Working hours
The needs of our business and financial circumstances are the basis for scheduling working hours. At the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, your working hours may be regulated or non-regulated, depending on the nature of your employment. Regulated working hours may be calculated over different periods (e.g. 40 hours per week or 1,700 hours per year). Non-regulated working hours are not fixed in the same way as with the regulated method of scheduling working hours (although the idea is that, over time, those employees with non-regulated working hours shall work neither more nor less than those with regulated working hours). The conditions governing the various methods in which working hours are scheduled are regulated through collective agreements or through individual agreements between employers and employees.
Local agreement on working hours and payment depending on working hours at KTH
The local agreement for working hours at KTH applies to all employees at KTH, with the exception of:
- Employees covered by another local agreement on working hours (e.g. teachers).
- Employees who, by individual agreement, have non-regulated working hours.
- Employees who, by local agreement on employees in executive positions, are covered by the “Chefsavtal” agreement.
- Employees who are employed in the position of “researcher” or “post-doctoral fellow”.
For full-time employees, normal working hours are 40 hours per week, and flexible working hours apply. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, as well as the National Day of Sweden (6 June), Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, are non-working days when these fall on a weekday. A “bridge day” (Swedish: klämdag), i.e. a working day that falls between two non-working days, is also a non-working day and does not need to be made up for.
Extra hours (part-time employees)
A part-time employee, or an employee who works part-time hours, may work extra hours within the boundaries of the normal working hours of a full-time employee, i.e. between 08.00 and 16.30 on weekdays. Extra hours must be prescribed in writing by the immediate manager.
Overtime
Overtime is always work outside normal working hours and must be prescribed in writing by the immediate manager.
Overtime may be either “basic overtime” or “qualified overtime”.
“Basic overtime” refers to overtime work conducted at times other than those shown below as “qualified overtime”, once the employee has completed his/her normal eight hours.
“Qualified overtime” means overtime
- between 19.00 on a Friday and 07.00 on a Monday
- between 19.00 on the day before Epiphany, 1 May, Ascension Day and the National Day of Sweden and 07.00 on the closest following working day
- between 19.00 on Maundy Thursday and 07.00 on the day after Easter Monday
- between 19.00 on the day before Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and 07.00 on the closest following working day after the eve of the holiday in question.
- otherwise between 22.00 and 06.00.
Working during unsocial hours
An unsocial hours supplement (Swedish: “Ob-tillägg”) is payable for any work conducted during unsocial hours, provided that this is scheduled working hours/work planned by the employer. An unsocial hours supplement and overtime payment cannot be paid at the same time.
A basic unsocial hours supplement applies on weekdays between 19.00 and 22.00.
A qualified unsocial hours supplement applies between 19.00 on Friday and 07.00 on Monday. A qualified unsocial hours supplement also applies from 19.00 on the day before Epiphany, 1 May, Ascension Day or the National Day of Sweden and 07.00 on the closest following working day. A qualified unsocial hours supplement is also payable on all days between 22.00 and 06.00.
A public holiday unsocial hours supplement is payable between 19.00 on the day before Good Friday and 07.00 on the day after Easter Monday. A public holiday unsocial hours supplement is also payable between 19.00 on the day before Midsummer Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and 07.00 on the closest following working day after the eve of the holiday in question.
Unsocial hours supplements are payable at the following rates per hour:
- Basic unsocial hours supplement – SEK 25
- Qualified unsocial hours supplement – SEK 50
- Public holiday unsocial hours supplement – SEK 100
For more details, refer to KTH’s local collective agreements (in Swedish only) .
Bridge days and half-days 2024
Bridge days
- 10 May, the day after Ascension Day
- 7 June, the day after the National Day of Sweden
- 23 December, the day before Christmas Eve
- 27 December, the day after Boxing Day
- 30 December, the day before New Year’s Eve
Half-days
- 5 January, Epiphany
- 28 March, Maundy Thursday
- 30 April, the day before 1 May
- 1 November, the day before All Saints’ Day
With regard to reduced working hours for part-time workers in 2024, refer to:
Working Time Schedule 2024 (only in Swedish) (pdf 113 kB)
Local agreement on flexible working hours at KTH
For full-time employees, working 40 hours per week, normal working hours are 08.00–16.30, with a mandatory lunchbreak of at least 30 minutes (unpaid working hours).
The flexible working hours framework is as follows:
06.00–09.00
10.30–14.00 for lunch
14.00–20.00
There is an option to take a short break (15 minutes) in the morning and afternoon.
One condition for flexible working hours is that the focus must be on the business. Depending on the needs of the business, employees are free to take advantage of these flexible working hours, i.e. to plan their working hours within the framework of the flexible working hours arrangement. The employer should monitor the employee’s flexible working hours balance on a regular basis.
The flexible working hours balance must be kept within the range of minus 10 to plus 50 hours. Any flexible working hours accrued can be taken as time off and may be taken as whole working days off following approval by the employee’s manager.
For more details, refer to KTH’s local collective agreement (in Swedish only) .
A flexible working hours report is available in the forms archive if required
Flexible working hours and part-time employees/employees working part-time
For part-time employees/employees working part-time, the flexible working hours framework is agreed directly between the employer and the employee and documented in writing.
Overtime for employees with flexible working hours
Being able to work flexible working hours is a freedom that comes with responsibilities. Employees are required to adjust the time taken from and added to their flexible working hours balance depending on the needs of the business.
Overtime work must always be prescribed in writing by the immediate manager. Once such a ruling has been made, any time in excess of normal working hours is overtime.
Where, following a ruling by the employer, an employee works during a time that falls outside the flexible working hours framework, the time of such work is considered as overtime.
This means that, based on the needs of the business, employees may choose to work after their normal working hours and accrue time to their flexible working hours accounts. On the other hand, the employer may not prescribe such work under the flexible working hours arrangement; in such cases, the ruling is that the work is overtime.
In other respects, the provisions detailed above under the heading “Local agreement on working hours and payment depending on working hours at KTH” shall apply.
For more details, refer to KTH’s local collective agreements (in Swedish only) and the central collective agreements for government employers, “Villkorsavtalen” (in Swedish only) .
Working during unsocial hours
The same rules apply to those who have the option to work flexible working hours as to those who do not (see above). In order for an unsocial hours supplement to be payable, the work must be conducted at an unsocial time of day, and must be scheduled working hours/work planned by the employer.
For more details, refer to KTH’s local collective agreements (in Swedish only) .
Non-regulated working hours
Non-regulated working hours are where employees are trusted to arrange their own working hours, based on their work tasks.
Individual employees are given a high level of responsibility to decide for themselves what the work tasks and needs of the business are, how the work is to be scheduled and when it needs to be carried out in order to meet the set targets. While non-regulated working hours provide great freedom to employees in allowing them control over their working hours, it is still the employer who – with the support of labour law – determines which work tasks need to be performed and what is expected in terms of attendance at the workplace.
Of course, those working non-regulated hours report in sick in exactly the same way as everyone else. Those working non-regulated hours also apply for other forms of absence, such as holidays and leave of absence, in the same way as do other employees.
Non-regulated working hours are available to all occupational categories. An individual agreement to this effect must be signed in order for the employee to have non-regulated working hours at KTH. It is the Director of Personnel who has the right to sign such an agreement. Before the employee moves onto non-regulated working hours, it is important for both the employee and the immediate manager to come to an agreement on how the work is to be conducted and to agree that the right conditions are in place.
The employer’s responsibility for the working environment also applies to those employees with non-regulated working hours, and it is important to maintain a continuous dialogue between employee and manager.
Non-regulated working hours and the opportunity for teleworking must not be confused. The same rules apply to teleworking irrespective of which working hours arrangements apply in the individual case. For more information, refer to Teleworking .
The template for agreements on non-regulated working hours is provided by the Human Resources Department.
If you have non-regulated working hours, the provisions relating to half-days, bridge days, flexible working hours, as well as supplements for working extra hours, overtime or unsocial hours do not apply.
Local agreement on working hours for teachers and other teaching staff at KTH
Employees in positions as teachers under the appointments procedure at KTH, as well as doctoral students, have annual working hours unless otherwise agreed.
Total annual working hours for those covered by the agreement are as follows:
1,700 hours for employees with 35 days’ annual leave
1,732 hours for employees with 31 days’ annual leave
1,756 hours for employees with 28 days’ annual leave
The more detailed allocation of work tasks within the available working hours as shown above will be done by the business following consultation with the authorised employee representative and the employee in question, and will be established in the work task plan.
Overtime
All of the employee’s work tasks must be covered within the annual working hours. Overtime in excess of normal annual working hours will normally not occur. Exceptionally, overtime work may be prescribed in accordance with the rules in the “Villkorsavtalen” agreements (in Swedish only) .
Extra hours (part-time employees)
For part-time employees or employees working on a part-time basis, extra work, and payment for such work, may apply. The rules in Chapter 4 of the “Villkorsavtalen” agreements (in Swedish only) will apply.
Working during unsocial hours
Work during scheduled working hours/as planned by the employer during unsocial hours is payable in accordance with the Local agreement on working hours and payment depending on working hours at KTH.
Other information
Instructions on how to interpret the agreement are available.
A group composed of the parties has developed a handbook that clarifies how employers and employees should handle issues relating to the questions on the scheduling of working hours linked to the agreement for teachers etc.
For more details, refer to
KTH’s local collective agreements (in Swedish only)
.