Reduction in working hours: which countries work more in Latin America and what implications do these reforms have?

However, the measure, whose basic premise is, in practical terms, to work fewer hours, but be more productive without said reduction implying a salary decrease or a setback in labor rights or guarantees, would have serious risks if applied due to the costs that implies, as different business groups have warned.

But then why is it becoming a trend?

It has to be said that In Colombia, precisely, the reduction of the working day is currently underway. With the approval of Law 2101 of 2021, the country’s workers will have a reduction in their weekly working hours, in accordance with the change to the Substantive Labor Code. This measure seeks to reduce weekly working hours from 48 to 42which can be distributed by mutual agreement between the parties over five or six days a week, always guaranteeing a day of rest.

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According to what was established, the employer could accept the 42-hour weekly working day automatically as of July 15, 2021. But, if it was not accepted in that way, it had to be adjusted to a gradual implementation, which started on July 15, 2023 and will continue until July 15, 2026.

Thus, each year the working day will be reduced by one hour until it reaches 42. As of July 15, 2023, the maximum working day was reduced by 1 hour, going from 48 to 47 hours. This year, starting next July 15, the working day will then be reduced by 1 more hour, going from 47 to 46 hours per week..

The maximum working day of 46 hours per week will remain this way until July 14, 2025, so that before that date any excess weekly working time will be considered as supplementary or overtime work.

Then, Starting on July 15, 2025, the working day will go to 44 working hours per week and, finally, on July 15, 2026, it will be officially reduced to 42..

With this change, Colombia would adjust to the working hour standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which ranges between 40 and 42 hours per week on average.

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With data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) corresponding to January of this year, and which takes estimated work time per week in hours, Colombia was ranked first on the list of countries where employed people work the longest hours (at least 44.2 hours per week) in Latin Americaan average that placed our country among the highest in the region, followed by Mexico and Honduras, each with 43 hours per week, on average.

In the region, the amount can vary by about eight hours, from 36 in Panama to 44.2 in Colombia. However, it must be taken into account that ILO estimates of weekly workload may include informal workers, so the general average is decreased.

Of course, once the working day is officially established in Colombia at 42 hours per week, the country would be on par with Costa Rica, where the weekly average is today 42.5 hours, and well below El Salvador and Peru, countries where, according to the ILO, there is excessive working hours due to having around three out of every ten employees who work 49 hours a week or more.

Colombia, however, is not the only country in the region that is advancing changes in this matter. In Chile, in April the so-called ’40 Hour Law’ came into effect, which proposes a progressive reduction in the working day until 2028. In a scheme very similar to that applied in Colombia, in that country the law gradually reduces the working day to 45 to 40 hours per week, starting this year with one hour less. Thus, by 2024 the working day is 44 hours per week.

“Five or six years ago it seemed impossible. All those myths, all those ghosts that were built at one time to point out the reduction of the working day as impossible, have been left behind. The country is moving forward, and has moved forward, precisely thanks to the push of the workers,” said last April the minister spokesperson for the government of Chile, Camila Vallejo, who as a legislator was one of the authors of the project in 2017.

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Even the region’s largest economies are on a downward path. In Brazil, a work model of four days a week instead of five will be experimented with, while in Mexico the possibility of cutting the working day from 48 to 40 hours a week is being explored..

The debate over the ‘ideal hours’ for a work day continues, but it is undeniable that in the region there are more and more voices in favor of reduction.

A report from the Bumeran employment portal published last December reflects this and explores the perception of the viability of reducing the working day in five Latin American countries: Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Panama and Peru. For it, Human resources specialists were interviewed, who gave their opinion on the possibilities and difficulties of reducing the working day in each country..

In Peru, 73 percent of those surveyed consider that it is possible to implement a reduction in working hours while maintaining the same salaries. In Chile, 67 percent of specialists share this vision. Argentina also shows a favorable outlook, with 66 percent agreeing that it is feasible, and in Panama 62 percent of experts believe in the possibility of reducing working hours without affecting salaries.

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However, in Ecuador, the figure is lower, with just 25 percent of respondents expressing confidence in the viability of this measure.

Regarding the problems that could hinder the adoption of this type of reforms, Peru (53 percent), Argentina (52 percent) and Panama (50 percent) agree that the main difficulty in implementing a reduced working day is doing so without reducing salaries.

On the other hand, in Ecuador, experts indicate that the most significant obstacle is the lack of time to complete tasks (58 percent).

The big question then is what reducing a working day can really benefit. The answers are as varied as the jobs themselves.
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Human resources management specialist Irene Vera Arica, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), explained to the newspaper Trade that the reduction “is the possibility that the person first worries about their own quality of life, about their family, about their children, suddenly about studying other things, about training, about generating possibilities for entrepreneurship.”

Felipe Gajardo Sepúlveda, Chilean administration and finance manager, agrees with this vision and in a blog he wrote about the reduction of working hours in his country he adds that This measure, contrary to what one might think, “does not necessarily reduce the productivity of workers,” since “many studies have shown that workers who work fewer hours are more productive, since they are more rested and motivated.”.

Gajardo even points out that the reduction could generate more short-term employment: “If the working day is reduced, more workers will be needed to cover the same working hours, which could have a positive effect on the labor market in the short term.” , he points out.

But also, he says, it poses some disadvantages, such as the difficulties for some sectors when implementing the reduction – health is one of them – or the costs for companies, since “they will have to pay more overtime or hire more workers to cover the same working hours, and this could have a negative effect on profitability.

In fact, that is precisely a debate in Uruguay. In that country, the discussion has been put on the table with an initiative proposed by the labor confederations and which the Government has received with reservations, but with the willingness to open the discussion on the cost-benefit.

In this regard, the Uruguayan Minister of Labor and Social Security, Pablo Mieres, assured that “the path we have to move forward precisely implies the possibility of reflecting on an exchange strategy between improving productivity and reducing working hours.” .

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However, the official clarified that the Government is not going to promote a law that promotes a general reduction in working hours. Instead, he was in favor of adjustments being sectorized and resulting from agreements between employers and workers.

Experts agree that The reduction of working hours poses some pros and cons, and that is why it is necessary to find a balance between the benefits for workers and the costs for companies and the labor market..

Some, like Felipe Gajardo Sepúlveda, venture to propose that to minimize the negative impacts of reducing the working day “governments and companies can implement measures to increase efficiency and productivity, such as automation, training and improvement of time management”. And also, consider the possibility of implementing the reduction in working hours gradually, rather than abruptly, so that companies have time to adapt.

“A gradual reduction in the working day would also allow continuous monitoring of its effects on the economy and the labor market. Necessary adjustments and corrections could be made along the way to minimize any negative impacts that may arise. Likewise, the positive effects of the measure on the quality of life of workers, on productivity and on internal consumption could be measured more precisely,” explains Gajardo Sepúlveda.

A path that both Colombia and Chile have already undertaken and we will have to see how well it works in practice.