Is your company prepared to operate with fewer hours and the same production demands?

The clock is ticking. By 2030, all productive companies in Mexico maquila, manufacturing, and labor-intensive production must have transitioned to a maximum 40-hour workweek. What today seems like a distant goal actually requires strategic decisions that many plants have not yet begun to make.

And this is not simply about moving numbers on a calendar.

The real challenge isn’t the clock it’s the operation

In our experience advising companies in this sector, the reduction in working hours doesn’t arrive in a vacuum. It arrives at plants that are already struggling against excessive overtime and staff turnover that, in many cases, prevents them from even meeting current production targets. Reducing hours without addressing these underlying problems isn’t a solution it’s multiplying the challenge.

Northern border: the talent shortage no one can ignore

Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana. These cities don’t just compete with Asia for foreign investment they compete with each other for the same operational talent. The result is predictable: rising wages, a shortage of skilled personnel, labor union issues, and hour-reduction strategies that get delayed simply because there aren’t enough hands to cover the shifts the new law will require.

Automation or mass hiring: a decision not everyone can afford

Companies with greater capital are already taking sides: investing in automation, or in mass hiring to absorb the impact. But this dilemma isn’t neutral. For companies with less financial capacity, the risk is real: shutting down production lines, or downsizing staff as the only means of adjustment.

Competition doesn’t wait at the border

This is where many companies make the mistake of thinking too small. Designing a new shift scheme isn’t enough. Mexican maquila doesn’t compete solely against the law it competes against Vietnam, against China, against Central American labor schemes that are far more flexible and inexpensive. Every hour cut from the Mexican workweek is an hour that international competitors don’t need to cut.

Unions: a fundamental part of the productive industry

Collective relations within production plants are a key piece for successfully implementing the new work schedule. The internationalization of Mexican labor law—driven by international treaties, the adoption of International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, and a global production framework has transformed the labor landscape. This is no longer solely about the traditional employer-employee relationship: unions have taken on a leading role in protecting labor rights, now under the watch of international standards.

From the union perspective, the reduction in working hours represents a historically postponed right. However, unions themselves recognize that successful implementation depends on balanced negotiation one that allows productivity to increase while keeping labor costs reasonable, thereby avoiding risks that could translate into plant closures.

For this reason, the current challenge is to seize this moment to move toward the gradual reduction of working hours, as contemplated by the Federal Labor Law. This requires careful analysis of payroll costs, as well as exploring viable alternatives such as adjustments to productivity bonuses, modifications to overtime policies, and new rest-day schemes, among other approaches.

Headquarters also needs to know

And there’s a player that is often left out of the conversation: the parent company in the United States or abroad. Production targets aren’t set by the Mexican plant they’re set by the global corporation. That’s why renegotiating production terms and costs with headquarters isn’t optional: it’s the only way to prevent corporate expectations from colliding head-on with local regulatory reality.

This isn’t an HR problem. It’s a strategic problem

The reduction in working hours can’t be solved with an internal memo or a calendar adjustment. What’s truly required is:

• Legal and operational diagnosis of current shift schemes
• Negotiation strategies with foreign headquarters and unions
• Design of compensation schemes that balance regulatory compliance and competitiveness
• Legal safeguards against contingencies related to overtime and staff turnover
• Assertive communication with manufacturing talent

At VTZ, we help companies in the manufacturing and export sector transform this regulatory obligation into a competitive advantage, not an operational threat.

2030 isn’t as far off as it seems. The question isn’t whether your company will need to adapt, but whether it will do so on time and with proper guidance.

Does your company already have a transition plan toward 40 hours? Let’s talk.

With specific rules requiring that wages be maintained in full, that overtime be capped at a maximum of 12 hours per week paid at double the regular rate, and that such overtime be voluntary in nature.

We identified that, starting in 2027, the Secretariat of Labor (Secretaría del Trabajo) will tighten workplace inspection programs, imposing fines for non-compliance ranging from 250 to 5,000 UMAs (Units of Measurement and Update) equivalent to between $29,327 and $586,550 pesos, that is, approximately between $1,725.11 and $34,502.94 dollars for each affected worker