The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) estimates that teleworking can represent savings for companies above the 86,000 pesos per year per employee, this only if a modality of three days of remote work is considered.
This figure is part of the analysis of the regulatory impact of the final draft of the Telework NOM sent by the agency to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer). In other words, a company with 100 workers under the remote work scheme would have annual savings of 8.6 million pesos, according to the agency’s estimates.
In contrast, the STPS calculations indicate that the expenditure that companies will make to comply with the standard will be a maximum of 22,362 pesos per year per worker, considering direct and indirect costs. However, the cost could only be 2,024 pesos per year if the expenses are limited to direct costs such as all the documentation that companies must have.
“The previous costs can be compared against the savings that the implementation of these measures would have, only in the calculation of savings in administrative costs (workplace rent, payment of electricity, internet, water, etc.). It is estimated that an average of 566 pesos is saved per day for each worker. If we calculate three days of teleworking per year, it would be an average of 156 days per year, and on this basis the savings would be 86,598 pesos per year”, indicates the dependency in the document.
The Teleworking NOM (NOM-037) is the instrument that will regulate the health and safety conditions that must be observed in the remote work modality to avoid occupational accidents and illnesses. In the analysis delivered to Conamer, the STPS rules out that these conditions can be established through other alternative mechanisms such as self-regulation or voluntary schemes.
“No alternatives other than the issuance of an official Mexican standard have been identified to establish the safety and health measures that must prevail in the workplace. In addition, it is reiterated that by mandate of the Law, an official Mexican standard must be issued ”, he points out.
Once the procedure before Conamer is completed, NOM-037 will enter into force on 180 calendar days after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).
According to the Ministry of Labor, the benefits of the Teleworking NOM for companies are:
- Lower maintenance costs in expenses such as electricity, water, rent, furniture, facilities, etc.
- Increase in employees, reduction in job turnover and decrease in absenteeism
- Avoid penalties for non-compliance
- Productivity increase
- Reduction of travel expenses
- Better deadlines for delivery of tasks
- Reduction of psychosocial risks
On the other hand, among the advantages that the new regulations for workersthe dependency highlights:
- Flexible schedule
- Greater specialization when executing tasks based on objectives
- Improvement in quality of life
- Reduced conflicts with employers
- Saving time by reducing transfers to the work center
- Savings in expenses for public transport, food, clothing and footwear
- Work stress reduction
Meanwhile, the agency highlights that the remote work modality can have benefits for the environment by decreasing the use of automobiles. “It could be calculated, if we take as a reference that 20.9% of the population that uses their private vehicle to commute to work, that is, 7,223,460 cars, this could be the population that could benefit from teleworking. For example, if 10% of these people stop moving, because they are teleworkers, at least 722,000 vehicles they would stop circulating every day.”
How the Teleworking NOM comes
The latest version of the NOM-037 project incorporates a more active role of the safety and hygiene commissions of the companies in the supervision, recognizes that employees can propose the places where they will telework to agree with the employer and a second version of the checklist is contemplated to corroborate that people maintain the appropriate environment to develop their activities.
These changes were approved at the beginning of March by the work team that collaborated with the STPS in the design of the norm, after incorporating the comments sent by 74 promoters during the public consultation process which took place between July and September of last year.
“Several modifications were made with the purpose of providing clarity, consistency and legal certainty regarding the provisions that apply in the workplace,” says the head of the STPS, Luisa María Alcalde Luján in the project.
Among other changes, the final version of NOM-037 It contemplates an extension of the prevention of psychosocial risks by incorporating active breaks during the workday as a measure, and incorporates the obligation of employers to maintain the confidentiality of the information provided by employees through the checklist.
The STPS estimates that the home office can benefit 4.2 million people workers, but recognizes that large companies are the most likely to adopt this scheme.
