Working time regulations around the world: What’s changing?

Around the world, governments are reviewing how working time is defined, measured and protected. Much like changes to leave entitlements, reforms to working time regulations is a shift driven by tight labour markets, debate over whether AI-assisted productivity gains justify shorter work weeks, and a workforce that expects clearer boundaries between “on” and “off”.

The result is a mixed picture. Some Latin American countries are formally cutting their standing working week. Elsewhere, the focus is one how working hours are recorded and verified, with new time tracking obligations arriving in Belgium and Spain. For other locations, questions about flexibility continue – including how seriously the right to request remote or flexible work is taken, and how far the right to disconnect should go.

For employers with people operating in more than one country, these changes are all at various stages, rarely being introducing on one neat date or in one simple way. Below is a look at several of these key changes by country.

Global working hours changes in 2026 by country:

Australia

From 26th August 2025, Australia’s right to disconnect has extended to employees of small businesses (those with fewer than 15 employees), a year after the same right came into force for larger employers in 2024. It gives employees a statutory basis for refusing to monitor, read or respond to contact from their employer outside of working hours, where that refusal is reasonable.

Belgium

From 1st January 2027, Belgium will introduce an obligation to record working time, requiring employers to implement a system that is “objective, reliable and flexible”. The methos is left to employers to decide, giving some flexibility as to how that will work in practice. This new legislation will see Belgium align with case law of the European Court of Justice, which in 2019 stated that Member States must require employers to have a system in place to measure the daily working time of all workers under the EU Working Time Directive.

Brazil

Brazil’s Congress is considering a constitutional amendment (PEC 221/2019), that would move the maximum working week from 44 to 40 hours via a 5-day, 8-hour schedule. The proposal is now with the Senate, and if enacted, outlines a phased transition whereby the working week would be reduced to 42 hours per week initially, followed by a 14-month path down to 40 hours.

Chile

From 26th April 2026, Chile’s standard working week dropped from 44 hours to 42 hours under the country’s “Ley 40 Horas” (40 Hours Law). This is the first step in a phased process that will see the working week drop to 40 hours by 2028, giving employers the time to adjust rosters and pay structures gradually.

Colombia

Colombia has completed the final stage of a multi-year reduction of their standard working week, which now stands at 42 hours as of 15th July 2026. The change follows earlier steps down from 48 hours to 47 in 2023, and to 46 hours in 2024.

France

France’s Cour de cassation has confirmed that employees working from home are entitled to the same benefits as their on-site colleagues (including meal vouchers), in rulings handed down on 8th October 2025. The French government has confirmed the same position – eligible employees are those whose schedule includes a meal break, regardless of where they happen to be working from.

India

Indian states continue to move independently on working hours and shift rules. Haryana has set out conditions for employing women on night shifts, including written consent, minimum group sizes, female supervision, CCTV operation and secure transport. In Maharashtra, permission for some shops and establishments to operate 24/7 has been broadened across retail, hospitality and entertainment (excluding alcohol-serving premises), provided each employee still gets a mandatory 24-hour weekly rest period.

Ireland

A review of Ireland’s right to request remote or flexible working has concluded that the framework is functioning effectively, and doesn’t need new legislation. This comes despite criticism that it lacks real enforcement, and only 48% of employees in Ireland know that this right exists at all since its introduction back in March 2024. Instead, the government is updating the WRC’s Code of Practice and running an awareness campaign, to increase knowledge and understanding of the right.

Luxembourg

From 1st January 2026, Luxembourg doubled the permitted hours for Sunday working, from 4 to 8 hours, subject to an appropriate agreement in being in place. That agreement only needs to be a formal agreement for companies with 30 or more employees, allowing smaller employers to operate more informally.

Mexico

Mexico has enacted a constitutional reform that will cut the standard working week from 48 to 40 hours by 2030, without any reduction in pay. The reform also requires employers to keep electronic working hours records from January 2027. A further bill could see Mexico’s right to disconnect extend beyond remote and home-based workers, but is yet to be enacted.

South Korea

Rather legislating shorter hours outright, South Korea’s government is backing pilots of a 4.5-day working week, with early results from schemes such as Gyeonggi Province’s pilot suggesting productivity gains. A bill to take this further is being pushed at national level, but for now remains at an experimental pilot programme level rather than a statutory entitlement.

Spain

Spain is finalising long-awaited rules on digital time recording which would require employers to keep fully digital, tamper-proof records of hours worked. This rules out the use of paper records and spreadsheets, and mandates that working hour logs cannot be changed once the day is over. Entry into force has been floated for September 2026, but the regulation is still working its way through the approval process as of that date.

How can employers respond when working hours legislation changes?

What stands out across these changes is how differently working hours reforms can look from one country to the next. Whether it’s a reduction of the standard working week, a new time recording obligation, or the strengthening of flexibility, employers must stay abreast of upcoming changes even when they are still at a proposal stage.

For employers that operate across several locations, the challenge lies in the combined effect of implementing and managing each of these new reforms into their working models.

Getting ahead of this means building a clear view by country now, rather than waiting for each effective date to arrive. That includes updating employment contracts, handbooks and manager guidance where hours, recording obligations or disconnect rights are changing, and make sure local HR and people managers understand which rules apply to which parts of the workforce.

It also puts pressure on the systems employers rely on to schedule, record and report working time. Varying country-specific regulations are difficult to manage through spreadsheets and manual processes, with no single source of truth. Purpose-built absence and workforce management software can bring that complexity into a single, auditable system.