General information on working time

The service agreement applies to technical, library, and administrative staff including those assigned to academic fields. Academic staff are not subject to the service agreement.

The service agreement further develops the legal and collective-wage-agreement provisions on the working time of the technical, library, and administrative staff. In comparison to the previous administrative order on working hours (Verwaltungsanordnung über die Dienstzeit) dated 18 December 1996, the new service agreement provides for greater flexibility of working times (e.g., due to the possibility to remove core working times) but, at the same time, increases service orientation through the introduction of operating hours.

The service agreement came into effect on 1 November 2024. Operating hours will however apply from the formation of organizational units.

The working time frame is the time frame in which an employee must carry out their daily work. The working time frame is set as Monday to Friday, 6 am–8 pm.

The core working time is the time frame in which attendance is required.

The core working time will be removed with the introduction of the service agreement; however, individual areas may be excluded if required for operational matters.

Note: If an organizational unit has not yet been formed, a core working time applies to the respective employees during the transition period. The core working time is set as Monday to Thursday, 9 am–3 pm, and Friday, 9 am–2 pm. For part-time employees, individual agreements on the distribution and location of regular working time apply.

Working time is the individual time frame in which employees carry out their daily work. Working time is set as Monday to Friday, 6 am–8 pm. In contrast, operating hours are the period of time during which individual organizational units must ensure they are operational and available; however, individual employees are not necessarily required to be present.

Members of the organizational unit may collaboratively define alternative operating hours or set core hours.

Yes, operating hours may also be established for weekends.

Working times and attendance still depend on the work that needs to be done (work-related matters). Even if employees are generally free to schedule their working time, they must coordinate their schedule with the work requirements (e.g., meetings and services) of their organizational unit. The unit’s right to issue instructions will not be limited by the new regulations.

As many worked part time with individual working schedules before the new service agreement came into effect, and these hours will usually continue to be worked in a bloc but not exceed 10 hours per day, this will not have a significant effect on the difficulty of finding common meeting times.

Generally, operational capability refers to the individual, but not qualitative, availability of an organization’s employees. This can be ensured through telephone support, a ticket system, or office email depending on the organizational unit’s services. In exceptional cases, this may include activating answering machines.

Operating hours are set as Monday to Thursday, 8:45 am–4 pm, and Friday, 9 am–2 pm.

If only very few people are available during off-peak times, for example, if the majority of the organizational unit works in the morning, operating hours may be altered to avoid disadvantaging individual staff members.

In such cases, it is sufficient to activate an answering machine or refer inquiries to an office email.

In exceptional cases, alternative operating hours or core hours can be defined.

As a rule, organizational units should be large enough to ensure that their members’ weekly planned working time corresponds to at least 5 times the regular weekly full-time working time. There may be exceptions.

Managers set up the organizational unit in consultation with staff.

The new service agreement also applies to student employees and their hours may be included in the 5 full-time equivalent staff numbers.

If an organizational unit has not yet been formed, operating hours do not apply to the those employees— in this case, core working time applies. The core working time is set as Monday to Thursday, 9 am–3 pm, and Friday, 9 am–2 pm. Individual working schedules continue to apply for part-time employees.

No, while organizational units ensure someone is able to be contacted during operational hours, they do not replace the requirement for deputies.

In this situation as well, operating hours may be adapted by introducing core hours.

Service-oriented areas which have been working with duty rosters may continue to do so. However, duty rosters should not be used to cover functional times unilaterally.

This depends on the service in question. Areas with intensive client contact should not be exclusively covered by providing an office email address, but must also ensure contact is possible by phone, office hours, etc.

This depends on the service in question. Areas with intensive client contact should not be exclusively covered by providing an office email address, but must also ensure contact is possible by phone, office hours, etc.

No, availability for contact during operating hours applies to internal and external communication.

Unfortunately, no. Working hours are generally bloc times rather than split shifts and must be performed pursuant to work-related matters (workload and work to be done). Pauses should not exceed 2 hours, with longer pauses only taken in consultation with the supervisor (see Question 30).

Employees are obliged to record their daily hours worked on either an analogue or digital time card.

If an employee is unable to record the hours worked via the analog time clock due to the extension of the flexitime framework, they should manually document their worked timed on the analog time card. One unit equals 6 minutes of performed work (10 units = one hour)

Analog and digital time cards are the basis for managing working time accounts until an electronic recording system is introduced. Therefore, employees must keep their time cards so that the worked-time balance can be tracked.

Time worked before or after set working times is not taken into account when calculating credited working time unless it is overtime or extra work ordered by the HR department.

Employees must take an unpaid break in accordance with Section 4 ArbGZ of at least 30 minutes if their daily working time exceeds 6 hours and is no more than 9 hours and 45 minutes if their daily working time exceeds 9 hours. In this case, an additional 2 units of time or 15 minutes must be deducted from the recorded time. If the employee’s working time does not exceed 6 hours, taking a break is optional; if the employee takes a break, their planned working time is extended accordingly.

Lunch breaks should be taken between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm. On agreement with their supervisor/manager, the employee can extend their break by up to 2 hours if this does not conflict with work-related matters.

Pauses must be fully recorded on their analog or digital time card.

Medical or therapy appointments should be made outside of working hours and must be recorded as absences on the analog or digital time card.

The worked time account is used to record and account for deviations between an employee’s daily planned working time and actual working time.

Credited time can be compensated by taking off hours, a whole day, or several days from work; however, employees must take into account work-related matters and consult their supervisor/manager.

In the event of a planned absence from work for a whole day or several days, you must submit a request for compensatory time off (PDF) for approval as usual. Generally, there is no longer a limit to the number of compensatory days that can be taken per month.

In general, full-time employees can independently plan between 40 negative hours and 80 additional hours, taking into account the work-related matters of the organizational unit.

For part-time employees, this time should be adjusted to their individual number of working hours (e.g.,: 50% working time = 20 negative hours and 40 additional hours). Employees must avoid exceeding these limits.

Hours that exceed the limit are no longer forfeited at the end of the month. However, in this case, the employee and their manager must ensure that the employee’s worked time account balance quickly returns to a permitted level, ideally within one month and taking into account the organizational unit’s work-related matters.

Employees can mutually agree in writing with their unit that they can accrue up to 220 additional hours (thus exceeding the 80-hour limit) in order to take off up to 5 weeks from work.

If you would like to do this, please talk to your supervisor about it first. If there are no objections, contact your human resources administrator to discuss making the application.

In principle, credited worked time is not paid out. There are exceptions—namely, cases where the HR department explicitly orders that overtime be paid out or cases of hardship (e.g., if the employment relationship ends due to a long illness).

For part-time employees, an agreement is reached on the structure of working time as part of the part-time application. A defined working time may be set as part of this (individual) context (e.g., setting of core hours). Existing agreements on the distribution and location of regular working time remain valid. Employees working a work schedule request specifying a working time of 6:30 am–7 pm, are subject to the new working time of 6 am–8 pm with immediate effect. Employees are not required to submit a new request.

Special consideration must be given to the specific needs of disabled employees and those with equivalent status when forming organizational units and structuring operating hours. Individual solutions should be explored if necessary.