Short-Time Work: May I Apply? Rights, Pay, Dismissal 2026

For a long time, short-time work in Switzerland was a word from the Covid era. Since 2025 it has been everyday reality again — in the watch industry, in mechanical engineering, in the electrical and metal sectors. On 27 May 2026 the Federal Council extended the maximum benefit period to 24 months once again, valid until 31 January 2027, citing the global economy, the Middle East and the additional US tariffs. For companies it is a bridge. For you, if you have been put on 60 or 80 percent, it is a situation with two questions: what am I entitled to — and may I apply elsewhere without losing anything? Both answers are in the Unemployment Insurance Act, and both are better than most of those affected assume.

TL;DR - Quick Summary

In short:

Applying is allowed, at any time. Short-time work changes nothing about your right to give notice and obliges you to nothing towards the RAV — no registration, no job-search efforts. The compensation runs through your employer
With notice, the short-time work compensation ends — no matter who gives it (Art. 31 para. 1 let. c AVIG). From the start of the notice period your employer owes you the full salary again and may demand full working hours in return
You must consent. There is no short-time work without your agreement (Art. 33 para. 1 let. d AVIG); if you refuse, the full salary remains owed — with a higher risk of dismissal
80 percent of the loss of earnings, full social contributions on 100 percent of the salary (AHV, ALV, pension fund), one waiting day per month borne by the employer, holiday entitlement unchanged
Interim employment is allowed: a side job during the lost hours must be reported to your employer and is offset — but on balance you never end up below what you would have had without it

Where Switzerland is on short-time work right now

The numbers are smaller than in 2020, but persistent: in April 2026, according to SECO, 9,782 people in 673 company departments were affected by short-time work, and in December 2025 33,600 employees were pre-registered. The Federal Council itself names the sectors: the mechanical, electrical and metal industry and the watch industry. In the watch sector, according to SECO, around 43 percent of the 2,650 companies have introduced short-time work since June 2024, and it is still running at more than a quarter. Swissmem does report rising orders again for the first half of 2026, but calls the recovery "fragile, unevenly distributed".

The extension to 24 months is the third in a row: 12 to 18 months from August 2025, 18 to 24 from November 2025, now until January 2027. It rests on an urgent amendment to the act that remains in force until the end of 2028 (Art. 35 para. 2 AVIG) — and on a brake: anyone who has drawn benefits for 24 months without interruption gets a new framework period only after a six-month waiting period (Art. 35 para. 4). For you that means: a company that has been on short-time work since spring 2025 reaches the limit in spring 2027. Whatever comes after that is not short-time work.

What you are entitled to during short-time work

Legally, short-time work is an insurance benefit paid to you, which your employer applies for and advances. The rules in Art. 31 to 41 AVIG that affect you directly:

Question	Rule
How much money?	80 percent of the creditable loss of earnings (Art. 34 para. 1), including holiday pay and contractually agreed regular allowances. Capped at the maximum of CHF 12,350 a month. The hours you work are paid by your employer at 100 percent, as always
Who pays, and when?	Your employer advances the compensation and pays it out on the regular payday (Art. 37 let. a) — you do not wait for the fund
AHV, pension fund?	Your employer pays the full social insurance contributions on the normal salary — 100 percent, not 80 (Art. 37 let. c). Your pension fund notices nothing of the short-time work; the insured salary stays the same
Waiting day?	One day per accounting month — borne by your employer, not you (Art. 50 para. 2 AVIV)
Holiday?	Your entitlement remains in full; holiday days may not be accounted for as lost hours
Do I have to consent?	Yes. Lost working hours are creditable only if you agree to the short-time work (Art. 33 para. 1 let. d). Your employer obtains that consent in advance

The last point is the one you should know before you sign. You may refuse short-time work — in which case the full salary under your employment contract remains owed to you. arbeit.swiss does not hide the flip side: "For employees, however, there is then an increased risk of being dismissed." Consent is therefore a trade-off, not a form — and anyone who gives it should know that it does not touch the right to give notice on either side.

May I apply for jobs? Yes — and here is what happens then

Nothing in the law forbids you to apply during short-time work. You are not unemployed, not registered with the RAV and have no job-search efforts to prove; your employer applies for the compensation for the company as a whole (Art. 38 AVIG), and the personal registration obligation in Art. 17 applies only to unemployment benefit. You may give notice as always, with the ordinary notice period. The question is not whether — but what happens to the money when you do.

With notice, the short-time work compensation ends for you. Art. 31 para. 1 let. c AVIG makes the entitlement conditional on "the employment relationship not having been terminated" — and that applies whoever gave notice, from the start of the notice period. From then on you are an ordinary employee under notice: your employer owes you the full salary until the end of the notice period — and may demand the contractually agreed working hours in return, even if the rest of the company continues on short-time work. Whether you can reclaim the loss of salary from the short-time work period before that is disputed and not settled by the highest court; do not count on it.

In practical terms, for your timeline: you apply during short-time work, but only give notice once the new contract is signed. Then you lose nothing during the notice period — you actually receive more than before — and the new employer waits the two or three months it waits for any other change of job. What you do not do: give notice in order to be "free" for the search. That costs 20 percent of your salary, then 100 percent, and afterwards at the RAV benefit suspension days for self-inflicted unemployment.

The reverse case: the company dismisses you during short-time work

That is allowed too — short-time work is no protection against dismissal. The pre-registration your employer files with the canton even contains a field for the number of planned dismissals (Art. 59 AVIV). If you are dismissed, the full salary applies again from the start of the notice period, and everything from the article on dismissal and job cuts kicks in: protection periods, collective redundancy from ten dismissals, RAV pre-registration, job-search efforts from the first day of the notice period.

Interim employment: the side job during lost hours

Anyone put on 50 percent has the other half of the week free — and may sell it. Since July 2021 there has been no obligation to accept an assigned interim employment (Art. 41 para. 1 and 2 AVIG have been repealed); what remains is the reporting obligation: income from interim employment or self-employed activity during short-time work must be reported to your employer, who informs the fund (Art. 41 para. 3). It is offset only to the extent that compensation plus side income exceed the loss of earnings (Art. 63 AVIV) — so you never end up below the amount you would have had without the side job, and usually above it.

That is more than a financial note. A fixed-term assignment at another company is professional experience with a reference, a contact into a firm that currently needs people, and often the door-opener to a permanent position when your own sector hits the 24-month limit in spring 2027.

Applying from short-time work: the quiet search

Short-time work is the best starting position a job search can have — with one limitation. You have time on weekdays, an ongoing income, an up-to-date reference and a reason every recruiter understands. What you do not have is the freedom to search openly: as long as you have not given notice, you are applying from within an ongoing employment relationship.

The reason in the letter: "My company has been on short-time work since 2025" is no stain in the watch and MEM industries in 2026, but a sentence every HR person in the region knows anyway. One sentence is enough; you need explain nothing
Discretion: references from your current company only after the contract; LinkedIn status set to "open to recruiters", not public
The calendar: factor the notice period of two or three months into your application calendar — whoever accepts an offer in September starts in December or January
The salary question: your salary expectations are based on your full contractual salary, not on the 80 percent on your current payslip
The match: a move from the watch industry into medical technology or from mechanical engineering into the energy sector is the typical route in 2026 — match your CV against the ad before you write, and name the transferable experience in the words of the target sector

Where preparAItor Fits

Short-time work gives you time; what is usually missing is the routine — for many in industry, the last application process was a decade ago. preparAItor brings it back:

CV to Swiss standard: from the ten-year-old CV to a dossier that gets read in 2026 — including the question of how short-time work appears in it (answer: not at all; it goes in the letter, in one sentence)
Complete dossier per ad: CV, letter with company research and email for every job — three tailored applications on a free short-time day instead of one
Interview training: practise "Why are you moving?" and "How is your company doing?" in a safe setting until the answers are short and calm
Application Tracker: all running applications with their status — so that you give notice when the contract is in, and not a day earlier

Short-Time Work up to 24 Months: What It Means for You — and Whether You May Still Apply for Jobs

TL;DR - Quick Summary

Where Switzerland is on short-time work right now

What you are entitled to during short-time work

May I apply for jobs? Yes — and here is what happens then

The reverse case: the company dismisses you during short-time work

Interim employment: the side job during lost hours

Applying from short-time work: the quiet search

Where preparAItor Fits

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