Agreement for reducing working hours: impact and key points for companies

After lengthy negotiations, on December 20, 2024, the Spanish government and the Spanish labor unions CCOO and UGT signed an agreement to reduce the working week to 37.5 hours, implement a digital working day register and strengthen the right to disconnect digitally.

Although the document provided is called a “social agreement,” it does not have the backing of the business confederations.

The parliamentary processing of the initiative has not yet started, but it is expected to start soon. Significant amendments, summarized below, are expected in the Workers Statute and in the Labor Infringements and Sanctions Act.

Reduced working hours

The maximum ordinary working day will be reduced from 40 hours weekly to 37.5 hours of effective work calculated based on an annual average. If this amendment is approved, companies will have to review and adapt their collective bargaining agreements and employment contracts.

Working day register

The obligation to keep a daily working day register in digital format is established. This register must be objective, reliable, and accessible, enabling the unequivocal identification of the worker and the changes in the entries made. Companies must store these registers for four years, and the registers must be available for the workers, their legal representatives and the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate.

Digital disconnection

The right to disconnect digitally is strengthened and established as an unwaivable right. Companies will not be able to make work requests or send corporate communications outside of the working hours, and this right will be extended to remote workers and teleworkers.

Infringements and sanctions

Not having a working day register or falsification of the registered data will be considered a serious breach, punishable by a fine of between €1,000 and €10,000 per worker. Also, breaches of the obligations regarding organization and arrangement of work time involving serious risk for the workers’ security and safety are classified as serious and very serious. 

Transitional regime

• The committees negotiating the collective bargaining agreements establishing a working week of over 37.5 hours will have until December 31, 2025, to adapt the working week to 37.5 hours.
• Part-time contracts with a duration equal to or greater than the new maximum working day will be automatically converted into full-time contracts. Also, part-time workers and workers with reduced working hours will be entitled to (i) continue working the same number of hours, and (ii) a proportional salary increase.

The obligation to guarantee the working day register will continue to be governed by current regulations during the six months from publication of the new regulation.

These regulatory changes will have a significant impact, to a greater or lesser degree, for all companies operating in Spain. It is essential that companies adapt their work policies and systems to meet the new regulation and avoid penalties. Some recommended actions are reviewing collective bargaining agreements and employment contracts, implementing digital systems for registering the working day and planning new annual work schedules, reprogramming shifts and reviewing digital disconnection policies