Handbook for Investors. Business location in Switzerland.

Fig. 38: Cooperation between employers and employees (2008)
1 = total confrontation, 7 = total cooperation
Average: 4.5
1 Singapore 6.3
2 Switzerland 6.1
3 Denmark 6.0
4 Sweden 5.9
5 Austria 5.8
8 Hong Kong SAR 5.7
9 Netherlands 5.7
10 Japan 5.7
12 Luxembourg 5.4
23 Ireland 5.1
24 Germany 5.0
25 UK 5.0
26 USA 5.0
40 India 4.7
60 China 4.5
73 Belgium 4.3
87 Brazil 4.2
97 Russia 4.1
123 Italy 3.5
126 France 3.5
Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2009 – 2010, World Economic
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8.3.3 Employee participation and employee representation
The Co-Determination Act governs the participation of employees
in a company and applies to all private companies with employees
in Switzerland, regardless of their size. Participation consists
mainly of providing information to and listening to employees.
Employers must inform employees of all significant circumstances,
new developments and/or changes. Employees have the right
to take their questions and/or comments to their employer and
make suggestions. The act also governs the elections of employee
representation committees. Any company may have a committee,
but there is no requirement to have one. Employers need only inform
or consult the affected employees in the following instances:
• in all matters relating to work safety and worker protection
• on the transfer of operations
• in the event of mass redundancies
Works councils in the EU have far greater powers than employee
representation committees under Swiss law. The major difference
is that, in contrast to works councils, Swiss employee representative
committees are not able to push through their own views
or to force a decision. Their rights are limited to being informed,
having their views heard and providing decision-making input.
8.4 Working hours and leisure time
8.4.1 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 working hours per week are 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.
8.4.2 Overtime and excess hours
The difference between normal and maximum working hours is
referred to as overtime. Employees are obliged to perform such
overtime to the extent that they are able to do so and which
they may be reasonably expected to perform. By law, overtime
must be paid at a premium of 25 %. It is possible, however, for
the premium to be waived in writing. Instead of overtime pay, the
employee may be compensated through time in lieu of at least
the same duration, provided the employer and employee mutually
agree to this. For employees in managerial positions it is possible
to compensate overtime generally through normal salary.
72 Handbook for Investors 2010