compensatory and excess hours, and breaks of half an hour or more, and keep these records for at least five years (Art. 46 ArG, Art. 73 ArGV 1). Relief exists only under strict conditions, as simplified recording under Art. 73b ArGV 1 or as a waiver based on a collective labour agreement under Art. 73a ArGV 1.

In this article you will learn exactly what must be recorded, which of the three variants applies to whom, who does not have to record at all and what the cantonal labour inspectorate looks at during an inspection.

The legal basis

The obligation is set out in Art. 46 of the Labour Act (ArG). The employer must keep records or other documents showing the information needed to enforce the Act and make them available to the enforcement and supervisory bodies. Which information that is, is defined in Art. 73 of Ordinance 1 to the Labour Act (ArGV 1). The two forms of relief in Art. 73a and 73b ArGV 1 have applied since 1 January 2016.

One point from the SECO guidance on ArGV 1 matters in practice. Flexible models such as flexitime, monthly target hours or annualised hours do not allow employers to stop recording the hours each person actually works. Working on a «trust-based» basis does not, therefore, automatically remove the obligation.

What must be recorded under Art. 73 ArGV 1

Art. 73 para. 1 ArGV 1 requires all information needed to enforce the Act. It explicitly lists

• the employees’ personal details, type of employment and dates of joining and leaving (lit. a and b),
• the daily and weekly working time actually worked, including compensatory and excess hours, and its timing, in other words start and end (lit. c),
• the weekly rest days or compensatory rest days granted, unless they regularly fall on a Sunday (lit. d),
• the timing and duration of breaks of half an hour or more (lit. e),
• the wage and time supplements owed by law (lit. h),
• for night work and maternity, additionally any company deviations, rules on time supplements and the results of medical assessments and risk assessments (lit. f, g, i and j).

According to SECO, the list is not exhaustive. Under para. 3 the authorities may also inspect further documents, for example accounting records to check wage supplements, and take them away if needed.

Retention. Records and documents must be kept for at least five years after they cease to apply (Art. 73 para. 2 ArGV 1). The period therefore does not start when the time is recorded but only once the document is no longer valid.

The limits themselves, the maximum of 45 or 50 hours, excess hours, breaks and rest periods, are set out in other articles. With our overtime calculator you can check a week against these limits, with the relevant article for each.

The three variants compared

	Full recording	Simplified recording	Waiver
Legal basis	Art. 73 ArGV 1	Art. 73b ArGV 1	Art. 73a ArGV 1
What is recorded	Daily and weekly working time with start and end, excess hours, breaks of 30 minutes or more, supplements	Only daily working time, plus start and end for night and Sunday work	No working time data under lit. c to e and h
For whom	Everyone covered by the Labour Act	Employees who set a significant part of their working time themselves, as a guideline at least a quarter	Employees with high autonomy who set most of their working time themselves
Income threshold	None	None	Gross annual income above CHF 120,000 including bonuses, pro rata for part-time
Basis	The law	Agreement with the employee representatives or the majority of employees, below 50 employees also individually in writing	Collective labour agreement plus individual written agreement
Additional duties	Five-year retention	Measures to ensure compliance with working and rest time rules, joint review procedure or an annual year-end meeting	Health protection measures, internal contact point, list of those affected with their income

Simplified recording under Art. 73b ArGV 1

The employer agrees simplified recording with the employee representatives or, where there are none, with the majority of the employees in the business. It applies to people who can set a significant part of their working time themselves. The SECO guidance gives at least a quarter of working time as a guideline. Only the daily duration of work is then recorded. For night and Sunday work, start and end must still be documented.

The agreement must name the categories of employees concerned, contain specific provisions on compliance with working and rest time rules and set out a joint (parity-based) procedure for reviewing compliance. In businesses with fewer than 50 employees it can also be agreed individually in writing. In that case the agreement must refer to the applicable working and rest time rules, and a year-end meeting on workload must be held and documented every year. Anyone who wishes to record in full despite the agreement may do so, and the employer must provide a suitable tool for it (para. 4).

Waiver under Art. 73a ArGV 1

Only employees covered by a collective labour agreement (CLA) that provides for it can waive time recording entirely. The CLA must be signed by the majority of the representative employee organisations and must provide for specific health protection measures and an internal contact point for questions about working time. Three further conditions must be met for the individual. They have high autonomy and set most of their working time themselves, they earn more than CHF 120,000 gross per year including bonuses, and they have agreed the waiver individually in writing. Either side can revoke this agreement annually.

Without a CLA there is no waiver, even on a high salary. For many SMEs this leaves only full or simplified recording. In both cases the rules on working and rest time continue to apply unchanged. Only part of the documentation falls away, not the protection.

Who does not have to record at all

The obligation applies only to people and businesses covered by the Labour Act. Under Art. 3 lit. d ArG, people in senior management positions are not covered, among others. According to Art. 9 ArGV 1, this means someone who, because of their position and responsibility, has far-reaching decision-making powers or decisively influences decisions of major consequence. The SECO inspection checklist asks whether the person belongs to the top management level and whether only a relatively small number of employees are classified this way. A management title alone is not enough under these criteria.

Also excluded under Art. 2 and 3 ArG are, for example, the administrations of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities (with reservations), agricultural primary production, private households, home workers, commercial travellers and people engaged in scientific or independent artistic work.

What the labour inspectorate checks

Enforcement lies with the cantons (Art. 41 ArG), in practice the cantonal labour inspectorate. It has access to all premises of the business and may question employees without third parties present (Art. 45 ArG, Art. 72 ArGV 1). Employers and employees are obliged to provide information.

A good impression of the process comes from the checklist SECO provides to labour inspectorates for checking time recording. It first establishes which groups exist in the business, senior managers, employees with a waiver, with simplified and with full recording. It then checks each group.

• Full recording. Are the timing and duration of work phases recorded, as well as breaks of 30 minutes or more, daily and weekly working time, compensatory and excess hours and any wage and time supplements?
• Simplified recording. Is there a valid agreement, was the year-end meeting held and documented, is a suitable recording tool available, and are the daily maximum, the maximum number of consecutive working days and the excess hour limits respected?
• Waiver. Is there a valid CLA, are the individual agreements, the list of employees concerned and the internal contact point in place, and is the autonomy plausible?
• Senior management. Are the criteria actually met?

If the inspectorate finds shortcomings, it draws the business’s attention to them and requires compliance. If this is not followed, the cantonal authority issues an order with the threat of penalty under Art. 292 of the Swiss Criminal Code (Art. 51 ArG). Intentional breaches of the working and rest time rules are also punishable (Art. 59 ArG).

Is an Excel spreadsheet enough?

The law does not prescribe a specific tool, it speaks of «records or other documents». The SECO guidance does, however, require the documents to be clearly structured, quick to check and available in writing or in an agreed form throughout the entire retention period. A carefully maintained Excel spreadsheet can meet that.

In practice Excel reaches its limits. A spreadsheet counts hours, but it does not notice on its own when there were not 11 hours of rest between two shifts or when a break was too short. Corrections overwrite the old value without any record of who changed what. Target hours depend on cantonal public holidays, which have to be maintained anew every year, you will find an overview under public holidays in Switzerland 2027. And keeping five years of files complete for every person takes effort.

This is where CrewDeck by Digital Airways comes in. Time tracking records clock-in and clock-out in the browser or at a terminal, and the public holidays of all 26 cantons are built in. CrewDeck checks times against the Labour Act, covering maximum hours, breaks, rest periods and the daily span, and names the article with every warning. Corrections are created as a new version with a reason, and you export the time records under Art. 73 ArGV 1 as CSV or PDF, for example for an inspection. Responsibility for compliance remains with the employer.

Frequently asked questions about mandatory time tracking

Does the obligation apply to small businesses too?

Yes. The Labour Act sets no minimum size for recording. Business size only matters for simplified recording. Below 50 employees it may also be agreed individually in writing.

Do managers have to record their working time?

As a rule, yes. Only people in a senior management position under Art. 3 lit. d ArG and Art. 9 ArGV 1 are exempt, meaning the top management level with far-reaching decision-making powers. For other managers only simplified recording or, with a CLA, the waiver come into question.

Can you waive time recording without a CLA?

No. The waiver under Art. 73a ArGV 1 strictly requires a collective labour agreement. Without a CLA, simplified recording under Art. 73b ArGV 1 remains, where only the daily duration of work is recorded.

Does flexitime or trust-based working time remove the obligation?

No. According to the SECO guidance, flexible working time models do not allow employers to stop recording the hours each person actually works. Only the conditions of Art. 73a and 73b ArGV 1 are decisive.

How long must time records be kept?

At least five years after they cease to apply (Art. 73 para. 2 ArGV 1). During this time the records must be complete and readable for the labour inspectorate.

Do bonuses count towards the CHF 120,000 threshold?

Yes. Art. 73a ArGV 1 expressly refers to gross annual income including bonuses. For part-time employment the amount is reduced pro rata.

Would you like to see what time tracking looks like when it covers these requirements in everyday use? In a CrewDeck demo we show you recording, the Labour Act check and the time records in 30 minutes.

This article provides an overview of the legal situation and does not replace legal advice. It is based on the Labour Act, ArGV 1 as published on fedlex.admin.ch and the SECO guidance and inspection checklist, as of October 2026. For your individual case, please contact an employment law specialist or the labour inspectorate of your canton.