Information on handling and reducing high time balances

Holiday time for the current year

According to personnel regulations, holidays are to be taken in the year they occur. Employees align with their supervisor regarding when to take their holidays. In special situations, supervisors can also order employees to take holidays without mutual agreement.

Holidays are not paid out during an ongoing employment relationship. When an employee leaves ETH Zurich, they should try to manage their holiday planning to avoid a payout for any remaining holiday balance.

For full-time employees, a maximum of two weeks of holiday time can be carried over into the next year if approved by the supervisor. Carried-over holiday time must be taken by 31 March of the following year.

Holiday time from previous years

For holidays carried over from previous years, employees needed to create a plan with their supervisor to ensure that their holiday time is taken by 31 March of the following year. Employees have to align with their supervisor regarding when they take their holidays. Employers can also require employees to take holiday time from previous years at short notice. Here it also holds true that holidays are not compensated during an ongoing employment relationship. When an employee leaves ETH Zurich, they should try to manage their holiday planning to avoid a payout for any remaining holiday balance.

Employees should balance any over-hours and overtime by taking free time of the same duration.

If there are operational reasons that prohibit balancing over-hours during the current year, personnel regulations allow for 100 hours to be carried over into the following year and 100 hours to be paid out. Any over-hours or overtime exceeding this amount cannot be carried over and will instead expire.

We are granting a grace period to employees with high levels of accrued over-hours and overtime. These employees must reduce their time credits and must note the following:

• Any working time in excess of 200 hours will be deleted after 1 January 2022. In other words, the maximum excess time that can be carried over to January 2022 is 200 hours.
• Any working time in excess of 100 hours will be deleted after 1 January 2023. In other words, the maximum excess time that can be carried over to January 2023 is 100 hours.

Additional information can be found in the DownloadETH Zurich Personnel Ordinance (in German) (PDF, 1.4 MB)vertical_align_bottom.

After 10 years of employment at ETH Zurich, employees can choose between a loyalty bonus of time/paid vacation or extra compensation. This bonus is issued every five years. If an employee chooses paid vacation, they have to take it within five years. Otherwise, it expires and cannot be paid out afterwards. Therefore, we recommend that employees create a binding plan with their supervisor about when they will use their paid holiday credit as soon as they receive it.

If an employee chooses the payout option, the sum will be added to their next salary payment.

Which employees are affected/are being directly contacted about this issue?

Employees with high holiday credits (pro rata employment level)

• Holiday credit between two to eight weeks (pro rata employment level): Employees who carry over holidays from the previous year(s) need to have used them by 31 March of the following year. If employees have accrued holiday time between two to eight weeks, they needed to create a plan for reducing this time in alignment with their supervisor.
• Holiday credit of eight weeks or more (pro rata employment level): Employees who carry over holidays from the previous year(s) need to have used them by 31 March of the following year. If employees have accrued holiday time of eight weeks or more, they needed to create a plan for reducing this time in alignment with their supervisor. The signed plan had to be submitted to HR Consulting.

Employees with high levels of over-hours/overtime (pro rata employment level)

• 101 - 200 hours (pro rata employment level): Employees who had between 101 and 200 hours of over-hours/overtime as of 1 January 2021 received an email and were asked to create and execute a plan for reducing their accrued hours.
• 201 hours or more (pro rata employment level): Employees who had 201 or more hours of over-hours/overtime as of 1 January 2021 received an email, with their supervisor copied in, and were asked to create and execute a plan for reducing their accrued hours. The signed plan had to be submitted to HR Consulting.

Employees with high time balances were contacted in 2021 by email and asked to reduce their accumulated hours. They had to create a binding plan for reducing their high time balances, which needed to be discussed with their supervisor. If the goals set out in the plan can't be met, the plan needs to be updated. If the updated plan is not adhered to, then employees may be ordered to take holidays/free time without mutual agreement.

ETH Zurich has an annual working time model that grants a high degree of flexibility to employees. It allows them to balance accumulated holiday time and extra hours from times with higher workloads by working fewer hours during less demanding phases. This model provides a high level of flexibility that employees very much appreciate.

If you've already created a plan for reducing your high time balances and discussed it with your supervisor, you do not have to create a new plan. The important thing is to stick to your plan, to reduce your time credits in accordance with your plan and to avoid generating new over-hours.

Professors and supervisors share responsibility for ensuring that their employees use their time credits in the calendar years in which they occur. Employees with high time balances had to create a binding plan for reducing their time balances. The plan needed to be discussed with their supervisor.

At the beginning of each year, professors and supervisors confirm whatever accrued time off their employees carry over and thereby recognise the legal and financial obligations that this creates.

You can find an overview of your time balances in ETHIS (instructions). Professors and supervisors can also see the time sheets of their employees in ETHIS.