Translated with AI assistance
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the country is reducing the constitutional maximum working hours. For companies, this means a transition to a five-day workweek, while for the most labor-intensive industries it entails revising shifts and personnel costs.
Brazil will gradually phase out the widespread 6×1 schedule – six working days and one day off – in favor of 5×2, and will reduce the maximum workweek from 44 to 40 hours without a pay cut. The Senate has given final approval to the corresponding constitutional amendment.
After the amendment enters into force, employers will be given 60 days to transition to two paid days off and a 42-hour work week. One year later, the limit will be reduced to 40 hours. According to DIEESE estimates, the changes will affect approximately 26.8 million workers, including 22 million formally employed.
The current maximum has been in effect since 1988, when the new Constitution reduced the workweek from 48 to 44 hours. At the same time, 44 hours was the upper limit: many office-based companies and international corporations already operate on a 5×2 schedule with around 40 hours. But in manufacturing, retail, food service, logistics, and other sectors, a long workweek remains common.
The reform became a compromise following more radical proposals for a 36-hour or four-day workweek. Estimates of the reform’s cost to businesses vary. Ipea suggests that average labor costs could rise by approximately 7.8%, while total expenses for industry and commerce would increase by about 1%; in the most labor-intensive services, the rise could be significantly higher. The National Confederation of Industry (CNI) offers a harsher assessment, warning of increased production costs and pressure on competitiveness.
Foreign employers hiring staff under Brazilian law will be subject to the same rules. For offices of international corporations where a 40-hour, five-day workweek is already the norm, the impact will be limited.
The changes will have a far greater impact on retail, manufacturing, hospitality, food service, logistics, construction, call centers, and security. Companies will have to revise shifts, staffing levels, overtime, and collective agreements, and in some cases accelerate automation.
At the same time, a certain degree of flexibility will be preserved: alternative schedules can be used through collective agreements. Exceptions are also provided for some highly paid specialists.
For foreign businesses, the reform primarily means recalculating the cost of a working hour and the operating model in Brazil.
