Carlos Slim proposes a sweeping overhaul of the workweek: three days of 12-hour shifts, unchanged salaries, and retirement at 75. His vision stands in sharp contrast to Mexico’s gradual move toward a 40-hour week, sparking debate over productivity, worker health, and the future of employment.
Carlos Slim, one of the world’s wealthiest businessmen, is pushing a vision for the future of work that upends conventional thinking: compress the standard workweek into just three days, with 11- to 12-hour shifts, while keeping salaries intact and extending the retirement age to 75. This proposal, which Slim has championed for years, stands apart from Mexico’s official labor reforms and has reignited debate over how best to balance productivity, worker well-being, and economic opportunity.
At the heart of Slim’s plan is the idea that concentrating 33 to 36 working hours into fewer, longer days would give employees four consecutive days off each week. He argues that this model could allow companies to hire more staff—especially younger workers—by rotating teams, all without reducing pay. Slim contends that as people live longer, societies must rethink both the structure of work and the age of retirement to ensure financial stability and broader access to formal employment.
Clashing with Official Reform
Mexico is currently on a path to reduce the legal maximum workweek from 48 to 40 hours by 2030, following a phased schedule: 48 hours in 2026, 46 in 2027, 44 in 2028, 42 in 2029, and finally 40 in 2030. The reform, approved in 2026, explicitly protects workers from pay cuts as hours decrease. However, it does not mandate a four-day week or Slim’s three-day model. Instead, employers and employees can negotiate how to distribute hours, provided there is at least one rest day for every six worked.
Under the new law, the standard daytime shift remains capped at eight hours. While up to 12 hours can be worked in a single day by combining regular and overtime hours, overtime is strictly limited and must be compensated at higher rates. Slim’s proposal for three consecutive 12-hour days is not automatically permitted under the current legal framework, and would require further regulatory changes to become widespread practice.
Health and Safety Concerns
Longer shifts raise significant questions about worker health and safety. Research from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health suggests that 12-hour shifts increase the risk of accidents and errors by 28% compared to eight-hour days. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration also warns that extended hours can lead to fatigue, stress, and reduced concentration, especially in physically demanding or high-stakes sectors like healthcare, transportation, and emergency services.
The impact of such schedules depends on the nature of the work, the timing of shifts, and the availability of adequate breaks and recovery periods. Any move toward longer workdays would require robust safeguards to protect employees from burnout and workplace hazards.
Retirement Age: No Legal Change
While Slim advocates raising the retirement age to 75, current Mexican law allows workers to claim a pension from the IMSS as early as 60, with full old-age benefits available from 65, provided they meet contribution requirements. The recent labor reform does not alter these ages or force anyone to work longer. Any increase in the retirement age would require a separate overhaul of the pension system, a step not included in the current legislative agenda.
Broader Context and Debate
Slim’s proposal has sparked discussion not only about the future of work in Mexico, but also about how societies worldwide should adapt to demographic shifts and changing economic realities. The tension between shorter workweeks and the need for sustainable pensions is not unique to Mexico. In Spain, for example, debates over work-life balance and the viability of traditional employment models have also come to the fore, as seen in stories like the rise of young professionals choosing self-employment in agriculture—such as the case of a mechanical engineer who left a stable job to run her own vineyard, detailed in this recent report.
As Mexico’s gradual reduction of the workweek moves forward, Slim’s vision remains outside the legal mainstream. Whether his model will gain traction or remain a provocative thought experiment depends on how businesses, workers, and policymakers weigh the trade-offs between flexibility, health, and economic security in the years ahead.
