Working-time records: 5 years retention

Scope: what exactly applies

Working-time recording is the outlier in this table: five years instead of ten. It follows not commercial law but the Employment Act — the employer must keep available the registers and records from which the information needed for enforcement can be derived (Art. 46 Employment Act, made concrete in Art. 73 of Ordinance 1). Two things follow. First, keeping everything for ten years is never wrong — the shorter period is a minimum, not an obligation to delete. Second, and this is the costlier mistake: automatically discarding time data after five years can be premature if the same data also substantiates a wage. The longer voucher period then applies. When in doubt, the longer of the two periods governs.

When does the period start? An example

A document from March 2026 belongs to the 2026 financial year and remains subject to retention until the end of 2031 — the period runs from the end of the financial year, not from the document date.

In practice with bexio

Working-time data rarely originates in bexio itself but in a separate time-tracking system — and that is exactly where it gets forgotten when tools change. Whatever reaches bexio as a voucher, quintio mirrors continuously into your own Google Drive: sorted by year and month and searchable, even once the time-tracking tool is a different one.

Related retention periods

• Payslips 10 years as an accounting voucher
• Job applications no retention duty — a duty to delete
• Tax records 10 years — VAT-relevant records until absolute prescription
• To the retention period calculator
• Retention obligation in Switzerland: who, what, how long

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Why five years and not ten?

Because the duty comes from the Employment Act, not from commercial law. If the same data also substantiates a wage, the longer voucher period applies.

Do I have to record working time at all?

For most employment relationships yes, with statutory simplifications and exemptions. The five-year period applies to the records that exist.

May I delete the data after five years?

The period is a minimum, not an obligation to delete. Before deleting, check whether the same data is still needed as an accounting voucher.