Working time flexibilization: Further progress achieved
After seven years of stop-and-go policy, the issue of flexible working hours is on the move again. Under the umbrella of the denkplatz schweiz alliance, a selective flexibilization of the Labor Code Ordinance (ArgV2) was achieved for the auditing/fiduciary/tax consulting sector and for the ICT sector.
A parliamentary initiative submitted in 2016 by former member of the Council of States Konrad Graber aimed to allow employees in the knowledge professions to arrange their working hours at their own discretion. The group of possible users was deliberately narrowed in that only superiors and highly qualified specialists from various sectors would have benefited from the flexibilization of working hours. In winter 2020, the Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation of the Council of States (WAK-S) decided to suspend the legislative process in order to examine the implementation of the Graber parliamentary initiative by ordinance in the meantime.
ICT and fiduciary industries benefit
After three years of examining the ordinance and various negotiations with the trade unions, a small breakthrough has now been achieved for the ICT sector and the fiduciary sector in order to better meet the working reality of the employees. For companies in the ICT sector, two points could be anchored in the Labor Law Ordinance (ArgV2) regarding the day/evening work period and the interruption of rest periods. A success was also achieved for the auditing/trust/tax consulting sector during negotiations with the trade unions and a special annual working model was anchored in the Labor Law Ordinance (ArgV2). Specifically, ICT companies are allowed to extend the period for daytime and evening work and shorten the daily rest period under certain conditions, and companies in the auditing, trust and tax consulting sectors are given the option of agreeing a special annual working hours model with certain categories of employees under certain conditions.
Other industries must continue to wait for working time flexibilization
However, despite these selective flexibilizations, there is still a drop of bitterness, as the alliance denkplatz schweiz writes. This is because not all of the industries affiliated with this alliance - let alone all industries as envisaged by the original parliamentary initiative - can benefit from these small advances. Moreover, the small advances are only accepted on the basis of proven economic necessity and not in the case of employees' wishes for self-determined work, the allianz denkplatz schweiz continues. It therefore remains a common goal of the alliance to adapt the labor law to the reality of the working world and to promote Switzerland's willingness to reform. In its new position paper, the Swiss Employers' Association (SAV) also sees the flexibilization of working hours as an important lever for the reconciliation of work and family/extra-occupational activities and as a lever against the shortage of skilled workers.
Source and further information: alliance think tank switzerland
