A third of Swiss industrial companies on short-time work
One third of industrial companies on short-time work
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Listening: A third of Swiss industrial companies on short-time work
Employees at many small and medium-sized industrial companies in Switzerland are currently working shortened hours, including a third of manufacturing firms.
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Keystone-SDA
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Ein Drittel der Industrie-Unternehmen mit Kurzarbeit
Original
This is the result of a survey conducted by the umbrella organisation Swissmechanic.
Although the majority of companies are not resorting to short-time working, small and medium-sized companies are particularly affected, Swissmechanic said. Around 45% of companies with 10 to 49 employees and 29% of companies with 50 to 249 employees had recently introduced short-time working.
The duration of short-time working varies. A good third of the companies affected have been working short-time for more than six months.
A good quarter have been doing so for three to six months and around 30% have implemented short-time working for one to three months. In a good 40% of companies, short-time working affects a maximum of half of the workforce, while in 28% between three quarters and 100% of employees are affected.
Dissatisfaction with authorities
For just under half of the companies, the application for authorisation of short-time working was implemented relatively quickly, but still with some bureaucratic hurdles. Only around a fifth of companies found the approval process to be very quick and unbureaucratic.
For 17% of companies, the process was lengthy and bureaucratic. If the proportion of short-time work is only low, the effort involved often exceeds the actual benefit. Swissmechanic therefore sees a need for action, without proposing specific measures.
The association assumes that around three quarters of companies will continue to work short-time for longer. Only around a quarter of those affected expect the measures to end soon.
Translated from German with DeepL/mga
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