Working-Time Recording in Switzerland: What the Law Requires From Your Business

If you employ staff in Switzerland, you are required to document their working hours. That is not a recommendation — it is a legal obligation, and it applies to small trade and construction businesses too. Yet in many companies, hours still live on paper slips, in Excel, or in someone's memory on Friday evening. This article summarises what the law demands and how to comply without the paperwork.

The legal basis: the Labour Act and its ordinance

The obligation follows from the Swiss Labour Act (ArG, Art. 46) and Ordinance 1 to the Labour Act (ArGV 1, Art. 73). Employers must keep records showing, among other things, the daily and weekly hours actually worked (including overtime), the timing and duration of breaks of half an hour or more, and rest days. These records must be available to the enforcement authorities on request.

How long must records be kept?

Records and supporting documents must be retained for at least five years. If a labour inspectorate audit finds missing or incomplete records, you risk formal objections and, for repeat offences, sanctions — and in any dispute about overtime you are left without evidence.

Simplified recording and waivers: the exceptions

Since 2016 the ordinance provides two forms of relief. Under simplified recording (ArGV 1, Art. 73b), it can be sufficient to record only the total daily duration — for instance where employees can largely set their own working hours and a corresponding agreement is in place. A full waiver of recording (Art. 73a) is possible only under narrow conditions: it requires, among other things, a collective labour agreement, a high degree of autonomy, and a gross annual salary above a defined threshold. For the vast majority of employees in trades and construction, the conclusion is simple: working time must be recorded in detail.

Why paper and Excel fail on real job sites

On a building site, the paper solution costs you twice. First, hours get forgotten — especially travel time between the yard, the supplier, and the site, which depending on the arrangement counts as working time. Second, the effort is duplicated: the worker writes it down, the office types it up. Every transfer is a source of errors, and at month-end nobody has time to check.

What a proper solution needs to do

For recording that satisfies the law and works in daily life, three things matter: capture hours where they happen — on site, in real time, not reconstructed later; keep the data tamper-proof and available for at least five years; and turn recorded hours into reports and payroll without re-typing, so the back office doesn't touch everything twice.

How Maroni solves this for trade and construction businesses

With Maroni, employees clock travel and work time in and out directly in the app — per project and per person. Photos document the completed work, and locations can optionally be captured (transparently, controlled by the company). Admins see active sessions in real time, export PDF reports, and generate payslips straight from the recorded hours. Data is stored encrypted in the EU and stays available at all times — including when the labour inspectorate knocks.

Note: this article is a general overview, not legal advice. For an assessment of your specific situation, consult a specialist or your cantonal labour inspectorate.