August 2026: what's changing for Swiss businesses

The month of August 2026 not only brings administrative adjustments. For Swiss companies, it opens a regulatory sequence that directly affects personnel management, pensions, operating costs, and compliance. The most immediately sensitive measure concerns the reduction of working hours: from 1st August 2026, the maximum duration for receiving short-time work compensation remains extended from 12 to 24 months, with an application announced until 31st January 2027.

For an SME, this type of change is not just a legal information. It changes the way salaries, liquidity, and staffing are planned. And it fits into a broader schedule: adaptation of OPP 2 related to the 13th AVS pension, digitisation of federal procedures, expected revisions in corporate transparency, anti-money laundering, and data protection in the canton of Bern. In other words: August launches a period where management and their fiduciaries have an interest in reviewing their processes before deadlines pile up.

Extended short-time work: a buffer for fragile order books

The reduction of working hours, often called short-time work, allows a company facing a temporary downturn in activity to reduce the working time of all or part of its staff, rather than eliminating jobs. The mechanism aims to preserve jobs when the difficulty is cyclical and the company can reasonably hope to recover. For the employer, the challenge is twofold: to limit the wage burden during a lean phase and to retain skills within the company.

According to the SECO file, the Federal Council decided on 27th May 2026 to maintain the maximum compensation duration at 24 months instead of 12. The measure comes into force on 1st August 2026 and applies until 31st January 2027. Watson, echoing the elements communicated by the Confederation, indicates that this extension aims to preserve jobs and avoid an increase in unemployment in an always difficult economic context.

For managers, this extension mainly offers time. An industrial company whose orders are slowing down, a subcontractor exposed to a major client, or a service company whose mandates are shifting can integrate this margin into their cash flow scenarios. But short-time work is not just a budget line: it requires rigorous documentation of work losses, consistency with schedules, correct information to employees, and precise monitoring in payroll accounting.

The fiduciary plays a watchdog role here. It can help distinguish what is due to a temporary downturn in activity from what reflects a structural problem, adapt cash flow forecasts, and verify that payroll statements remain consistent with the hours actually worked. In companies where working hours are tracked approximately, the extension of short-time work should not mask a weakness in internal control: the longer the measure lasts, the more traceability becomes essential.

13th AVS pension: OPP 2 corrected before the December payment

Another change comes into effect on 1st August 2026: anticipated modifications to the ordinance on occupational pensions for old age, survivors, and disability, OPP 2. According to Watson, the objective is to avoid difficulties during the first payment of the 13th AVS pension, scheduled for December 2026.

The subject may seem distant from the daily management of an SME. Yet it touches on a sensitive area: the coordination between AVS and occupational pensions. Until now, the rule cited by Watson provides that the pensions from the pension fund and AVS must not together exceed 85% of the last AVS salary. Without adaptation, the integration of the 13th AVS pension could lead some beneficiaries to exceed this threshold and thus suffer a reduction in pension fund benefits. According to the Federal Council, the adjustment aims precisely to avoid this effect.

For an employer, the operational impact will depend on their situation: workforce close to retirement, former employees concerned by benefits, affiliated pension fund, communications received from the pension institution. It is not about recalculating pensions oneself, but ensuring that the information transmitted to employees is cautious and that individual questions are redirected to the pension fund or a competent advisor.

SMEs managing many specific HR situations, such as partial retirements, gradual departures, or older employees with specific pension plans, should closely follow communications from their pension institution. On the accounting side, the challenge is mainly to avoid misinterpretations in exchanges with employees: AVS, LPP, and the employment contract respond to different logics, even if they intersect at the time of retirement.

Digitisation of naturalisations: a signal for HR

From 1st August 2026, procedures related to ordinary naturalisation applications will be digitised in exchanges between the competent cantonal authorities and the State Secretariat for Migration, according to information reported by Watson. The announced objective is to improve transmissions between authorities, replacing postal delivery with a digital route.

For companies, the effect is indirect, but not non-existent. HR services are often solicited by foreign employees for employment certificates, salary confirmations, or administrative documents. The digitisation of flows between authorities recalls a broader evolution: the supporting documents provided by employers must be accurate, dated, consistent with payroll accounting, and stored in an organised manner.

An SME does not have to become a specialist in nationality law. However, it has an interest in standardising its certificates, defining who can sign them, and ensuring that the information provided does not contradict salary certificates or data declared to social insurance. In an increasingly digital administrative environment, inconsistencies are more easily spotted.

Telecom bills: small increases, real cost control issue

Not all changes in August are laws. But some commercial adjustments have a very concrete impact on general expenses. Watson indicates that from 1st August, Sunrise is increasing the rates of its mobile and Internet subscriptions for individuals and professionals: the monthly package increases by 1.50 francs per subscription, and by 0.75 francs per additional subscription for multiple or combined offers. The brands Yallo and Lebara are also affected by increases ranging from 0.50 to 2.00 francs depending on the mobile subscription, with the adjustment being 1.00 franc for most subscriptions. The secondary brands Swype and Chmobile, as well as certain specific offers intended for professional clients, are not affected according to the same source.

For a company with a few mobile lines, the effect may seem marginal. For a multi-site SME, an equipped sales force, an on-call service, or a fleet of connected tablets, these small amounts become a post to control. The right question is not only whether the increase is acceptable, but whether the subscriptions still match actual usage: inactive lines, forgotten options, duplicates between reimbursed private packages and company subscriptions, devices paid by instalments.

The fiduciary can take advantage of the interim closing or budget preparation to isolate telecommunication expenses, compare recurring bills, and verify the accounting treatment of subscriptions covered by the company. In some cases, the question also touches on internal policies: what is paid by the employer, what is for private use, and what needs to be documented to avoid discussions during an audit or an employee's departure.

September and October are already being prepared in August

The calendar does not stop on 1st August. The research file mentions two deadlines that deserve to be anticipated. In the canton of Bern, the revision of the cantonal data protection law and the corresponding cantonal ordinance are to come into force on 1st September 2026. Entities operating in the canton will therefore need to examine their data processing practices, especially when handling information relating to employees, clients, suppliers, or sensitive mandates.

Data protection is no longer a subject reserved for large organisations. An SME keeps personnel files, exchanges files with its fiduciary, uses cloud software, mandates IT service providers, and archives accounting documents. Each flow raises practical questions: who has access to what, for how long, with what security, and on what basis the data is transmitted. Companies active in several cantons must also remain attentive to cantonal differences, especially when working with public or semi-public bodies.

Another deadline: the Federal Council has set 1st October 2026 as the entry into force of the revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Corporate Transparency Act. The file indicates that the latter introduces a transparency register for the beneficial owners of legal entities, while the revision of the AMLA strengthens due diligence obligations for certain advisory activities considered high-risk.

For SMEs, the keyword is identification. Who really controls the company? Who holds the economic rights? Do the documents at the commercial register, shareholder agreements, internal organisational charts, and information used by banks tell the same story? Fiduciaries, lawyers, advisors, and service providers involved in structuring will need to closely follow the exact scope of the new obligations. For client companies, it will be prudent to gather basic documents on shareholding and effective control in advance, without waiting for an urgent request from a bank, partner, or agent.

August 2026 imposes a mini-administrative audit

The most effective response is not to treat each novelty separately. For an SME, August 2026 can serve as a trigger for a mini-administrative audit: check ongoing or potential short-time work files, review pension fund communications, control telecom bills, map sensitive data, and clarify beneficial owners. This work does not need to be heavy, but it must be documented.

A manager should also avoid two pitfalls. The first is to consider these changes as mere federal or cantonal information without impact on the company. The second would be to draw automatic conclusions: short-time work, pensions, data protection, and corporate transparency always depend on the concrete situation, the canton, the legal structure, contracts, and internal practices.

In a period where regulation evolves in successive touches, the advantage goes to companies that turn the legal calendar into a management calendar. August is therefore not just a month of transition: it is the right time to align HR, accounting, contracts, and compliance before the next deadlines.