Workday reduction begins in Colombia: here’s how it works

This Saturday, July 15, begins the process of reducing the workday without any reduction in salaries. From that day on, no Colombian worker will have to dedicate more than 47 hours per week to their jobs, as dictated by Law 2101 of 2021. Currently, the maximum workday in Colombia is 48 hours per week.

With this decision, the reduction in 2023 will be one hour per week. In 2024, as of July 15, the workday in Colombia will be 46 hours per week. And from 2025, the reduction will be two hours until reaching the maximum of 42 hours.

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Thus, on July 15, 2025, the workday will be 44 hours, and in 2026 the maximum workday in Colombia will be set at 42 hours per week.

This gradual process seeks to allow employers to adapt their operations without sacrificing productivity and profitability levels.

However, entrepreneurs of micro, small and medium-sized companies, which represent about 99% of the national business fabric, have been warning about the implications of the reduction of the workday.

According to the executive director of the Colombian Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Acopi) Bogotá Cundinamarca, María Alejandra Osorio, the reduction of the workday in Colombia will have serious consequences for labor productivity and business competitiveness in the country.

According to the director, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have faced a series of unequal competitions that add to the difficulties for domestic production as a result of the measures implemented as a result of free trade agreements: “Our companies must compete under very unequal conditions against low-cost imported products”, said Osorio.

On the other hand, the paragraph of Article 1 of the Law that reduces working hours in Colombia establishes that the Ministry of Labor will hold working groups with the unions and trade unions to propose alternatives that strengthen labor productivity and provide solutions to the structural problems of the current labor market.

“From these tables, the Ministry of Labor will undertake actions to mitigate a possible negative impact of the reduction of hours on the economic fabric and profitability of companies”, the law states.

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Who benefits from the reduction of the workday in Colombia?

With the measure, all persons linked by a labor contract will see the reduction in the length of the workday.

Likewise, the employer and the employee may establish the distribution of working hours between five and six days a week with at least one day of rest. However, depending on the characteristics of the work and the worker, the law provides the following exceptions:

• To those who exercise unhealthy or dangerous work the government may order a reduction that conforms to the rulings made in this regard.
• Adolescents who are authorized to work, between 15 and 17 years of age, may only work during the day and until 6:00 p.m. at the latest. This workday may be a maximum of 6 hours a day and 30 hours a week.
• In the case of adolescents 17 years of age, with authorization to work, the working day will be a maximum of 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week and until 8:00 p.m.

Implications of reducing working hours

Although there are currently several countries in the world that are discussing not only the reduction of working hours per week, but also the number of working days, without reducing their salaries or workloads, the particularities of Colombia are far from the reality of those countries.

According to María Alejandra Osorio, “the reduction of the workday is not possible in a country like Colombia where there is no adoption of technologies that help to replace the labor productivity of the workforce and in a direct way”. Furthermore, the executive director of Acopi Bogotá Cundinamarca adds that the reduction of the workday in Colombia adds to the challenges posed by the labor reform, in the terms determined by the national government. Among the effects that can be glimpsed is the increase in unemployment, a consequence that adds to the economic difficulties that the country is currently going through.

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