Time Off Allowance and Policy
You receive a fixed number of vacation days per year, plus additional days based on your years of working at VSHN. You also get extra days for special occasions. The purpose of time off is to ensure you have enough rest and recovery each year, as well as to celebrate significant events or handle challenging situations in your life. You can carry over some unused days into the new year. Unpaid leaves can be requested.
| See Time Off Requests on how to request Time Off. |
Allowance Overview
At VSHN you get the following time off allowances. Days here mean work days.
| Reason / Occasion | Allowance | Salary Impact |
|---|---|---|
25 days per year |
- |
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+1 day (up to 10) per year |
- |
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Full Salary |
|
3 days |
- |
|
1 day |
- |
|
1 day |
- |
|
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Reduced to 80% for prolonged absences |
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depending on event / call order |
No double compensation |
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|
- |
Base Vacation Days
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You get 25 days per year, or the percentage of that when working part-time.
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Allocated by People Operations yearly.
Seniority Days
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You get 1 additional yearly time off allowance per full year you worked for VSHN.
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Up to a maximum of 10 additional days per year.
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Allocated by People Operations yearly, pro-rata based on your work anniversary date.
Maternity & Child with Partner
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For Maternity, you get the normal legal allowance of 14 weeks (98 calendar days).
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As the partner (Paternity), you get 4 weeks (20 work days in total: 10 days legal minimum in Switzerland, VSHN adds 10 days).
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Inform People Operations proactively.
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Has to be used within 12 months from the child’s birth.
Weddings
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You get 3 days for your own wedding.
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You get 1 day for the wedding of a 1st-degree family member (siblings, own children).
General Constraints
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All above allowances are pro-rata (percentage of it) if working part-time.
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If you start at or leave VSHN during the year, the budgets are adapted pro-rata.
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At least once a year you have to take 2 weeks (10 workdays) in a block without interruption.
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Special occasions need to be requested via People Ops and they have to be used for that specific event. If they were not used in time, the special occasion budget is reduced again by People Operations.
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Limitations apply on how much time off you can carry over into the new year.
Time Off Yearly Carryover
In total, we give a lot of time-off days because we think rest is important and that you should have the flexibility to use your time off when you need it.
This means, on the other side, that VSHN doesn’t support you accumulating a huge amount of vacation days beyond a year, not resting enough during the year, and then going on big vacations, potentially with a negative impact for your team and the business. Apart from that it represents a legal financial liability for VSHN (debt to employees) and we want to limit this risk to an acceptable level.
- Constraints
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You can carry over a total of 5 days from your unused Base Vacation Days and/or Seniority Days into the new year. Days exceeding this limit are deleted at the end of the year.
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Converting time-off budget into overtime is not possible.
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You must use your carried-over days by the end of March in the new year. After that, the carried-over days are removed from the budget.
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Exceptions in special cases may be approved by People Operations.
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| For legal reasons, we will not delete Base Vacation Days if a VSHNeer couldn’t (did not have the opportunity to) take at least 20 of the 25 contractually guaranteed days. However, the goal is for VSHNeers to take all their vacation days within the year. If there are reasons preventing you from taking enough vacation, please inform People Operations as soon as possible. Seniority Days are not part of the contract. Example: If you took 20 days and have 4 seniority days remaining, you will carry over 5 vacation days into the new year, and the 4 seniority days will be deleted. |
Unpaid Leave
Compensating overtime or going into undertime (constraints apply) doesn’t have to be requested as unpaid leave. Longer unpaid leaves like sabbaticals need to be requested through People Ops and need consent from the team and affected roles (same as vacation).
Situations Outside Your Control
Under Swiss OR 324a & 324b, we clarify how we handle the following situations that are out of your own control. For short absences, we consider whether it affects your contractual weekly work or minimum recovery time. If not, our flexible work time agreement allows you to simply log out if you need to.
Sick Leave
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Short-Term Sick Leave: For sick leave lasting between half a day and up to 3 days, you can stay at home for medical reasons without a medical certificate.
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Extended Sick Leave: For sick leave longer than 3 days, you must provide a medical certificate and submit it to People Operations.
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In case of non-medical reasons affecting your work ability, such as poor sleep, concentration issues, etc., which are not due to underlying diagnosed medical or psychological conditions, adjust your work schedule within our flexible work time before considering taking sick leave. If unclear, check with People Operations as soon as possible.
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Prolonged sick leave: For illness lasting a month or longer, arrange this directly with People Operations and send in the medical certificate each month. VSHN may pay your full salary for up to 3 months, after which you receive the amount reimbursed by the insurance. Reductions to time off budget might apply.
Medical Consultation
Under our flexible yearly work time agreement, planned doctor visits are not considered work time and cannot be recorded as such or requested as time off.
In Urgent situations: If you suddenly fall ill or have another urgent medical situation that requires immediate attention from a doctor or hospital during your otherwise planned working hours, you can sign off and request this time later as time off. If the urgent visit does not result in a medical certificate, you can request up to 2 hours for such a medical consultation.
Visit of Authorities
Same as Medical Consultation, under our flexible yearly work time agreement, private visits to authorities are not considered work time and cannot be recorded as such or requested as time off.
Requested Public Service
Ordered public service (incident response and planned mandatory education/exercises) like Swiss Military Service, Civil Service and Civil Protection Service, Swiss Militia Fire Service (VSHN special allowance from VIP-70) and similar official obligations that are out of your control, under OR Article 324a if it affects your contractual weekly work or minimum recovery time.
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During the period of compulsory service, employees will receive their full salary. If the organization, an insurance or state provides compensation, the company may offset this amount against the salary paid. VSHNeers report such double compensation to People Operations; up to CHF 500.- overlap is considered too much overhead and you don’t need to report it (under OR Article 324b).
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People Ops might demand you provide official call documents.
Reductions due to long term absences
The time off entitlement due to long-term illness is reduced after 45 working days (second full month of illness) with a one-month waiting period. Thereafter, the time off budget is reduced by one twelfth for each full month of absence, which corresponds to 21.75 working days per month. A new waiting period begins for each work anniversary.
Impact During your Notice Period
If you’re leaving VSHN and are in your notice period, the allowances are reduced to the contractual minimum.
Mutual Flexibility
The flexibility to work when and from where you want (within constraints) is seen as a big benefit by most VSHNeers. We see this as mutual flexibility, meaning:
- Offered Benefits
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You can basically work when it suits you.
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No strict control and no unnecessary reporting.
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It’s simple, no need to ask official instances to take time off, compensate overtime, start late in the day, do a shopping or sports break during the day, or leave early.
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Mandatory participation in work events announced with sufficient notice (usually 2-3 months), so you can plan better.
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As flexible as possible to deal with unforeseen situations in your life, for example, personal and family health first.
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VSHN doesn’t expect you to be available outside the work time you planned (besides being on planned On-Call).
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- Expectations of VSHNeers and VSHN as an employer
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Self-organize with your team and role, with consent from the team, when you work and when not.
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You make transparent what you do (task and outcome documentation) and when you work and when not (mainly your calendar).
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You greet and say goodbye. You inform proactively if you take a break, have to leave, or cannot work at short notice for more than 30 minutes.
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You record the actual worked time daily.
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We don’t estimate afterwards when and how long we worked, we don’t round up generously or "fake" working hours in any other way, we write down the truth, how it accurately was.
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During your planned (and later recorded) work time, you’re reachable, usually in chat, with a reasonable response time.
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Sometimes we expect you to plan your life around work: Do what’s possible with reasonable effort to help your team and VSHN in urgent situations, to handle urgent On-Call cases, to attend mandatory team and company events, in case of staff shortage in and beyond your team, emergencies affecting business continuity, or similar.
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VSHNeers Employed Outside Switzerland
The above regulations relate to VSHN Switzerland and VSHNeers employed in Zurich. The same applies to all VSHNeers regardless of the country/state of employment, if applicable by law. If the place of employment requires better conditions by law, a VSHNeer receives these rights or additional benefits. If anything is unclear, People Operations must be consulted.
This policy is tracked and reviewed as VIP-140