Working Hours Policy
At VSHN, we work 40 hours per week (percentage of that if working part-time) in a yearly work time concept. This means you can flexibly choose when and how long you work as agreed upon within your team or roles, within some constraints, and it has to balance out over the year. VSHN helps you stay within healthy boundaries. You can carry over overtime into the new year within some constraints.
See Time Tracking on how to record time correctly.
Policy Overview
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We work 40 hours per week (8 hours per day) at 100% workload, or the percentage thereof agreed upon for part-time contracts.
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You self-organize when you work and when you don’t within your team and other roles. There are some occasional mandatory (company-wide) events.
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Not required to take a fixed weekday off if working part-time.
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At any point during the year, you can have up to 75 hours over- or under-time. Obligation for a Compensation Plan beyond that.
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Worked time (attendance) must be recorded daily, as accurately as possible, by each VSHNeer individually, stating the actual from-to times worked and lunchtime per day.
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Generally, you’re not allowed to work more than 45 hours per week; See Maximum Weekly Working Time.
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Make it easy for every other VSHNeer to see when you are working and when you are not working, especially during normal Office Hours.
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Limitations apply on how much over-/under-time you can carry over into the next year.
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Obligation to participate in On-Call rotations, when the skills are needed by the organization; medical exceptions need confirmation by People Ops.
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In some cases, when working Outside Normal Work Hours, you will receive additional time compensation.
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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Obligation for a Compensation Plan
If you have more than 75 hours of overtime or undertime at the end of a month, People Operations will request that you submit a plan within 2 weeks detailing how you will bring your work hours within the acceptable range within 3 months. Exceptions, such as for planned longer absences on overtime, can be requested through People Operations.
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This implies, that you’re not allowed to carry over more than 75 hours of overtime or undertime into the new year.
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If you are over 75h overtime, you have to take overtime before you take leaves from Time Off Budget.
Office Hours
The usual open hours of VSHN as a business are 08:00 - 18:00, Monday - Friday. Having people in the office the whole time isn’t required anymore. The main phone number is covered by an external service, see Tip Tel.
Depending on the Service Level Agreement, we’re reachable for (technical) customer support from 09:00 - 18:00 or around the clock, see Support Availability. This might affect you if you’re in a rotation to cover the duties that come with this.
Lunch Time
Usually, we have lunch between 12:00 and 13:00, but it’s up to you when you want to take your lunch break. Labor law requires everyone in Switzerland to take lunch breaks. Please take them, and also remember to sign out and back in for lunch breaks.
- Over 18 years old
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If you work more than 5 hours daily, you must take at least a 15-minute break.
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If you work more than 7 hours, a 30-minute break is mandatory.
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If you work more than 9 hours daily, you must take a 1-hour break.
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- Under 18 years old
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If you work more than 4.5 hours daily, a 30-minute break is mandatory.
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If you work more than 6 hours, you must take a 1-hour break.
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The break must be at least one hour after the start and one hour before the end of working hours.
Outside Normal Work Hours
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Work outside usual (legal) work times is compensated with a 1.5x time credit for overtime.
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This applies only for requested work (business need), as decided within your team or requested (and paid) by customers.
The time frame where this additional compensation is granted is:
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Between 20:00 and 08:00 local time
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All weekends
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All full-day public holidays (see below)
On-Call has special agreements with higher compensation and handling of extreme cases.
Working Part-Time
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Organize with your team whether to take a fixed day off or distribute work time flexibly. VSHN does not require a fixed day.
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If you need a fixed weekday off, clarify this during hiring, team changes, workload changes, or reorganizations. It may not always be possible if other team members already have that day off.
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VSHNeers welcome your participation in obligatory company or team events if it is possible for you to arrange it with reasonable effort.
Maximum Weekly Working Time
By law, independent of working full- or part-time, you are not allowed to work more than 45 hours per week. Exceptions can be made if it’s occasionally needed for urgent business reasons. If you work, for example, 46 hours in one week, you accrue 1 hour of overtime ("Überzeit", "Zeit, die über die Höchstarbeitszeit hinausgeht"). These hours are accumulated over the year and must a) not exceed 170 hours in total and b) must be compensated, we do this through the normal yearly work time compensation, ensured by the Obligation for a Compensation Plan.
At VSHN, aside from incident handling or urgent business continuity in addition to already worked time during a week, we generally do not see a reason to exceed the maximum working hours. If you need to work more than 45 hours a week, you have to inform People Operations proactively or immediately after the event.
Public Holidays
Our calculation of public holidays follows the local rules and customs. In countries with a significant lower number of holidays compared to Switzerland, we grant additional ones as perks.
| Holiday | Date | Switzerland | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
January 1st |
statutory |
statutory |
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January 2nd |
perk |
n/a |
|
n/a |
statutory |
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statutory |
statutory |
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statutory |
n/a |
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perk, half day (does not count as outside office work) |
n/a |
||
statutory |
n/a |
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statutory |
n/a |
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n/a |
statutory |
||
statutory |
n/a |
||
July 1st |
n/a |
statutory |
|
August 1st |
statutory |
n/a |
|
n/a |
statutory |
||
n/a |
statutory |
||
perk, half day (does not count as outside office work) |
n/a |
||
n/a |
statutory |
||
n/a |
statutory |
||
November 1st |
n/a |
statutory |
|
December 25th |
statutory |
statutory |
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Saint Stephen’s Day / Boxing Day / Stephanstag |
December 26th |
statutory |
n/a |
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These holidays affect the office opening times in their respective country.
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Employees have the holidays deducted from their annual work time depending on the entity they signed the work contract with. For example, Swiss VSHNeers working temporarily in Canada have their yearly work hours not adjusted for Canadian holidays.
Contractors abroad & EOR
The goal is for all VSHNeers, directly employed, contractors and EOR employees to have the same total annual working hours. In countries with a lower amount of holidays compared to Switzerland, we add the difference as perks. In countries with more statutory holidays, we ensure that the employee has these days off and the days will be subtracted from their annual working hours.
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-16