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The International Labor Organization (ILO) suggests a minimum of 18 days of rest for any worker worldwide, with an average of 16 days.
With the new reform to Article 76 and 78 of the LFT, this is still a long way off, but at least in 2023, 12 vacation days were gained instead of six.
With this, employers will increase their spending for each of the 19 million permanent jobs registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
More than 50 years ago, Mexico had not reformed the rest days in the Federal Labor Law (LFT) and today that the “decent vacation” are already a fact published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) it is inevitable to consider the advantages that this step towards labor justice offers Mexican workers and the cost that, undoubtedly, it will generate for the employing companies.
“Of the total period that corresponds to him in accordance with the provisions of article 76 of this Law, the worker will enjoy 12 days of continuous vacation, at least. Said period, at the discretion of the worker, may be distributed in the manner and time required”, establishes the new regulations.
From the first year of work, each employee will be entitled to 12 uninterrupted days of rest, which will increase two by two per year until reaching 20 and then add two more every five years. This means that, as of 2023, Mexico will go from having one of the lowest labor rest averages in the world to a common average in Latin America, but still far from European labor justice.
“Decent vacations”: opportunity to bring companies-workers closer
Much has been said about the implications that the increase in vacation days in Mexico will have, since labor specialists agree, for the most part, that this modification to the Law will allow negotiation between workers and employers, favoring aspects such as productivity, trust , the sense of permanence in the company and the lack of balance between work-family-quality of life.
However, one cannot ignore the increase in the cost of being an employer that the minimum wages can cause in a country that had never complied with it, since there was such a large gap that it had to be covered gradually to reduce the budgetary impact of covering vacations (contracting temporary workers) and some other financial and operating cost impacts.
In fact, ManpowerGroup, the human capital and employment services consultancy, conducted a Approximate calculation of what Mexican companies will have to pay for each worker with the increase from 6 to 12 days of vacation in 2023.
Data from the multinational expert in Human Resources (HR) details that, discounting eventual employees, an approximate amount of 89 billion pesos only of the 19 million permanent workers registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) who will receive the rest increase.
According to the director of institutional relations of manpowergroupHéctor Márquez, this figure comes out in relation to the average salary of the workers -which is about 481 pesos a day- adding the payment that the companies make of 30 percent for each one plus the IMSS and Infonavit quota, which generates a disbursement of 625 pesos per worker and is multiplied by the number of vacation days.
This means that the amount, plus the vacation premium, which is 25 percent, generated 3,752 pesos of spending per employee -with six days off-, so now, employers will pay about 4,690 pesos per employee. person, which gives us a total of 89 billion pesos at the country level if the 19 million formal workers are considered.
The figure turns out to be exorbitant if compared with the Expenditure Budget of the Federation 2023 of Secretariats such as the Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), of 77 thousand 411.4 million pesos; that of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), of 75 thousand 627.3 million pesos; or that of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader), with 70 thousand 527.9 million pesos.
With this, the reform of the Federal Labor Law must measure the impact of the first semester of 2023, since we will finally know if the number of minimum vacations will improve productivity in the medium term or if it will be a determining factor for informality to skyrocket in Mexico,
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