The Fecomercio (Federation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism) of Espírito Santo has decided to test an alternative scale in the retail trade of Espírito Santo, in order to reduce the labor deficit by 20% in the sector. Between March and October 2026, the state’s food and construction retail stores will close every Sunday, according to a collective bargaining agreement signed in November. The agreement also provides for a salary increase of 7%, above inflation.
“People are looking for flexibility, they don’t want to work on weekends and prefer a job close to home, so as not to waste too much time traveling,” explains José Carlos Bergamin, vice-president of Fecomercio. “Established workload patterns need to be re-discussed,” he says.
Daniel Sakamoto, executive director of the CNDL (National Confederation of Retail Directors), points out that retail in Brazil has difficulty not only recruiting, but also retaining employees. Abras (Brazilian Association of Supermarkets) has 357,000 vacant positions. For example, in the Supermercados BH chain, the fourth largest food retail chain in the country, which employs 44,000 people, there are 4,000 vacancies, which already limits the speed of opening stores. At Plurix, the 11th supermarket chain in the ranking, turnover is 50%.
“Workers have many employment options and can choose what suits them best,” says Sakamoto. Companies, in turn, must constantly maintain selection and training processes. “It compromises productivity,” says Sakamoto, recalling that today people are looking for more flexible working conditions, which goes against the scale of retail: six days on and one day off, with working on holidays and weekends, a scale of 6×1.
In the retail trade of Espírito Santo, the collective agreement determined that companies adapt the scale to allow days off on Sundays, so as not to exceed 44 hours per week, with a maximum of 48 hours taking into account overtime — if they exist, they must be compensated within 120 days or, failing that, paid, with a 50% increase compared to normal hours.
For Bergamin, also the owner of the youth men’s fashion chain Konyk, many stores remain open unnecessarily for long periods, especially after the pandemic, when online sales have increased.
“There could be a reduction in store costs and an improvement in the quality of life of workers. This is what will be tested next year.” The Espírito Santo agreement does not apply to stores in shopping centers.
But also from a business point of view, we need to review the scale in shopping centers. “There is a big debate about whether the shopping center should be open until 10 p.m., as well as on Sundays,” explains Alexandre Birman, CEO of the Azzas 2154 group (owner of brands like Arezzo, Annacapri, Vans, Hering and Reserva).
According to Birman, there was a premise in retail that after 5 p.m., sales doubled compared to the rest of the day. “But that doesn’t happen anymore,” he said, believing that stores could open earlier. “A lot of women, especially those in class A, go to the gym and then want to take advantage of it and go to the mall to solve a problem, go shopping. But the stores are still closed.” On the other hand, he says, there is an increasing sale at lunchtime.
According to Jorge Gonçalves Filho, president of the IDV (Institute for the Development of Retail), which brings together the major chains in the sector, there is no way to escape “mathematics”. “If you change the scale and the route, the cost will increase,” he says, reminding that it is the consumer who must foot the bill.
H&M, which opened its first store in Brazil in August, however, is an example of a retailer that has adopted the 5×2 scale for its employees.
Gonçalves Filho says the sector would like to pay employees better, but feels the tax burden. “The personnel expense line is one of the highest: for every R$1 that I pay to my employee, it costs the company an additional R$1,” says the manager, contrary to the idea of closing stores on Sundays. “Salespeople are heroes, they are there with a smile on their face. Nobody likes (working Saturday and Sunday).”
The economist Leandro Rosadas, specialist in supermarket management, is of the same opinion. “No one wants to be a cashier or grocery store restocker,” he says. But he believes there are alternatives for retailers: raise wages to attract labor and offset this cost. Examples of this include efficiency gains in areas such as energy consumption and packaging control, as well as the renegotiation of rental and pricing contracts with industry.
For Rosadas, the use of technology, such as the implementation of self-checkouts with sales via WhatsApp with generative AI, is a path of no return for retail in general to partially compensate for the lack of professionals. “But there are things that AI doesn’t do, like restocking the shelves or cutting a steak. In those cases, you really need to increase the salary.”
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