Goodbye “9 to 5” job! So many Swiss work in shifts

Switzerland has a good reputation worldwide in the working world: reliable employees, highly trained specialists and efficient work performance. But Switzerland cannot distinguish itself in everything. With an average working time of 41.8 hours per week, Switzerland is also one of the countries in Europe with the most working hours.

Regulated working hours are also not normal for everyone. The Federal Statistical Office recently published a new study on the topic of shift work in Switzerland. These are the most important findings.

A total of 2,022 people worked in Switzerland 593,000 people during shift work. That is 15.9 percent of employees (excluding students). About half of it, that is 8.6 percent, had varying working hours.

27.1 percent of shift workers worked alternating shifts, including night work. Another 27 percent had rotating shifts without night work. The rest of the shift workers (45.9 percent) worked only during the day, only in the evening or only at night, without rotation.

Shift work with varying working hours exists in various economic sectors and is very widespread. Transport and storage, catering and healthcare and social services – these three sectors have the highest percentage of shift work with varying working hours (more than 20 percent).

In the catering industry, 19.4 percent work shifts without night work and only about 3 percent include night work. In the transport and warehousing sector, the ratio is exactly the opposite: 16.2 percent shifts with night work and 7.2 percent shifts without night work. In healthcare and social services, 11.1 percent of shift workers work both at night and during the day.

In 2022 in total 4.3 percent of employees do their work at night. The research also shows that shift work and night work are more common among people under the age of 40. People between the ages of 25 and 39 in particular choose jobs that involve shift work and night work.

In addition, full-time employees are generally more likely to work variable shifts, including night shifts, than part-time employees (5 percent compared to 3.1 percent). Men are also more likely to work shifts, including night work, than women (4.5 percent compared to 4.1 percent). However, at 5.4 percent, women are more likely to work shifts without night shifts than men at 3.2 percent.

Foreigners work in shifts more often than Swiss, both with and without night work. In particular, workers from third countries have an above-average number of jobs in variable shifts without night work.

Compared to Europe, people in Switzerland work fewer shifts. In Switzerland there has even been a slight decrease in shift work. However, in Europe the trend towards shift work has been increasing again since 2020.