The timesheet (Stundenrapport) for an electrical contractor: what goes in, what the Employment Act requires and how it becomes payroll and an invoice

A timesheet — in Swiss German, the Stundenrapport — records who worked on which day, for how long and on which order, with start, end, breaks and a short description. For an electrical contractor it does two jobs that have to be kept apart. It is first the working-time record that the Swiss Employment Act requires of the employer: under Art. 73 ArGV 1, Ordinance 1 to the Employment Act, the daily and weekly working time, when in the day it fell and every break of half an hour or more must be traceable, and the records must be kept for five years. It is second the basis of the invoice when work is billed as Regie — at rate, outside the quote. The same hours, two readers: the labour inspectorate asks about the person, the customer about the order. A timesheet that carries both only has to be written once.

Timesheet and Regie Rapport: one sheet, two purposes

Many sheets in a contractor's business are called a timesheet: the electrician's weekly sheet, the daily site report, the Regie Rapport the customer signs. The difference is not the form but what it is used for.

• For payroll and the Employment Act the person counts: how many hours did the electrician work this week, when did he start and finish, when was the break, was there overtime? The employer owes these records whether or not the customer pays for a single one of those hours.
• For the invoice the order counts: which hours belong to which customer, and which of them are Regie, meaning work outside a fixed or unit price (Art. 374 OR, the Swiss Code of Obligations)? For those hours the Rapport is the invoice in raw form — and, once the customer has signed it, its proof. What the signature does is set out in the article "Getting the Regie Rapport signed".

The two views do not line up. An hour of travel to the site can be working time and still not belong on the invoice; an hour on a fixed-price order is working time but never Regie. Whoever keeps only a sheet for the invoice has a gap for payroll — and the other way round.

What the Employment Act requires

Art. 46 of the Employment Act (ArG) obliges the employer to keep the records and other documents showing the information needed to enforce the Act available to the enforcement and supervisory authorities. Art. 73 para. 1 ArGV 1 lists what they must contain. For a timesheet, these letters are the ones that matter:

• c. the daily and weekly working time actually performed, including compensatory work and overtime, and when it fell — not just the total, but at what time of day the work was done;
• d. the weekly rest days or compensatory rest days granted, where they do not regularly fall on a Sunday;
• e. when and how long the breaks of half an hour or more were;
• h. the pay and time supplements owed under the Act.

On top of that come the employees' personal details, the type of employment and the start and end dates (letters a and b), which belong in the personnel file rather than on every sheet. Under Art. 73 para. 2 ArGV 1, the records and other documents must be kept for at least five years after they cease to be valid.

The ordinance allows two simplifications, and both come with conditions:

• Simplified recording (Art. 73b ArGV 1). For employees who can set a substantial part of their working hours themselves, recording the daily working time is enough. In businesses with fewer than 50 employees this can be agreed individually and in writing; an annual conversation about workload must then be held and documented. For night and Sunday work, start and end must still be recorded.
• Waiver (Art. 73a ArGV 1). Only through a collective labour agreement, only for employees with a great deal of autonomy and a gross annual income above CHF 120,000, and only with an individual written agreement.

An electrician whose day is planned by the dispatcher does not set a substantial part of his working time himself. For him, the full recording under Art. 73 para. 1 will normally apply. A collective agreement for the trade can contain further rules; the one that applies to the business is what counts.

Travel, breaks, overtime: what counts as working time

Three points settle almost every argument about hours in an electrical business:

• Travel. The commute from home to work is not working time. But if the work has to be done away from the usual place of work and the journey is longer than usual as a result, the difference from the normal journey is working time (Art. 13 para. 2 ArGV 1). If an electrician drives straight from home to a site further away than the workshop, the extra time counts. Whether the customer pays for it is a matter for the contract with the customer — a question for the quote, not for the Employment Act.
• Breaks. The Act requires minimum breaks: a quarter of an hour for a working day of more than five and a half hours, half an hour for more than seven, an hour for more than nine (Art. 15 para. 1 ArG). Breaks count as working time if the employee may not leave the workplace (Art. 15 para. 2 ArG). Breaks of half an hour or more must be recorded.
• Overtime. Working beyond the weekly maximum is overtime; the employer owes a pay supplement of at least 25 percent for it, unless it is compensated, with the employee's agreement, by time off of the same length within a reasonable period (Art. 13 ArG). Without a timesheet, overtime can neither be shown nor compensated.

The fields: a template to copy

This table covers both purposes. The "What it is for" column says whether a field serves payroll, the invoice or both; a timesheet with every field only has to be written once.

Field	Example	What it is for
Date	Tue, 13.10.2026	payroll and invoice
Employee	R. Frei, electrician	payroll (Art. 73 ArGV 1)
Start – end	07:00 – 16:45	when the working time fell (letter c)
Breaks of 30 min or more	12:00 – 12:45	when and how long the break was (letter e)
Extra travel time	0.5 h	working time under Art. 13 para. 2 ArGV 1
Order / property	4471, Bahnhofstrasse 12	invoice, post-calculation
Hours on the order	6.5 h (rest: a second order)	invoice
Kind of hours	Regie / fixed price / warranty	what the customer pays
Work in words	basement distribution board, 3 outgoing circuits replaced, RCD added	proof of the Regie
Material	RCD 40 A, 1 pc	invoice
Overtime / supplements	from the weekly total	payroll (letter h)
Customer signature	name, role	proof of the Regie

Two rules make the template usable. First: fill it in the same day, not on Friday from memory — start, end and breaks are exact in the evening and estimates a week later. Second: one line per order when an electrician was at two customers on the same day; otherwise the Regie cannot be billed cleanly and the post-calculation is wrong.

From the timesheet to payroll and the invoice

A complete timesheet is read twice:

• For payroll, per person and month: contractual hours against hours worked, overtime, supplements, holidays and absences. Every hour counts here, including those on the fixed-price order and the extra travel.
• For the invoice, per order: only the Regie hours, at the agreed rate, with the material and the description. If the work falls outside the quote, one sentence should say why — the anchor for a variation to the quote. On large orders with part payments, the Regie runs through the same timesheets into the Akonto invoice.

Whoever records hours on paper types them up twice afterwards: once into payroll, once into the invoice. In elektro.box the Rapport is written on site — with hours, material, photos and the customer's signature, even with no signal in the basement — and the invoice is made from the Rapport. The Service page shows how that works for call-outs; the Site page, how it works offline.

Frequently asked questions

Is a timesheet mandatory in Switzerland? Recording working time is: under Art. 46 ArG and Art. 73 ArGV 1, the employer must keep records showing the daily and weekly working time, when it fell and breaks of half an hour or more. Whether that is a paper sheet, an app or a time clock, the ordinance does not prescribe.

How long do I have to keep timesheets? Under Art. 73 para. 2 ArGV 1, at least five years after they cease to be valid. As supporting documents for an invoice, a longer period can apply; that is governed by accounting law.

Does the drive to the site count as working time? The normal commute does not. If the journey is longer than usual because the job is somewhere else, the difference from the normal journey is working time (Art. 13 para. 2 ArGV 1). Whether the customer pays for the journey is a matter of the contract with the customer.

What is the difference between a timesheet and a Regie Rapport? The timesheet records one person's working time, for payroll and the Employment Act. The Regie Rapport proves to the customer the work billed at rate, and the customer signs it. For an electrical contractor it is often the same sheet — if it has the fields for both purposes.

Does the customer have to sign the timesheet? Not for the working-time record. For Regie hours, the signature is the strongest proof that the work was done; without it, the business has to prove it itself.

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Sources: Federal Act on Work in Industry, Crafts and Commerce (Employment Act, ArG, SR 822.11), Art. 13, 15 and 46; Ordinance 1 to the Employment Act (ArGV 1, SR 822.111), Art. 13, 73, 73a and 73b, version of 1 September 2024; Code of Obligations (OR, SR 220), Art. 374; fedlex.admin.ch. As of 13 October 2026. This article does not replace legal advice.