Switzerland Opens the Door to 17-Hour Days — But Only for a Handful of Start-ups

From 1 December 2026, a narrow category of young Swiss growth companies will be allowed to stretch the working day to 17 hours and cut nightly rest to as little as 9 hours. The Federal Council approved the special rules on 28 October 2026 by amending Ordinance 2 to the Labour Act (ArGV 2), carving out more flexible working-time models for the start-up sector while leaving core employee protections in place.

Longer days, shorter nights

Under the new provisions, daily working spans — day and evening work combined, including breaks and overtime — may reach a maximum of 17 hours, three hours beyond the standard 12.5-hour ceiling.

Daily rest can also be trimmed to a minimum of 9 hours several times a week, provided the four-week average stays at 11 hours or more.

Sunday and night work will no longer require official authorisation for up to 6 Sundays and 10 nights a year. Financial and time-based protections are untouched: employers must still pay the 25 percent night-work supplement and the 50 percent Sunday supplement, and must grant the prescribed compensatory rest.

Who qualifies

Access to the exemptions is tightly fenced. A start-up, as defined in the decision, is a stock corporation (AG) in its build-up phase with high growth potential.

As a rule the company must have been founded no more than 5 years earlier; where it has not yet generated positive operating cash flow, the limit extends to 10 years. Spin-offs, franchise operations and corporate start-ups are excluded.

On the employee side, several conditions must be met at once:
- Staff possess specialised professional skills.
- The assignment is tied to a specific, time-limited project.
- Workers have substantial autonomy, controlling at least half of their own working time.
- Employees hold a stake in the company through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

Employers must still record working hours precisely, document them without gaps and implement health-protection measures.

A decade-old parliamentary push

The changes trace back to a 2016 parliamentary initiative by FDP National Councillor Marcel Dobler. In the end the reform was delivered at ordinance level rather than through a revision of the Labour Act.

It rests on roundtable talks with the social partners and drew broad support in the consultation, though the compromise reached falls short of the original draft.

Unions back the deal with reservations. SP National Councillor Samuel Bendahan of Vaud called for the agreed terms to be implemented to the letter.

Annual hours for the advisory professions

On the same day, the Federal Council also adjusted the rules for the audit, fiduciary and tax advisory sector, introducing an annual working-time model for specialists earning above CHF 120'000 a year and holding a level 6 (bachelor) qualification.

For these staff, the permitted weekly average is capped at 45 hours, with a maximum of 63 hours in any single week. Up to 9 Sundays a year may be worked without authorisation under the model, for up to 5 hours each.