Without precise time tracking, you're likely losing 15-20% of billable hours every month. Learn the legal requirements, best tools, and strategies to build a sustainable freelance business in Switzerland.
You're billing a client for "approximately 20 hours" of work this month. Sound familiar?
Without precise time tracking, you're likely losing CHF 1,200-1,600 monthly for a freelancer earning CHF 100/hour. Beyond lost revenue, poor time tracking creates tax headaches, client disputes, and the perfect recipe for burnout.
Here's what Swiss freelancers actually need to know about working hours regulations and time tracking—cut through the legal confusion, choose the right tools, and build a sustainable business.
Let's clear up the biggest confusion first.
For employees: Yes, absolutely mandatory. Under Article 46 of the Swiss Labour Act (ArG) and Articles 73a/73b of Ordinance 1 (ArGV 1), employers must record all employee working time. This has been strictly enforced since January 1, 2016, with records retained for 5 years.
For freelancers and independent contractors: No legal requirement.
As a self-employed professional, you operate outside Switzerland's employment law framework. You're not subject to the mandatory time tracking rules that govern traditional employers.
Even without legal obligation, time tracking isn't optional for successful freelancers. Here's why you should track anyway:
Swiss employment law doesn't require you to track time, but your business success depends on it.
Even though you're not bound by employee regulations, understanding the legal framework helps you set healthy boundaries.
Swiss law limits employees to:
While these limits don't legally apply to you, they provide science-backed benchmarks. The Federal Council established these maximums based on health research—exceeding them consistently increases burnout risk by 37%, according to a 40-year longitudinal study.
Swiss employees must receive:
These aren't just bureaucratic rules—they're productivity optimization guidelines. Your brain needs recovery time. Skipping breaks doesn't make you more productive; it makes you slower, less creative, and more prone to errors.
As a freelancer, you have the freedom to work whenever you want. But if you're regularly working nights and weekends, you're not experiencing freedom—you're heading toward burnout.
Beyond avoiding lost revenue, systematic time tracking delivers measurable business benefits.
You think you earn CHF 100/hour. But when you track all hours—including emails, revisions, admin, and client communication—your actual rate might be CHF 65/hour.
Most freelancers lose 30-40% of their time to non-billable activities without realizing it. Time tracking reveals where hours disappear.
Time tracking acts as an early warning system. A 40-year study found participants taking less than 3 weeks annual vacation had a 37% greater chance of premature death.
Swiss tax authorities expect freelancers to maintain accurate records. Time tracking provides the paper trail you need during audits.
The best time tracking method is the one you'll actually use consistently.
Billable hours:
Non-billable but business-related:
Personal/breaks:
Tracking everything—not just billable time—gives you the complete productivity picture.
Manual entry works if you:
Automated tracking makes sense if you:
Most successful freelancers use hybrid approaches: automated tracking with manual categorization and notes.
Here's the habit that makes time tracking stick:
End of every workday (5 minutes):
This micro-habit prevents the "end of month panic" when you realize you forgot to track two weeks of work.
You need a tool that handles Swiss business requirements while staying simple enough to use daily.
| Tool | Magic Heidi | Toggl Track | Clockify | Harvest | bexio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free trial | CHF 10/mo | Free | CHF 12/mo | CHF 30+/mo |
| Swiss VAT | ✓ Automatic | ✗ Manual | ✗ Manual | ⚠ Limited | ✓ Full |
| QR Invoices | ✓ Built-in | ✗ No | ✗ No | ⚠ Basic | ✓ Yes |
| Bank Import | ✓ Swiss banks | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| All-in-One | ✓ Complete | ✗ Tracking only | ✗ Tracking only | ⚠ Partial | ✓ Complete |
| Setup Time | 2 minutes | 10 minutes | 5 minutes | 15 minutes | 30+ minutes |
| Best For | Swiss freelancers | Teams & analytics | Budget-conscious | Freelancers & teams | Swiss SMEs |
Unlike generic international tools, Magic Heidi was built specifically for the Swiss market with all-in-one functionality.
Automatic VAT, QR-invoices, bank imports, and multi-language support for Swiss markets
Time tracking integrated with invoicing, expenses, and accounting—no export/import needed
Convert tracked hours directly to invoices with one click, automatic payment reminders
iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and Web—track time on all your devices seamlessly
Magic Heidi
CHF 500
Jan 29
Webbiger LTD
CHF 2000
Jan 24
John Doe
CHF 600
Jan 20
Time tracking shows you where time goes. These techniques help you use it better.
Science-backed techniques used by successful Swiss freelancers.
Work in focused 25-minute intervals with 5-minute breaks. Creates artificial urgency that brings wandering minds back on task.
Assign specific time blocks to task types. Eliminates decision fatigue and reduces context-switching costs (up to 40% productivity loss).
Group similar tasks and complete in one session. Each task type requires specific mental mode—batching increases efficiency.
Fill 70% of schedule with committed work, leave 30% open for unexpected requests and buffer time. Over-scheduling guarantees stress.
Block 4-hour windows with zero interruptions. Deep, focused work produces exponentially better results than fragmented attention.
Work in precise intervals like SBB trains. Set Pomodoro timers to match train schedules—embrace Swiss precision in your workflow.
Burnout isn't just feeling tired. It's a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that sabotages your business and health. Time tracking provides early warning signs.
Consistently 50+ hours weekly, less than 60% billable time
Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual recovery time—non-negotiable
Evidence-based limits backed by your time tracking data
Track sleep, exercise, meals, social time alongside work hours
Time tracking gives you the data to set evidence-based boundaries:
"I'm available for calls Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2pm-5pm." (Time blocking protects deep work mornings)
"I respond to emails within 24 hours on weekdays." (Not within 24 minutes)
"My rate includes two rounds of revisions." (Prevents unlimited scope creep)
"I don't work weekends or evenings." (Swiss labour law validates this—even for freelancers)
Professional boundaries don't repel good clients—they attract them. Clients respect freelancers who run organized, sustainable businesses.
Track these metrics alongside work hours:
If your time tracking shows these areas consistently neglected, your business model is unsustainable. Adjust before burnout forces you to.
Time tracking data becomes valuable when it translates to accurate invoices and tax optimization.
As a self-employed professional in Switzerland, you must:
Maintain business records for 10 years including:
Pay AHV/IV/EO contributions on self-employment income (currently 9.65% on net income)
Register for VAT if annual revenue exceeds CHF 100,000
Track deductible expenses:
Time tracking strengthens your expense claims. When you track 40 hours weekly of home office work, your home office deduction becomes defensible during audits.
For hourly billing:
For project billing: Use tracked time to:
For retainer clients: Track hours to ensure:
Rather than juggling separate time tracking and invoicing tools, Magic Heidi streamlines the entire workflow:
This integration eliminates the biggest pain point of time tracking: manual data transfer between systems.
Ready to start? Follow this proven implementation plan.
Day 1-2: Choose your tool
Day 3-4: Structure your tracking
Day 5-7: Baseline week
Daily routine:
Common pitfalls:
Now you have 3 weeks of data. Analyze:
Where does time actually go?
What needs to change?
Set new boundaries:
See how time tracking transformed their businesses and prevented burnout.
I thought I was working 40 hours weekly. Time tracking revealed 52-hour weeks with only 45% billable time. The data shocked me into action. I raised my hourly rate 30%, fired my two least profitable clients, and now work 38 hours weekly earning 20% more.
UX Designer, Zurich
I resisted time tracking for years—felt too rigid. Finally tried Magic Heidi when tax season became a nightmare. Within one month, I discovered I was losing CHF 1,200 monthly to unbilled scope creep. Disputes disappeared, and I've justified two rate increases with concrete data.
IT Consultant, Geneva
The burnout warning signs in my time tracking saved my business. Three months of 55+ hour weeks showed I was doing more admin and less paid work. I hired a VA for CHF 35/hour to handle admin, freeing up 10 hours weekly for CHF 120/hour client work. I finally take weekends off.
Marketing Freelancer, Lausanne
No. Mandatory time tracking under ArG Articles 46, 73a, and 73b applies only to employees, not independent contractors. However, tracking remains essential for accurate billing, tax compliance, and business health.
At minimum, track billable client hours by project. Ideally, also track non-billable work (admin, business development, breaks) for complete productivity insight.
Track time even on fixed-price work. This data shows whether your pricing is profitable and helps estimate future similar projects accurately.
Yes. Software subscriptions for business management (including time tracking tools like Magic Heidi) are fully deductible business expenses in Switzerland.
Start simple with 5-10 categories. You can always add detail later. Over-categorizing creates friction that kills consistency.
Reconstruct as best you can using calendar, emails, and project files. Then set up daily reminders to prevent future gaps.
For hourly clients, yes—itemized invoices build trust. For project clients, use internally but share high-level summaries if it demonstrates value.
Use a tool with quick task-switching (Magic Heidi and Toggl both excel here) or round to 15-minute blocks to avoid over-precision.
Absolutely. Many creative freelancers find tracking reveals patterns in their productivity—like which hours produce best work—allowing them to optimize creative sessions.
Biggest mistakes: making it too complex, not reviewing data regularly, tracking for tracking's sake without using insights to improve your business.
Time is the only resource you can't create more of. As a Swiss freelancer, how you track and manage your hours directly determines your income, work-life balance, and long-term sustainability.
The data is clear:
You don't need complex systems or expensive consultants. You need one reliable tool and consistent daily habits.
Start tracking your time properly with Magic Heidi:
✓ Free trial with no credit card required
✓ Swiss-specific features (VAT, QR-invoices, bank imports)
✓ All-in-one platform (time tracking, invoicing, expenses, accounting)
✓ Available on all your devices (iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, Web)
✓ Multi-language support for Swiss markets
Remember: Every Swiss franc you earn starts with tracking the time you invest. Make that time count.