The discussion highlights the tensions between the need to improve working conditions and the practical obstacles faced by a country with 78% informality and 16 holidays a year.
The reduction of working hours is a policy that seeks to improve the quality of life and the balance between work and personal life of employees. In Latin America, the debate on its implementation in large, medium and small companies was revived after the pandemic demonstrated that it is possible to be efficient remotely. However, can all countries apply it?
Of the five countries with the highest average working hours per hour, only in Peru would it be “counterproductive” due to its high informality rate: 78%, according to data from the ESAN Business School.
“Not all countries have the same labor quality as Peru,” said Germán Lora, former Minister of Labor and Employment Promotion to AméricaEconomía . “The informal worker works 48 hours a day or more and does not even receive social benefits.”
According to Lora, reducing the working day would be inefficient in the country due to the salary method in the business. And the average thing a Peruvian produces is US$12.3 per hour, which places him in 113th place in the world, and means that two Peruvians are needed to equal the production of a Colombian worker (US $20) and three Peruvians to reach the production of one Chilean (US$35.5), according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Furthermore, according to Statista, Peru is only four days away from being the first country in the region (Argentina) with the highest number of holidays, with a total of 16.
“Plus the 30 days of vacation, the Peruvian does not work 46 days. But if we add to this the 104 days on weekends, in total there would be five months a year,” calculated the labor lawyer, Juan Valera , to AméricaEconomía .
Seen from this perspective, the specialist continued, Peru is a country that does not work and, consequently, produces little.
In that same line of thought, the consideration of reducing working hours without adjusting salaries could lead less solid companies since the pandemic to opt for informality. "The more rules, the more costs," explained Valera.
“Really, what would be the objective of reducing the working day in Peru if only 20% benefit?” he questioned.
Due to the need to review several aspects of current labor regulation, the economist and consultant specialized in labor economics at the University of the Pacific (UP), Fernando Cuadros Luque , suggested that a new general labor law be created, which also regulates temporal issues and social aspects of work.
“Although jobs offer stability, it is important to link them to the good performance of workers,” he told AméricaEconomía .
Peru has not had economic growth since the period 2004-2013, the year in which its depressive trend began, so reducing the maximum working day would not be viable, said Fernando Cuadros. However, it does not rule out its viability if it is done gradually, starting with the most productive sectors (mining and commerce) and large companies.
“I believe that we will implement the reduction of the working day in about five years, when we feel behind,” projected the former Minister of Labor, Germán Lora.
CHILE, THE GUINEA PIG
For Diego Tala, commercial director of the Laborum employment platform, in Chile, although the reduction of the working day from 45 to 44 hours - which began in April - has not impacted the workforce, its implementation process is an example for all of Latin America .
“Going down an hour does not bring many changes, but in the march it is even more noticeable, because the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Jeannette Jara, did not explain how it would be reduced. Companies have been reducing 12 minutes per day,” Tala explained.
The Government of Chile, he continued, raised again how to carry out the new rule so that the agreed time is applied on a single day, not several. And with this came an avalanche of changes by companies that, in view of the rigor, and because the country's objective is to gradually reach 40 hours in five years, decided to return to the 100% in-person modality.
Likewise, Tala commented, the production systems of large companies, that is, medium and small companies, are the main critics of the standard and resist its implementation. This is because, even after reducing the number of staff due to the pandemic and increasing the working hours accordingly, they believe that by working fewer hours they will not be able to generate the necessary production.
“Chile is the guinea pig of Latin America,” summarized the commercial director of Laborum.
The lawyer and public manager of Peru, Alfonso Adrianzén Ojeda , had also pointed out that it is small and medium-sized companies that have the greatest problems in adjusting their operations. But the solution lies in the communication of the objectives and the employer's trust in the worker to achieve them, Tala assured.
“The hybrid and virtual modality is here to stay, transforming our culture and perception of what efficiency is,” he stated.
This is corroborated by the latest Laborum study, as it indicates that today millennials and centennials seek labor flexibility in their work area, for the latter being the main reason why they would change jobs over salary.
On the other hand, the first numbers associated with Law No. 21,561 that reduces working hours in Chile are: 510 complaints, 237 inspections, 51 sanctions due to fines, and US$ 192.6 million in related legal processes. Furthermore, it was evident that medium and small companies were the ones that best adapted and complied with the standard.
“It is a call to begin to take on more relevance along the way,” Diego Tala concluded.
