27/04/2026
History Monday: When being 15 minutes late cost 20 cents
What can old employee manuals tell us about life at work over 100 years ago?
We’re looking at two historical Swiss “Fabrikordnungen” from 1898 and 1919 and what they reveal about workplace norms, discipline, and early approaches to employee care.
Many of the strict rules may sound shocking today, but they were the norm at the time. And they show just how far working life has evolved since then.
🔙 Working at Maschinenfabrik Burckhardt in 1898
10-hour workdays, Monday through Saturday
Hours: 7:00 – 12:00 and 13:30 – 18:30, every day
No flexibility whatsoever
60-hour workweek
Being late cost 20 cents per hour deducted from your salary
No vacation.
Life – and work – were undeniably strict back then.
Twenty years later, the 1919 "Fabrikordnung" showed first signs of change:
🕰️ Working hours: 48-hour workweek
Monday–Friday: 8.75 hours/day
Saturday: 4.25 hours
Being late was more expensive: 20 cents deduction for every 15 minutes of lateness
Vacation: 3 days after 3 years with the company; 2 weeks after 25 years of service
Not exactly generous by today’s standards – but still, a sign of progress.
💼 And today?
Our working world looks entirely different. At Burckhardt Compression, many of us benefit from much more flexibility and modern benefits. Even in production, where structure remains necessary, working conditions are far more employee‑friendly. And still, even in the early 1900s, Burckhardt already required health insurance and offered its own company health insurance fund - an early sign of caring for employee wellbeing.
❤️ Looking back - and forward
These snapshots show how far we’ve come in over 100 years in working conditions, quality of life, and flexibility. And while many companies today can offer more flexibility or different benefits (depending on the industry), we’re proud of our long-standing tradition of caring for our employees and introducing supportive measures long before they became common.
😊 Do you have funny or surprising examples from old employee manuals?
Share them in the comments – we’d love to hear them!
