The city of Zurich has approved the legal framework for a pilot scheme that would let selected shift workers cut their working week from 42 to 35 hours without any reduction in pay, city authorities announced on Thursday. The decision comes more than three years after the city parliament first ordered the administration to develop such a trial.
The push for a shorter working week began on June 29, 2022, when David Garcia Nuñez of the Alternative List (AL) and Anna Graff of the Social Democrats (SP) submitted a motion calling for a pilot project to introduce a 35-hour week for city employees in shift-based roles. The city parliament approved the motion on March 15, 2023, by a narrow left-wing majority of 60 votes to 57.
“We urgently need to slow down,” Garcia Nuñez said.
The intended targets were employees in physically and mentally demanding shift work (including police officers, public transport workers at VBZ, and care and nursing staff) with the stated aim of reducing sickness-related absences and making these professions more attractive.
Read More: Switzerland’s Individual Taxation Reform: Timeline Set 2032
The Green Party City Councillor Warns Of A “Hyper-Elaborate Experiment That Stresses Everyone Out”
Turning the parliamentary mandate into a workable legal framework took far longer than initially expected. The city administration required multiple deadline extensions to work out the legal basis for the pilot. At one parliamentary session on 24 September 2025, councillors even refused to grant a further extension and sent the proposal back to committee, before eventually agreeing in early 2026 to extend the deadline once more, to September 15, 2026, citing the need for additional legal clarification.
Daniel Leupi, the Green Party city councillor responsible for finance and personnel, struggled with the mandate from the outset. During the original parliamentary debate, he warned of a “hyper-elaborate experiment that stresses everyone out,” arguing that the city’s personnel department could barely manage such an undertaking.
On Thursday, the city government (Stadtrat) published its directive (Weisung) setting out the legal basis for pilot projects testing a 35-hour week instead of the standard 42 hours. The pilot would run for one year, with the option to extend it by up to a further year.
It remains undecided which specific municipal department will host the trial. The directive will be referred to a city parliament committee at its meeting next Wednesday, and no date has yet been set for a full parliamentary decision.swissinfo+1
Zurich To Test 35-Hour Working Week: Cost Concerns
Leupi has previously cautioned that extending a pay-neutral working-time reduction across the entire city administration could cost an estimated CHF 110 million in additional annual expenses and require hiring up to 1,500 additional employees to cover the resulting gaps. “I don’t know where we’re supposed to find these people,” he said.
The city’s directive references pilot experiences abroad. In Iceland, two pilot trials achieved cost-neutrality in areas such as policing through shorter meetings, optimized shift planning and efficiency gains from digitalization — though the same cost-neutral outcome could not be replicated in healthcare settings.
In Sweden, several smaller trials required additional staff to compensate for the reduced working hours, and the associated costs are cited as the reason why, unlike Iceland, Sweden’s efforts remained limited to pilot projects rather than being expanded further.
Legal Basis For Unequal Treatment?
The city government considers it legally permissible for pilot-scheme participants to be treated differently from other municipal employees. According to the directive, the purpose is not to favor a particular group of employees, but to test measures that might later be applied to all employees or to a much larger group. The unequal treatment is thus framed as the deliberate purpose of the measure, not an unintended side effect.
While the city pushes ahead, a parallel push at the cantonal level failed. The Zurich cantonal parliament rejected a Green Party motion in September 2024 calling for a study into a 35-hour week, voting 111 to 57 against it. Supporters cited potential health benefits and positive experiences abroad and at individual companies that had reduced working hours, while opponents warned of a worsening skills shortage and rising wage costs. The cantonal government (Regierungsrat) also opposed the proposal.
Lake Zurich Boat Services Cancelled: Water Level Drops To Lowest In 74 Years
