The head of the Brazilian president’s General Secretariat, Guilherme Boulos, said on Wednesday (Jan. 25) that ending the six-day work week with one day off (6 to 1) in Brazil should lead to increased productivity in the economy. In an interview on EBC’s Bom dia, Ministro program, he defended the reduction of working hours for workers and gave examples of companies that have adopted new work regimes.

The proposal advocated by the government is to reduce the current 44-hour work week to 40 hours without reducing wages, in a regime of a maximum of five days of work for two days off (5 to 2). The measure should also include a transition period and compensation for micro and small businesses.

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“This is the proposal being drafted for all sectors of the Brazilian economy, for the sake of workers’ dignity,” said Boulos, highlighting that progress has been made in discussions with Congress so that the issue can be voted on this semester.

A 2024 study by the Getulio Vargas Foundation involving 19 companies that reduced working hours showed an increase in revenue for 72 percent of them and a 44 percent increase in meeting deadlines, he mentioned. “They are reducing hours even without legislation,” he added.

“And why does productivity increase? With six days of work and one day off—and sometimes that one day, especially for women, is spent doing housework—when that person arrives at work, they are already tired. When that worker is better rested, the result is that they will work better. What we are arguing is based on data,” he declared.

He went on to give several examples of countries and corporations that boosted productivity after slashing working hours – including Microsoft in Japan, which adopted a 4 to 3 schedule and saw a 40 percent surge in individual worker productivity.

Low productivity

He pointed out that low economic productivity is one of the arguments used by critics. “If productivity is low and you don’t want to give workers time to take training courses, how are you going to raise productivity?” he asked.

Boulos also argued that a significant part of Brazil’s below-average productivity is not the responsibility of workers, but rather of the private sector, which fails to invest in innovation and technology. “Almost all investment in innovation, technology, and research in Brazil comes from the public sector. The Brazilian private sector is one of the least invested, proportionally to countries at the same level,” he argued.

Interest rates

The bill faces resistance from business sectors, which also claim that the measure would lead to mounting operating costs for enterprises as they hire more people. In Boulos’ view, the cost of reducing working hours is being overestimated, but an adaptation model will be discussed for small firms.

High interest rates in Brazil, he added, put additional pressure on the productive sector. He pointed out that one of the instruments for controlling inflation is the benchmark interest rate – the Selic – currently set at 15 percent per annum by the Central Bank.

“It is high time to reduce this interest rate, because no worker can afford 15-percent interest, and no entrepreneur can afford it either. How are you going to stimulate investment? How are you going to raise working capital with this cost of money? It makes no sense. So, part of the problem that will relieve small, medium, and, in this case, even large entrepreneurs in Brazil is the reduction of the exorbitant and unjustifiable interest rate,” he argued.