Normal working hours, maximum working hours and working time models

Employment contracts or collective bargaining agreements generally stipulate that normal working hours for employees in Switzerland are 40 to 44 per week. The legal maximum working time in Switzerland has remained stable over many decades. The maximum number of working hours per week is 45 for industrial firms (also applies to office staff and other employees). For commercial operations, the maximum is 50 hours per week. The law provides for longer hours for certain professions, such as taxi drivers and junior doctors. This differentiation between normal and maximum working hours is important for the definition of overtime.

In practice, there are many ways of adapting working hours to the needs of a business: 
For example, flex-time, the range model, two/multiple-shift operation or continuous operation (7 x 24 hours x 365 days) are all possibilities. In particular, in the case of the need for continuous operation, the daily and weekly maximum hours can be extended and break times can be distributed differently.