The constitutional reform reduces the maximum weekly working week from 48 to 40 hours in stages: 46 hours in 2027, 44 in 2028, 42 in 2029 and 40 in 2030, with no reduction in wages or benefits. Through 2026 the maximum remains 48 hours.
That schedule is deceptive. The obligation lands in 2027, but what has to change to meet it — individual contracts, internal regulations, attendance records, shift patterns, collective agreements — cannot be altered in a week, and in the case of collective agreements requires negotiation.
The hardest part is not the hours: it is the evidence. Reducing hours does not reduce the obligations that are proven by record. Permit expiries, policies, filings with authorities and audit evidence keep the same dates, with fewer working hours in which to handle them.
What is worth doing now, while no obligation applies: an audit of actual working time — not contracted, actual — by area and by role. The distance between the two determines whether the reduction is a paperwork adjustment or a reorganisation.