What is Standard 035: everything you need to know

Normativa 035 (NOM 035) is a labour law established in Mexico on 23 October 2020 in order to prevent psychosocial risk in the work environment, thus facilitating the identification and analysis of such risks and creating a more favourable working environment.NOM 035 obliges all companies residing in the country to comply with 3 different scales depending on the size of the organisation. In this way, NOM 035 provides the basic conditions required for work that respects the safety, well-being and health of the worker.

Obligations of Rule 035

NOM 035 obliges companies' workplaces to establish, register and implement a prevention policy to avoid psychosocial risk:

• Identify and analyse psychosocial risk factors.
• Assessing the organisational work environment.
• Adopt preventive measures and identification of psychosocial risk factors and take measures for their analysis and control.
• Identify, examine, record and implement measures and favourable action plan to address opposing practices.
• Conduct medical examinations and health assessments for workers vulnerable to risk factors.
• Create and share the collection of this organisational information with workers.
• Registering health-technical assistance.

NOM 035 requirements for companies

The requirements of regulation 035 vary depending on the number of workers in the company and can be classified into 3 categories:

1. Organisations with up to 15 workers.
2. Organisations with between 16 and 50 employees.
3. Organisations with more than 50 employees.

To learn about the specific obligations for each size of organisation and their identification, visit the NOM 035 Information Guide provided by the Government of Mexico.

How to implement Regulation 035

NOM 035 requires control of workloads and working hours, among other factors.

"niikiis is an HR software that facilitates compliance with Regulation 035, allows the rapid availability of the data necessary for the analysis, monitoring and justification of the various psychosocial risks."

Non-compliance with NOM 035

If these regulations are breached, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare can impose fines on the company concerned. This violation of the law means that the company is in breach of welfare standards, risk to the health, life and/or safety of employees; and penalties vary according to the level of non-compliance.

The cost of these offences can be between approximately MXN 26,767 and MXN 535,350.

Why you have to comply with Regulation 035

Complying with NOM 035 is not only important to avoid the cost of non-compliance: the law has been created to improve the living standards of the Mexican population, which is subject to the longest working hours in the world according to the OECD's 2018 study for new employment strategies.

"85% of organisations in Mexico do not have adequate conditions for the performance of their workers, do not take care of their human talent and promote different disorders such as stress, workaholism, burnout syndrome, harassment at work and "presenteeism"." - General Directorate of Social Communication

It is estimated that despite the long hours of work that Mexicans work each day, their level of productivity is not optimal and the tendency to suffer from burnout syndrome (or occupational attrition) can be worrying.The consequences of burnoutare fatal for the worker, ranging from depression to dizziness or tachycardia in severe cases, and directly affect their level of motivation and productivity. In addition, the promotion of a safe and pleasant working environment, as required by NOM 035, ensures performance, commitment and reduces resignations due to problems in the working environment.

Automate and digitise the implementation of Regulation 035.

Want to know how to facilitate the implementation of this recent Mexican law, our human resources management software, niikiis, will speed up this process by digitising and automating the tracking of your employees to comply with the regulations.

To learn more about how niikiis can help your company, request a demo by filling out the contact form.