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Farmácias São João, the largest network in the sector in the South of the country, began testing the 5×2 schedule in some stores. The goal is to prepare for a possible change in the work schedule, while the Senate decides the future of the 6×1 schedule after the Chamber approved the reduction of working hours.
Farmácias São João, the largest pharmacy chain in Rio Grande do Sul, started in early May to test the 5×2 schedule, which guarantees two days off per week, in part of its stores. The measure is a way to anticipate possible changes in labor legislation, at a time when Congress is discussing the end of the 6×1 schedule in Brazil.
With about 25,000 employees and more than a thousand stores spread across the South of the country, the company treats the initiative as a pilot project, restricted to some units. According to the network’s president, Pedro Henrique Brair, the idea is to closely observe, alongside the employees and HR, how the operation and teams adapt to the new model before any definitive decision by the Senate.
Why Farmácias São João adopted the 5×2 schedule now
According to information released by the ndmais portal, the company’s explanation is straightforward: it does not want to be caught by surprise. Brair states that the network preferred to start testing the 5×2 schedule even before an official definition about the new labor rules, precisely to feel, in practice, how the company and employees react to two weekly days off. The internal reading is that getting ahead reduces the risk of disruptions if the proposal under discussion in Congress is approved.
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The network’s legal director, Sérgio Ferraz, makes a point of emphasizing that everything is still at the beginning. It is a pilot project, applied only to some selected units to measure the impacts before a possible expansion. The first results, according to Brair, are being monitored along with the teams and the human resources sector, with attention to both the well-being of employees and the routine of the stores.
A giant network from the South of the country
The weight of the decision comes from the size of São João. Founded in Passo Fundo, in the northern part of Rio Grande do Sul, the network has become one of the largest in the pharmaceutical sector in Brazil, with over a thousand stores distributed across Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná and a workforce of about 25,000 employees. In any company of this size, changing the work schedule requires planning and adaptation time.
Therefore, the company assesses that the market has already started to move in light of the possibility of reducing the weekly workload. Testing the 5×2 schedule in part of the operation works as a controlled laboratory: it allows understanding costs, team organization, and employee satisfaction without compromising the entire network at once.
How the 5×2 schedule can work in practice
It’s worth understanding what changes. The 5×2 schedule provides for five days of work and two days off per week, which do not necessarily have to be consecutive. It is a different model from the 6×1 schedule, where the worker only gets one day off after six days of work.
An important point, highlighted by labor law specialists, is that the 5×2 schedule can be adopted even without increasing the number of employees, as long as the company maintains the 44-hour weekly schedule through compensation agreements, with slightly longer daily shifts. In retail, this format is also being used as a strategy to attract professionals and reduce high turnover, especially of pharmacists and store leaders.
What the Chamber approved about the end of the 6×1 schedule
The network’s initiative comes a few days after the Chamber of Deputies approved, on Wednesday, May 27, in two rounds, the PEC that changes the rules of the work schedule in the country. The text, a substitute by Deputy Leo Prates, reduces the maximum workload from 44 to 40 hours per week and was approved by a large majority.
The change would be gradual. According to the text, about 60 days after the promulgation of the amendment, the schedule would drop to 42 hours, already with two days of paid rest per week, one of them preferably on Sunday. Only after a 14-month transition period would the weekly workload definitively drop to 40 hours, without a salary reduction. This design, in practice, would bury the 6×1 schedule.
Now the final decision is with the Senate
After the Chamber, the topic reached the Senate, which will have the final say. There, more than one proposal is in dispute: besides the PEC from the deputies, the senators also have an alternative presented by the opposition and an older text from Senator Paulo Paim. The decision on which project will have priority will be up to the President of the House, Davi Alcolumbre, in coordination with the party leaders.
This choice will weigh both on the speed of the proceedings and on the final format of the new rules. By the end of May, the PEC approved by the deputies had not yet been sent to the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee, but the expectation is that the matter will progress in the coming weeks, keeping the debate on the future of the 6×1 schedule and the potential advancement of the 5×2 schedule in Brazil alive.
Other networks are also testing the model
Farmácias São João is not alone in this movement. Other major pharmaceutical retail chains, such as those owned by the group that owns Pacheco and Drogaria São Paulo, and also the company that controls Raia and Drogasil, have already started adopting the 5×2 schedule in some stores, generally associating the change with talent retention and reduced turnover.
This behavior shows that some companies prefer to anticipate legislation rather than wait for a definitive decision from Congress. In retail, the topic is even more sensitive because it involves stores open for many hours, including on Sundays and holidays, which makes adjusting the work schedule more complex than in offices.
São João’s test raises a question that interests millions of workers: should the 5×2 schedule become the rule in Brazil, or could the end of the 6×1 schedule weigh on costs and prices?
Tell us in the comments if you would change jobs for two weekly days off and if you believe the Senate will indeed approve the reduction of the work schedule.
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