The guide
Guide to working time recording in Switzerland
Who must record their time, which data must be kept, how is overtime handled and which tool should you choose? This guide answers Swiss SMEs’ practical questions about time tracking and working time recording.
Is time tracking mandatory in Switzerland?
Yes, in principle for all employees subject to the Labour Act. LTr art. 46 and OLT 1 art. 73 require the employer to keep available for the authorities daily and weekly working time, including extra work, breaks of half an hour or more, rest days and compensation. These records are kept for at least five years.
Two exceptions have existed since 2016. Simplified recording, limited to daily working time, is possible by agreement for employees who largely set their own hours. Full waiver is reserved for employees earning more than CHF 120’000 a year with a high degree of autonomy, and requires a collective agreement. Numezis handles all three regimes per employee.
How is overtime calculated under CO 321c?
Overtime is the hours that exceed the schedule set in the contract, for example 42 hours a week. CO 321c provides that it is compensated with time off of equal length if the employee agrees, otherwise paid with a 25 % supplement. A written agreement can set a different rule, including no supplement, or even include overtime in the salary for managers.
It should not be confused with extra work under the LTr, which starts beyond the legal maximum of 45 or 50 hours and whose supplement can only be excluded under certain conditions. Numezis distinguishes the two levels, applies each contract’s rule and keeps a transparent hours balance, visible to the employee.
Which time clock or clock-in app for an SME?
The wall-mounted time clock has given way to apps: clocking in on a phone, computer or a shared tablet in the workshop. The right tool is judged on three criteria: how quick entry is for employees, the quality of checks for managers and the link with payroll and projects.
Numezis offers all these entry modes in one tool: real-time clock in and out, after-the-fact entry of the day, a weekly timesheet and even a simple message to the agent on WhatsApp or Teams. Every entry goes through the same LTr checks and lands on the same timesheet. The manager approves the week in one tap, and approved hours feed payroll and invoicing with no file export or second entry.
How do you split working time by project?
For a services firm, an engineering office or a workshop, time spent per project is the basis for invoicing and profitability. Recording it separately from attendance creates double entry and gaps: eight hours of attendance, seven hours on projects, and one hour nobody can account for.
In Numezis, a single entry serves both uses. Employees assign their hours to a project, a phase or an internal activity; the timesheet checks the total against the LTr, and the project receives the billable hours. The manager sees each employee’s billability rate, the project manager sees the budget consumed in hours, and the invoice picks up the detail with no reprocessing.
What does the labour inspectorate check?
The cantonal labour inspectorate may ask for records of working and rest time, schedules, permits for night or Sunday work and simplified recording agreements. It checks compliance with maximum hours, breaks, daily and weekly rest, and the annual limit on extra work.
With Numezis, these documents are available in a few clicks: records per employee and period, the list of flagged deviations with how they were handled, signed agreements. Every correction to an entry is dated and justified, with the original still available, which gives the records evidential value. You can also run a mock inspection yourself to spot deviations before an inspector finds them.