In mid-September, the Minister of Labour, Jeannette Jara, launched this proposal in response to the high number of public holidays in the southern country. It is a new attempt to bring Chilean labour legislation closer to European standards.
With the regional elections on October 26 and 27 just around the corner and half a year after the gradual reduction of the working week to 40 hours began, Chile is facing a new debate about the situation of its workers. This is about the large number of holidays that the country has: 19 in total for 2024.
In addition to traditional festivities such as Labor Day, Holy Week and the Day of the Virgin of Carmen, there are other peculiar ones such as the Meeting of Two Worlds (October 12) and even an additional holiday: September 20 to unite the Fiestas Patrias with the weekend.
At the regional level, Chile is only surpassed by Argentina with 20 holidays and is far behind other countries such as Brazil with 12 holidays; Uruguay with 15; Bolivia with 11 and Mexico with seven. Even neighbouring Peru, where four holidays were created in the last year, only has 16 in total.
In this context, in mid-September, Chilean Minister of Labor Jeannette Jara proposed in an interview with local media outlet Radio Pauta that the Executive does not rule out advancing an initiative to add legal vacation days for workers. To compensate for this, the number of holidays would be reduced. Jara stressed that she had discussed the matter with the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, although she has not yet proposed anything concrete to the Chilean parliament.
The aim is to bring the Chilean model closer to that existing in “some European countries”, although he did not specify which ones. But if we make a comparison, while in Chile workers with more than one year of service have the right to a minimum of 15 working days of paid vacation per year, in Spain this figure reaches 22.
In contrast, the Iberian country only has 12 national holidays and two local ones, according to the official calendar. Other European countries are governed by similar laws: the United Kingdom only has eight annual holidays. Likewise, workers who provide services five or more days a week deserve 28 days of paid annual leave.
On the other hand, France has 11 annual holidays and 30 days of annual leave, and Germany has nine to 13, depending on the legislation of each federal state. Meanwhile, the minimum vacation is 24 days in a six-day work week. In all these cases, the opposite proportion to Latin America stands out: a greater number of paid vacations, to the detriment of public holidays.
While it may sound utopian for Chile to suddenly implement a similar model, the strength of formal employment in the country would put it in an advantageous position in the region to advance this approach. On the one hand, it is worth addressing how the validity of 19 holidays affects the sectors of the Chilean economy. As expected, tourism is the most favored industry, due to the large mobilization of Chileans to provincial cities to spend long holidays such as Fiestas Patrias.
“If we talk about the most affected sectors, I would think that they are the productive sectors, because they separate work and production,” says Marta Meneses, labor manager of Auditeris, a Chilean consortium specialized in outsourcing services for AméricaEconomía . Regarding Minister Jara’s proposal, Meneses believes that if it is to be implemented, the Chilean government must conduct studies that analyze the attitude of the average worker.
As for companies, the measure would allow managers to segregate workers' leave throughout their vacations so that not everyone takes their leave periods at the same time.
“Now, if we look at SMEs from a perspective, it should be noted that they work in a very different way to large companies. In general, SMEs find it more difficult to replace people who are on vacation. So, when we think that an SME no longer has to replace a person for 15 days, but in reality must replace them for a month, because they have the right to 30 days of vacation, this change is much more expensive,” warns Meneses. In short, it would be a great challenge for micro and medium-sized companies, due to the scarce staff available.
For Beatriz Pérez, founding director of Kippa Innovación, a Chilean labor management consultancy, an additional point to consider in the debate about holidays is that not all of them apply to every worker. Many are essential, such as Fiestas Patrias (September 18 and 19), Labor Day (May 1) and Christmas (December 25).
However, most are not, such as Easter, St. Peter and St. Paul's Day (June 29) and All Saints' Day (November 1). This allows businesses such as supermarkets, shopping malls, restaurants and movie theaters to continue operating at their usual hours. Although Pérez, like Meneses, agrees that since this rule is not applied to the manufacturing sector out of necessity, the holidays end up being detrimental to their companies.
Regarding Minister Jara's proposal, Pérez believes that the government should also evaluate a model of labor flexibility that is being used in countries such as Spain. It consists of workers meeting production goals in a week so that if they reach the goal, they can rest for the remaining time. "There is a change in organizational culture that leads workers to take responsibility for their time and to be able to work at their own pace. The idea of a structured work day is somewhat destroyed," Pérez told AméricaEconomía .
The director of Kippa also argues that Latin American countries should not only evaluate the macroeconomic effects of increasing vacation periods, but also the mental health of workers.
“The production numbers may work in the sense that the company operates 24-7. But ask about the level of happiness they have. We have noticed more negative numbers in countries that do not have as many holidays or minimum vacation periods. Maintaining a country with mental health and well-being parameters involves not only working hours, but also rest,” Pérez explains.
As an example, we can return to the particular case of Mexico, which has seven holidays and the right to a minimum of 12 days of paid vacation in the first year of work, according to the Federal Labor Law. A survey conducted by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) indicated that, prior to the pandemic, 75% of workers suffered from fatigue due to work stress and more than 40% of those who worked at a desk felt exhausted.
In contrast, in 2023, a study by the Chilean Ministry of Health in cooperation with the International Labour Organization revealed that 32% of Chilean workers suffered from high levels of work-related stress. Both figures are high, although there is a marked percentage difference between the two countries, as well as in their legislation regarding holidays and vacation periods.
