Case study: a services company rebuilds its payroll for Colombia's 42-hour workweek
Moving from 44 to 42 hours is not a two-hour cut in the contract: shifts, surcharges and coverage all change. This illustrative case shows how a services company in Colombia handles it and what it costs per month.
A company that runs shifts does not adapt to a shorter workweek by taking two hours off every contract. If each shift must last between four and nine hours, trimming the short Saturday shift drops it below the minimum. The calendar gets redesigned first, and payroll changes as a result.
At Soulbit Academy we present this case as illustrative and composite. The company, its crew and every figure are fictitious and labeled as assumptions: they are not Soulbit prices or results from a real company. The case lets you follow, with arithmetic you can reproduce, what changes in shifts, surcharges and monthly cost when the workweek goes from 44 to 42 hours.
The case: a Colombian subsidiary running 44-hour shifts before July 15, 2026
Northgate Facility Services Colombia S.A.S. is a fictitious subsidiary of a foreign group. It cleans and maintains office buildings in Bogotá every day, from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with 30 operators on payroll. Until July 14, 2026 it ran the maximum workweek of 44 hours.
These assumptions apply to every calculation in the article:
- Each operator earns a fixed 2,541,000 pesos a month, about 1.45 times the 2026 minimum wage of 1,750,905 pesos.
- The starting point is June 2026: a 220-hour divisor, an ordinary hour of 11,550 pesos, a 35% night surcharge from 7:00 p.m. and an 80% Sunday surcharge.
- Each operator works five 8-hour shifts, from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., plus one 4-hour Saturday shift from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. That is 44 hours over six days.
- One Sunday in every four weeks, the 8-hour Sunday shift replaces a weekday shift.
- The standard month has four identical weeks.
Each 8-hour shift includes 4 night hours, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. An operator works 20 long shifts a month, or 80 night hours, and the crew totals 2,400. The night surcharge is 2,400 × 4,042.50 = 9,702,000 pesos, because 35% of 11,550 is 4,042.50.
Sundays add 30 shifts of 8 hours, or 240 Sunday hours. The 80% surcharge on 11,550 is 9,240 pesos an hour, so the Sunday surcharge is 240 × 9,240 = 2,217,600 pesos. With salaries of 76,230,000 pesos, the starting monthly direct cost is 88,149,600 pesos, covering 30 × 44 = 1,320 operator-hours a week.
The 42-hour workweek in Colombia: what it changes in shifts, hourly value and surcharges
Since July 15, 2026 the maximum workweek in Colombia is 42 hours, spread over five or six days with daily shifts of four to nine hours and no salary cut. Law 2101 of 2021 set the gradual reduction and Law 2466 of 2025 confirmed the 42 hours. More detail in the 42-hour workweek: hourly value and overtime and Law 2466: the employer checklist.
For Northgate the salary stays at 2,541,000 pesos, but each hour is worth more. The usual six-day method gives a divisor of 42 ÷ 6 × 30 = 210 hours, against 220 at 44 hours. The ordinary hour moves from 11,550 to 12,100 pesos, up 4.8%. Industry sources report that divisor. We found no Ministry of Labor circular that sets it, so confirm it with your labor adviser.
Two changes coincide and are worth separating. The first is the divisor, in force since July 15. The second is the Sunday surcharge step, which rose from 80% to 90% on July 1, 2026 and reaches 100% on July 1, 2027, under article 14 of Law 2466. Each surcharge is worked out in night and Sunday surcharges in 2026.
In the case, the Sunday surcharge per hour goes from 9,240 to 10,890 pesos. If only the divisor had changed, it would be 0.80 × 12,100 = 9,680, which is 440 pesos more. The other 1,210 pesos come from the 90% step.
Three ways to absorb the two hours: cut coverage, hire or pay overtime
When the workweek falls to 42 hours, the 30 operators deliver 60 fewer hours a week, and the company has three possible responses. It can cut hours without hiring, hire to cover the gap, or keep the hours and pay the difference as overtime. Table 1 compares them under the case assumptions.
| Option | Crew and hours | Weekly coverage (operator-hours) | Monthly direct cost | Change vs. before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before (June 2026) | 30 operators, 44 h | 1,320 | 88,149,600 | Baseline |
| A. Cut hours, no hiring | 30 operators, 42 h | 1,260 (-4.5%) | 89,189,100 | +1,039,500 (+1.2%) |
| B. Hire to cover | 32 operators, 42 h | 1,344 (+1.8%) | 95,135,040 | +6,985,440 (+7.9%) |
| C. Pay overtime | 30 operators, 42 ordinary h plus 2 overtime h | 1,320 (0%) | 93,545,100 | +5,395,500 (+6.1%) |
Option A is the cheapest, but it still adds 1,039,500 pesos from the hourly value and the Sunday step alone, and the service loses 60 operator-hours a week. Option B needs two people. Sixty hours is 1.4 positions, and one hire gives only 31 × 42 = 1,302 hours, short of 1,320. Option C keeps all 30 operators and pays the 2 weekly hours above the legal maximum as overtime: 120 hours a month at the 25% daytime rate and 120 at the 75% night rate.
Rebuilding the shifts without breaking the four-hour minimum or the overtime cap
A schedule that meets the limits splits the week into six 7-hour shifts with two start times. Half the crew works 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with 3 night hours, and the other half 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with 4. The 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. window stays open, although only half the crew covers each end.
Is it enough to take two hours off the short Saturday shift?
No. The Saturday shift lasts four hours, and losing two leaves it at two, below the four-hour daily minimum set by the workweek distribution rules (Laws 2101 and 2466). The reduction has to be spread across several shifts, which is why the case moves from five 8-hour shifts and one 4-hour shift to six 7-hour shifts.
Check a typical week against each option:
- Options A and B: six 7-hour shifts add up to 42 ordinary hours. Every shift sits between 4 and 9 hours and there is no overtime.
- Sunday: the 7-hour Sunday shift replaces a weekday shift, so the week stays at six shifts and 42 hours.
- Option C, typical week: four 7-hour shifts and two 8-hour shifts, with one overtime hour in each of those two. That is 44 hours worked, 42 ordinary and 2 supplementary, and no day exceeds 8 hours.
- Option C, overtime timing: the first group's overtime hour falls from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., at night, and the second group's from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., in daytime.
How much overtime could one operator work in this schedule?
An operator could work up to two overtime hours a day and twelve a week, under article 22 of Law 50 of 1990. Option C uses one hour on each of two days, which is 2 of the 12 permitted weekly hours, or 17% of the cap. The law exempts some sectors, such as security and health.
At the 210 divisor, a daytime overtime hour is worth 12,100 × 1.25 = 15,125 pesos and a night hour 12,100 × 1.75 = 21,175. Over the month, 120 daytime hours cost 1,815,000 and 120 night hours cost 2,541,000. Option C overtime totals 4,356,000 pesos.
Night and Sunday surcharges: monthly cost before and after the 42-hour workweek
With option B, the crew's monthly direct cost rises from 88,149,600 to 95,135,040 pesos, an increase of 7.9%. Table 2 breaks the calculation down line by line.
| Item | Before (44 h, June 2026) | After, option B (42 h, October 2026) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operators on payroll | 30 | 32 | +2 |
| Ordinary hourly value | 11,550 | 12,100 | +4.8% |
| Base salaries | 76,230,000 | 81,312,000 | +5,082,000 |
| Night hours in the month | 2,400 | 2,688 | +288 |
| Night surcharge per hour (35%) | 4,042.50 | 4,235 | +4.8% |
| Night surcharge for the month | 9,702,000 | 11,383,680 | +1,681,680 |
| Sunday hours in the month | 240 | 224 | -16 |
| Sunday surcharge per hour (80% and 90%) | 9,240 | 10,890 | +17.9% |
| Sunday surcharge for the month | 2,217,600 | 2,439,360 | +221,760 |
| Monthly direct cost | 88,149,600 | 95,135,040 | +6,985,440 (+7.9%) |
The two new salaries explain 5,082,000 of the 6,985,440 pesos of increase. The night surcharge rises 1,681,680: 1,219,680 from the 288 additional hours and 462,000 from the higher value of the 2,400 hours that already existed. The Sunday surcharge rises 221,760 pesos even though hours fall from 240 to 224, because each Sunday shift is 7 hours rather than 8.
The table shows direct cost only. Each hire also adds contributions and benefits. Using the method of the 30-employee SMB case, which assumes the contribution exemption and leaves out work clothing, each new operator adds 1,267,711 pesos a month, so two add 2,535,422. Option B then rises by about 9,520,862 pesos from the starting point. The aggregate effect of the reform is in the cost of employing in Colombia after the labor reform.
Overtime carries a load too. Pension, occupational risk and family compensation fund contributions alone add 16.522% of 4,356,000, about 719,698 pesos, which brings option C to 6,115,198. Whether overtime also enters the base for severance, service bonus and vacation is a point to confirm with your accountant.
Which option the company picks and what finance should check
Northgate picks option B for its core service and keeps overtime as a reserve for peaks, within the twelve-hour weekly cap. Hiring gives coverage that does not depend on each operator accepting an extra hour, and option A would cut the service its building clients expect.
When does overtime beat hiring?
Overtime wins when the gap is temporary or smaller than a full position. Here the 60-hour weekly gap is 1.4 positions. A gap of 15 weekly hours is a third of a position, and overtime within the cap is more flexible than a permanent contract.
The case leaves three checks for finance:
- Budget the divisor effect and the Sunday step separately, and project the move to 100% in July 2027.
- Log overtime by day and by week to show it stays under the cap.
- Write down the rule for stacking night and Sunday surcharges when they coincide. It is the reading of industry sources, and we have not verified a Ministry of Labor opinion on it.
What Soulbit does today in this case and what it does not
Soulbit does not calculate working hours, shifts, surcharges, overtime or benefits, and it does not run payroll. That calculation stays with the company, its accountant or its payroll software. Soulbit does not provide labor, tax or accounting advice either.
What Soulbit delivers today is the step after the calculation. With Soulbit Salaries, Northgate's group could hold a balance in stablecoins, such as USDC and USDT, or in fiat, and disburse the already-calculated payroll of its 32 operators in batches or on a recurring basis to Colombian bank accounts. Each payment has traceability, a local bank rail, institutional custody, KYB and AML/KYT monitoring, and there is human support. The flow is in batch payroll: from file to disbursement.
The mobile apps and the card are not available yet. And a fast disbursement does not fix a miscalculated surcharge.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to move from 44 to 42 weekly hours in a shift-based company?
It depends on how the company covers the lost hours. In this assumed case of 30 operators, monthly direct cost rises 1.2% if coverage is reduced, 7.9% if two people are hired and 6.1% if overtime is paid. These are illustrative figures for salaries, surcharges and overtime before contributions and benefits, not a forecast for another company.
Can a Colombian employer shorten only the last shift of the week to reach 42 hours?
Only if the shortened shift keeps at least four hours. Law 2466 of 2025 sets daily shifts of four to nine hours. A four-hour Saturday shift that loses two hours falls to two and no longer meets that minimum, so the reduction should be spread across several shifts.
What happens to the Sunday surcharge when the workweek drops to 42 hours?
Two changes hit the Sunday surcharge at once. The hourly value rises because the divisor moves from 220 to 210, and the percentage rose from 80% to 90% on July 1, 2026. In this case the Sunday surcharge per hour goes from 9,240 to 10,890 pesos, and most of the increase comes from the percentage step.
Is overtime cheaper than hiring two more people?
Not always. In this case overtime costs 4,356,000 pesos a month, while the two hires cost 5,082,000 in salaries plus 2,535,422 in contributions and benefits. Overtime also carries contributions and possibly benefits. For a stable gap, hiring gives secure coverage; for a seasonal gap, overtime within the cap is more flexible.
Does Soulbit calculate shifts, surcharges or payroll for a services company?
No. Soulbit does not calculate working hours, surcharges, overtime or benefits, and it does not run payroll. Soulbit Salaries disburses payroll that has already been calculated, in batches or on a recurring basis, to Colombian bank accounts from a stablecoin or fiat balance, with traceability for every payment.
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