From next July 16 it will begin to govern in Colombia the reduction of the working day that was introduced through Law 2101 of 2021and with which, during the next year, Colombian workers will have 47-hour weekly shifts, and not 48 as is the case today.
This Law raises a gridGradual suction, up to 42 hours per weeksince July 16, 2026. Therefore, companies will have to adjust their models to achieve the same production with fewer hours.
(Remote workers would grow more than in a pandemic).
He Andi President Bruce MacMaster, stressed that this is a decision from several years ago, but that it is coming into force now. “Companies have been organizing themselves, I don’t really see major trauma at this time. The companies have been adjusting, it is a big effort, but they are going to do itr,” he said.
According to Mac Master, the greatest impact will surely be in the sector tradeparticularly in the restaurantsand in some activities such as health sector or call centers.
just from Acodres, the gastronomic unionthere is talk of how for restaurants the impact on costs is ‘sensitive’.
(Daily hourly value will have an adjustment due to the reduction of the working day).
“In monetary terms, the reduction in the working day increases the value of the payroll by 3% and makes it necessary to cut the operating hours of formal establishments or encourages informality for those who choose to maintain hours, since we have no room to increase more menu prices, whose cumulative rise has already caused us a 30% drop in sales”, assured Henrique Gomez, president of Acodres.
Other sectors such as transportation and logistics would also see an impact. “Logistics operations will be carried out 7×24, 355 days a year, when the working day is reduced, the costs of overtime and social benefits automatically increase. For the transport sector, the labor cost ranges between 9% and 50% depending on whether it is a mass transport or parcel and courier company, consequently this will have an impact on the level of service and the rates of these services.”, indicated Nidia Hernández, president of Colfecar.
Workday
According to various experts, this change would have an effect on companies on issues such as costs or productivity. This, because one of the conditions established by the Law is that wages may not be reduced or affect the acquired rights of workers.
(Expenditure, the red flag that sets off alerts in the Fiscal Framework).
“This will imply changes in the way in which the hours are going to be settled and how they are calculated. As of July 15, we are not going to talk about 8 hours a day but about 7.83, with 47 hours a week. That will generate a higher value in the payment of the hour, of around 2.13%”, assured Carlos Mario Sandoval, Lead Partner of People Advisory Services for EY Colombia.
As explained Luis Gonzalo Gómez, director of the Municipal Institute of Employment and Business Development of Bucaramanga (Imebu), implementing the reduction of the working day requires a significant increase in labor productivity. “Initially, it will cause an increase in the cost structure associated with the company. This will imply the need to hire more employees or pay overtime”, he assured.
According to the expert, there are two scenarios to maintain constant production in case of reducing working hours. In the first, “productivity is held constant and, to maintain the same level of production, the employer bears the cost of required overtime or additional workers”.
(Can they lower your salary with the reduction in working hours?).
In the second, according to Gómez, it is expected, “an increase in productivity, so that the hours worked are sufficient to maintain constant productionand”. However, he indicated that this increase in productivity is reflected in the minimum wage adjustmentwhich will also increase the cost structure.
Jhon James Mora, professor at Icesi University He assured, on the other hand, that the impact will depend on the sector. “In those that use more technology and intensive human capital, productivity could even improve, since the worker could experience an improvement in their conditions and this has a positive impact. In those less intensive in human capital, the effect could be the opposite, since one less hour of work could reduce productivity and increase costs, especially in mypimes.“, said.
Mora assured that, at a general level, the effects may not be so great considering that this measure only applies to formal employees, which are less than 50% of workers in the country.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
Portfolio Journalist
