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Mexico’s 40-Hour Workweek Plan Faces Split Employer Views as Implementation Rules Awaited

With implementing details unresolved, companies are already modeling shift and schedule changes.

Overview

  • The national reform would set a 40-hour standard workweek, but secondary regulations defining its scope are still pending.
  • Employer attorney David Alberto Padilla Mendoza argues shorter weeks can lift medium- and long-term productivity if firms bolster training, skills development and performance incentives.
  • Padilla notes some companies are reviewing operations to redistribute hours or adjust shifts to sustain production despite fewer weekly hours.
  • Business lawyer Roberto Quijano Sosa calls the proposal poorly designed, warning it could cut available company hours by about 18% and reduce overtime income for some workers.
  • Quijano says higher hourly labor costs risk eroding competitiveness in industrial centers such as Tijuana and could push more employment into informality, pointing to heavy payroll-related costs in Baja California.