Calculate working days per month: Your guide for Switzerland

Are you wondering how many? Working days per month are they actually? This number is much more than just a number on the calendar - it is the linchpin for fair payroll and clever personnel planning.

As a rule of thumb in Switzerland, the average for a five-day week is 20 to 22 working days. But as is often the case, the devil is in the details, as cantonal holidays or individual working models can quickly change the outcome.

Why the exact number of working days is crucial

Determining the correct number of working days per month is not just a formality. It is the foundation for fair payroll, effective scheduling, and transparent vacation management. If this basis is incorrect, misunderstandings and errors are inevitable, ultimately costing time, money, and nerves.

Planned working days vs. actual working days: The small but significant difference

To provide clarity, you need to distinguish between two terms that are often confused in everyday life:

• Planned working days: This is the contractually agreed number of days an employee should work in a month. This number is the unchangeable basis for payroll.
• Actual working days: These are the days that were actually worked. The difference from the planned days naturally arises from vacation, illness, or other planned absences.

This clear distinction is crucial to maintain an overview and manage resource planning accurately. Imagine you run an event agency. Your planned days dictate how many personnel days you need to plan for the month. The actual days show you at the end of the month who worked how much, which is important for calculating overtime or under-time.

To give you a quick overview, we have summarized the most important averages for Switzerland in a table.

Average working days per month overview (five-day week)

This table provides a quick overview of the average number of working days and hours per month in Switzerland.

Working days per year: Overview for 2026 and 2027

The exact number of working days per year depends heavily on the cantonal holidays. While some cantons have only 9 public holidays, others have up to 13 days. This makes a difference of up to 4 working days per year – relevant for your personnel planning and payroll.

Working days 2026 by canton (5-day week)

Working days 2027 by canton (5-day week)

Practical tip: For precise personnel planning, we recommend a modern personnel planning software, which automatically takes into account cantonal holidays and helps you with deployment planning helps.

Why do working days fluctuate between years?

The number of working days per year is never identical. Main reasons:

• Movable holidays: Easter, Ascension and Pentecost fall on different weekdays each year
• Leap years: February 29 can be an additional working day
• Weekend holidays: If a holiday falls on Saturday/Sunday, there is no compensation day

For a complete annual planning, it is therefore advisable to work with a time tracking software that automatically calculates the correct target days and reconciles them with the actual working hours.

These figures are of course only guidelines. However, they help you with rough planning and payroll calculation. How to determine the exact values for your company will be explained in the following sections. More details on the calculation of working days in Switzerland can also be found on job.rocks.

Precise knowledge of the monthly working days avoids errors in payroll accounting and puts your personnel planning on a solid basis.

With the right tools and a clear understanding of the calculation, you create transparency – for yourself and your entire team. We will now show you step by step how to determine the exact number of working days and also master special cases such as part-time or shift work.

The exact calculation explained step by step

The exact number of Working days per month calculating is not rocket science if you know how to proceed. It is a clear, logical process that creates a reliable basis for your entire planning and payroll. Let's go through this together.

As a starting point, you always take the total number of calendar days in a month. First, you subtract all weekend days, i.e., Saturdays and Sundays. This simple step already brings you surprisingly close to the correct result.

Subtract weekends and holidays

The truly crucial second step is to consider the public holidays. This is where most mistakes happen because holidays in Switzerland are regulated by canton. What is a holiday in the canton of Zurich may not be one in the canton of Bern.

Most importantly: You only subtract holidays that actually fall on a weekday from Monday to Friday. If a holiday falls on a Sunday, it does not change the number of your working days at all.

To find the correct holidays for your location, it is best to look at the official list of your canton. Many cantonal administration websites offer current calendars that you can easily download.

A practical example for Zurich

Let's imagine you are calculating the working days for May 2024 in the canton of Zurich. The month has a total of 31 calendar days.

1. Total days: You start with 31 days.
2. Subtract weekends: In May 2024, there are 4 Saturdays and 4 Sundays. That's 8 days you can directly subtract.
   • 31 – 8 = 23 days
3. Check cantonal holidays: Now it gets interesting. In the canton of Zurich, Labor Day (May 1, a Wednesday) and Ascension Day (May 9, a Thursday) are public holidays that fall on weekdays. Whit Monday (May 20) is also included. So that's 3 additional days off.
4. Subtract holidays: 23 – 3 = 20 working days

This is how easily you arrive at the exact number of required working days for this specific month and location. You can apply this method for any month and canton.

What you need to consider in leap years

A small but important point is leap years, such as 2024. The additional February 29 can affect the number of annual working days if it falls on a weekday. For individual month calculations, this is hardly relevant, but for annual planning, you should keep it in mind. Want to know more about it? In our article about the Calculation of working days per year let's take a closer look at this topic.

Plan holidays and weekends correctly

Holidays are often the crux when you want to Working days per month calculate exactly. A day off in the middle of the week, like a Tuesday, disrupts your planning quite differently than a holiday that conveniently falls on the weekend. Let's take a closer look at this so that you always have an overview in the future.

The correct planning is actually quite simple: You take the calendar days of a month as a basis and systematically subtract all days on which no work is done. This way, you determine the exact number of required working days at the end.

The following graphic shows you this process at a glance.

As you can see, the path from calendar days to actual working days is a simple subtraction process. The holidays are the last, but often crucial step.

Distinguish between national and cantonal holidays

Especially in Switzerland, this is a particular challenge. In addition to the few national holidays like the 1st of August there are a number of cantonal holidays. You must therefore always consult the calendar of your specific canton. You can usually find a reliable overview directly on the websites of the cantonal administration.

It is also important to distinguish between holidays with a fixed date (like Christmas on December 25thand movable holidays (like Ascension), which always fall on a weekday. The latter definitely reduce your working days, while a holiday with a fixed date can also fall on a Saturday or Sunday and thus not affect your planning at all.

The annual number of working days in Switzerland fluctuates between 250 and 255 daysDepending on the canton and leap year, this amounts to about 20.8 to 21.25 days per month.

Holidays naturally reduce this number further. In the canton of Zurich, for example, there are about 10 additional days off per year on top. This precise planning becomes all the more important as the average full-time weekly working hours continue to decline – 2023 it was only 40 hours and 12 minutes. More details can be found in the current working time statistics from the Federal Statistical Office.

The importance for your personnel planning

Imagine you run a restaurant. Correctly scheduled public holidays have direct financial impacts. Working on a public holiday often means you have to pay statutory or contractual wage supplements.

• Supplement calculation: Precise planning helps you to accurately budget the costs of holiday work.
• Personnel disposition: You know exactly when you need more staff, and can thus avoid bottlenecks from the outset.
• Bridge days: The days between a public holiday and the weekend are extremely popular vacation days. Keep an eye on them to be prepared for a changed vacation planning in the team and to manage your resources accordingly.

Proactive planning of these special days helps you keep operations running smoothly while being fair to your employees.

Mastering special cases like part-time and shift work

The classic five-day week from Monday to Friday is no longer the only rhythm in the working world. That's why you need to know exactly how you Working days per month determine them accurately, even for part-time employees, shift workers, or those with flexible flextime models.

But don't worry, it's often easier than it seems at first glance. The key is always to understand the contractual basis and logically apply it to the respective month. Whether part-time, shift work, or entries and exits during the month - there is a clear and fair method for each case.

Calculate part-time models proportionally

For part-time employees, the calculation depends heavily on the specific work model. If someone works on fixed days, for example always from Monday to Wednesday, it's quite simple: you count the Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays of the respective month and have your result.

It gets a bit trickier if someone has a percentage workload without fixed days, let's say 60%. Here, it's best to proceed step by step:

• Determine the target days for the full-time employee: First, you calculate the regular working days for a full-time employee in this month (e.g., 22 days).
• Multiply by the workload: Then you multiply this result by the part-time workload.
  • A practical example: 22 working days × 0.60 = 13.2 target working days.

In practice, calculations are often more precise with target hours. This creates a more accurate basis, especially when it comes to payroll.

Shift work and irregular schedules

In gastronomy, healthcare, or logistics, irregular working hours are the norm. Here, the number of working days can fluctuate greatly from month to month. Instead of rigid daily calculations, the shift schedule is the only reliable basis.

The individually created duty roster defines the target working days for the month. Payroll is then based on the shifts actually worked and planned.

Careful and forward-looking planning is key here to ensure fairness and maintain an overview. Comprehensive strategies for efficient shift planning help you manage this complexity and deploy your team optimally.

Entry and exit during the month

When employees start or leave the company in the middle of the month, salary and vacation entitlements must of course be calculated proportionally. The logic behind this is simple: You simply count the working days from the entry date to the end of the month or from the beginning of the month to the exit date.

A short example: Someone joins on May 16 in a month with 22 regular working days. From May 16, there are 12 working days left in the month. Exactly these 12 days then form the basis for the proportional salary calculation. This ensures that everything is billed fairly and correctly.

Why the exact number of working days makes the difference

The correct number of Working days per month knowing is far more than just a bureaucratic exercise. This one number is the foundation on which some of the most important processes in your company rest. If it is correct, payroll, personnel planning, and controlling run like clockwork.

An inaccurate calculation, on the other hand, is a guarantee for chaos. Incorrectly booked overtime, erroneous vacation entitlements, or unfair salary cuts are often the direct result - problems that are not only expensive but also undermine trust within the team.

Precision in payroll accounting

The exact number of target working days is the pivot for error-free payroll accounting. Every single day counts here, especially when variable salary components or special cases come into play.

Imagine an employee joins in the middle of the month or leaves the company. Only if you know the exact number of working days can you calculate the salary fairly and in compliance with the law. The same applies to the correct accounting of overtime or the evaluation of vacation days - a clean data basis prevents costly errors and creates the necessary transparency.

Efficiency in personnel deployment planning

The target working days are the basis of any forward-looking shift and deployment planning. They give you a clear indication of how many working days you need to cover in a month, enabling planning that is oriented to actual needs.

• Avoid bottlenecks: You can see early on when things are getting tight, such as around holidays or during seasonal peaks.
• Prevent overstaffing: At the same time, you avoid scheduling too many employees, which unnecessarily drives up costs.
• Create a fair workload: Thoughtful planning ensures a balanced distribution of work and thus sustainably increases team satisfaction.

Data-driven planning based on the correct working days is the key to neither overwhelming your team nor leaving them idle.

This point is becoming increasingly important as working hours change. Between 2018 and 2023 the weekly full-time working hours in Switzerland decreased by 46 minutes to 40 hours and 12 minutes. Read more about this trend and what it means for the working world in this exciting article on watson.ch.

Clarity for controlling

In controlling, exact working days are pure gold. They provide you with the hard facts you need for meaningful analyses and solid cost control.

With this data, you can determine reliable key figures such as revenue per working day or analyze personnel costs per hour actually worked. These are exactly the pieces of information you need to make informed business decisions and set the course for the long-term success of your company.

How smart tools take the calculation off your hands

Juggling working days manually in Excel lists or even calculating them on paper is not only a test of patience – it is also one of the most common sources of error in personnel planning. Fortunately, there are smart helpers today that take this time-consuming task off your hands and make the whole process a breeze.

Instead of gathering everything manually, you can rely on proven formulas and specialized software. This not only saves you valuable time but also avoids calculation errors that can cost you dearly, especially during payroll.

Excel formulas for a quick overview

Excel is an incredibly powerful tool if you know how to use it correctly. Instead of tediously counting calendar days, you can simply use the built-in functions to Working days per month determine in no time.

A particularly useful formula for this is NETWORKDAYSIt automatically calculates the number of workdays between two dates and excludes weekends by default. You can even create a separate list of holidays and include them directly in the formula.

• Here's how: Simply enter the start and end date of the month.
• Consider holidays: Create a list of all relevant cantonal holidays and reference this range in the formula. Excel will then automatically subtract these days.

Even though Excel is super practical for simple cases, it quickly reaches its limits with complex shift schedules or different working time models. More tips on Personnel planning with Excel can be found in our comprehensive guide.

Professional software for deployment planning

For companies that want to take a step further and truly professionalize their planning, specialized software solutions are the answer. Personnel deployment planning systems not only calculate the required workdays but also take over the entire process for you – from planning to billing.

Such tools automatically consider cantonal holidays, individual working time models, and any absences. Especially for practices that want to comprehensively manage and automate their processes, specialized Practice software for occupational therapy can massively simplify working time planning and recording.

These systems drastically reduce administrative effort, minimize errors, and give you back the time to focus on what really matters: your core business.

Wenn du Arbeitstage, Sollstunden and Schichten nicht mehr manuell zusammensuchen willst, buch dir hier eine kurze Demo mit Fabio: https://job.rocks/demo-vereinbaren

Frequently asked questions about calculating workdays

When it comes to calculating Working days per month the same questions always arise in practice. Whether for payroll, vacation planning, or shift organization – clear answers are invaluable here to avoid errors and ensure transparency.

Here I have collected the most common questions for you and summarized them concisely.

How many working days does a month have on average in Switzerland?

In a classic five-day week, you can expect an average of 20 to 22 working days per month in Switzerland. For quick calculations, the rule of thumb of 21 working days has proven to be a practical benchmark.

How does this number come about? Quite simply: you take the total calendar days of a month and subtract the weekends as well as the average number of cantonal holidays. Of course, the exact number varies depending on the month, year, and specific holidays in your canton.

How do I calculate working days for part-time employees?

For part-time employees, the calculation is always proportional and strongly depends on the work model. It's simpler than it sounds.

• Fixed working days: If someone, for example, always works only on Mondays and Tuesdays, you simply count the Mondays and Tuesdays in the respective month. Simple and direct.
• Flexible workload: With a 60% workload without fixed days, it becomes a calculation. You take the target working days of a full-time employee (e.g., 22 days) and multiply them by the workload: 22 days × 0.6 equals 13.2 target working days. For payroll, calculating with target hours is often even more accurate and avoids rounding errors.

What role do holidays play in the calculation?

Public holidays reduce the number of your target working days, but only if they fall on a weekday from Monday to Friday. If a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it has no impact on your calculation.

A very important point: The holiday regulations in Switzerland vary greatly by canton. It is therefore essential that you always have the valid calendar for your company location at hand. Only in this way can you ensure that the payroll and your entire personnel planning are correct.

This precise distinction is the key to avoiding misunderstandings and creating a fair basis for all employees.

Would you like to finally leave behind the calculation of working days, shift planning, and payroll preparation? job.rocks offers you an integrated solution that minimizes administrative effort and truly simplifies your personnel processes. Discover the benefits of job.rocks now.

Frequently asked questions about working days per month and year