In recent years, the digitalisation of Human Resources has established itself as a strategic pillar for sustainability and legal certainty in organisations. In a context of increasing regulatory requirements and labour inspections, the automation of schedules through Workforce Management (WFM) solutions has become crucial for institutions and companies across sectors, serving as direct support to management.
What are legal non-compliances?
Legal non-compliance in the labour sphere occurs when the employer fails to comply with obligations set out in the legislation, thereby generating financial, administrative and legal liabilities. In Brazil, one of the countries with the highest rate of labour fines, these failures may involve delays in the payment of wages and benefits, non-compliance with individual or collective agreements, incorrect payment of overtime, errors in the counting of hours worked, and the establishment of working hours and schedules that do not comply with the Consolidation of Labour Laws (CLT) or with union conventions and agreements.
What are the most common examples of non-compliance?
A practical example of an irregularity that can compromise an organisation’s financial sustainability is poor management of overtime. Still, in the Brazilian context, among the main records of labour irregularities are failures in shift management and irregularities in overtime payments. For example, if a professional accumulates 60 additional hours over three months, Brazilian labour law requires that they be compensated with time off within the legal deadline or be paid as overtime. If the institution fails to monitor this balance correctly, fails to ensure the mandatory rest between shifts, or exceeds the legal limits on consecutive hours of work, it may face administrative fines.
WFM as a risk mitigation strategy
It is in this context that WFM plays a strategic role, as it allows schedules to be generated manually or automatically in accordance with the rules of labour legislation and collective agreements in force across different countries, thereby avoiding the creation of non-compliant schedules. The technology thus ensures compliance with working time limits, minimum breaks between shifts, mandatory time off and, where applicable, strict control of overtime. In addition, it also allows the creation of auditable records and reports that serve as evidence in inspections and audits.
Manual or fragmented shift management is currently one of the biggest labour vulnerabilities in companies. According to José Pedro Fernandes, Vice-President of SISQUAL® WFM, ‘digitalising this process is no longer a technical choice but has become a strategic risk mitigation measure for companies,’ he explains.
That being said, using a tool to generate schedules not only reduces human error, but also ‘provides quick and informed responses, allowing HR departments to react preventively and prevent an irregularity from becoming a legal problem,’ he adds.
In sectors such as healthcare, for example, which operate 24 hours a day and depend on complex schedules, these risks become even more critical. During the 3rd edition of the Café com WFM event, held last year by SISQUAL® WFM in partnership with Seconci-SP, a Brazilian Social Health Organisation, the benefits of automation in terms of preventing labour illegalities were highlighted: Mayra Reis, Payroll Analyst at Seconci-SP, pointed out that the automation of schedules has substantially reduced the balance of the hour bank, contributing to cost reduction and greater compliance with legislation. ‘SISQUAL® WFM’s automatic reports now provide clear and immediate information for audits and internal control,’ she said. For Marta Lopes, Corporate Quality Coordinator at the institution, the appropriate sizing of teams, combined with automatic records and time off, also ‘helped to avoid labour lawsuits and liabilities.’
In addition to the direct financial impact on institutions, non-compliance can also have operational consequences for employees, such as fatigue, increased absenteeism, and reduced service quality.
Sustainability as a competitive advantage
In an increasingly complex regulatory environment, automated workforce planning is not only a competitive advantage but also an operational and, often, legal necessity.
Efficient workforce management is thus directly linked to corporate sustainability. By ensuring balanced working hours, preventing excessive overtime, improving workload distribution and ensuring legal compliance, companies reduce financial and reputational risks, strengthen social responsibility indicators and improve organisational culture. In this way, compliance is no longer seen merely as a legal obligation but becomes part of corporate strategy.
Since 2008, SISQUAL® WFM has been referenced by Gartner® as one of the world’s leading providers of Workforce Management solutions, reflecting the company’s maturity, consistency and relevance in the global market. With a consolidated presence on 5 continents and more than 1,500,000 users who benefit from the solution daily, it adapts to the specific regulatory requirements of each market, maintaining an ongoing commitment to the digitalisation of HR processes and helping institutions to plan in a more agile and efficient, but above all, more conscious manner.
