Workers in Switzerland may soon be given the “right to be unavailable”, under plans approved by the Federal Council. The new rules would explicitly forbid employers from contacting their employees as soon as they get off the clock.
Be it an after-hours message, a call for a last-minute replacement for someone off sick or a problem that the boss thinks cannot wait until the next morning, working after hours is becoming a big problem in Switzerland. According to a survey from the union Travailsuisse, around 60 percent of employees work in their free time.
The phenomenon has been exacerbated by modern technology. While your mobile phone allows you to stay constantly in contact with friends and family, employers can now reach you at any time too. This increases the risk of burnout: according to the survey in 2024, 83,5 percent of workers felt either partially or completely overwhelmed by work, an increase of 11,7 percentage points compared to 2023.
Therefore, the Federal Council has announced that it wants to enshrine the right to be unavailable in Swiss labour law. The government wrote that “even if the right already applies implicitly today”, the advance of modern communications and remote working still leaves employees vulnerable.
Under the new terms, labour law would state that "employees have the right to be unavailable during leisure time, vacation, or holidays". This means that workers will not be obliged to answer emails, check WhatsApp messages or receive calls outside working hours. This would apply to all staff, regardless of what work contract they labour under. The plan would see Switzerland join other European nations that have restricted or banned contact between bosses and employees after hours, the most notable example being France.
There are signs the proposal will be accepted. As part of its reforms for remote work, which include increasing the maximum time span between when someone starts and finishes work from 14 to 17 hours, and reducing rest periods between working days, the Economic Affairs Committee in the National Council has recommended enshrining the right to be unavailable into law, to prevent working hour rules from being broken.
Though the reforms have been warmly received by unions, the Swiss Employers’ Association has labelled them as unnecessary. Speaking to SRF, association spokesperson Daniella Lützelschwab argued that rest periods are already strictly defined in labour law.
She also raised concerns that if an employee’s entire free time is covered by the right to be unavailable, it would make finding last-minute replacements for staff near-impossible. "As a result, companies would have to introduce shadow scheduling with expensive on-call services," she concluded.