Starting next Monday, October 5, Spanish companies will have to be much more transparent with their workers about everyday matters such as schedules, shifts, overtime, or changes in the workday. Royal Decree 723/2026 expands the labor information that must be provided in writing and also highlights a reality that is becoming increasingly common: the use of algorithms to organize work.
A verbally communicated shift change, overtime hours whose conditions aren’t clearly defined, or an app that automatically decides which employee covers each time slot. Common situations in many companies will now need to be considered from a different perspective.
The Royal Decree 723/2026, dated September 9, and published in the Official State Gazette on September 15, transposes EU Directive 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions into Spanish law. The regulation takes effect on October 5, 2026 and broadens the information obligations that employers owe their workers.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that all of these conditions have to be incorporated into a new employment contract. The information may be provided through one or more written documents and delivered in paper or electronic form, as long as the worker can access, store, and print it and the company keeps evidence of its transmission or receipt.
For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those that operate with shifts, variable schedules, or staff that changes frequently, the entry into force of the rule provides another reason to review how they document the organization of work.
More clarity on workday, shifts, and overtime
One of the most practically impactful points is related to the workday itself. The company must provide more detailed information about aspects such as the duration and distribution of the ordinary workday and the conditions related to overtime or supplementary hours.
When there is a pattern of work that is fully or predominantly foreseeable, the worker must know matters such as the duration of their ordinary workday, its distribution, and, when applicable, the conditions for performing overtime and supplementary hours and their corresponding compensation.
This becomes particularly important in sectors such as hospitality, retail, logistics, services, manufacturing, or customer support, where rosters and shift changes are part of the daily operation.
The new regulation aims to ensure that the worker knows in advance the rules under which their work time is organized and that these rules do not depend solely on informal communications between managers and employees.
What if the schedule changes constantly?
The issue becomes even more important when the work pattern is wholly or largely unpredictable. In these cases, the information must reflect the principle that the schedule is variable, indicate the guaranteed paid hours, and specify the hours and reference days on which the worker may be required to provide services.
Rules on minimum notice before starting a task and, where applicable, the time available to cancel an assignment should also be clear.
For an SME this can have a very practical consequence: managing rosters effectively is no longer merely an internal organizational matter. The company must be able to explain the criteria behind changes and the rules it applies to communicating those schedules.
HR software takes center stage
The regulatory change raises another challenge: managing all this information with spreadsheets, standalone documents, emails, and verbal communications can become a source of errors.
Here, human resources and shift-management software can play a particularly important role.
A platform that centralizes contracts, workdays, rosters, schedule changes, communications, and an audit trail of changes can build a much clearer record of the employment relationship.
But technology alone does not solve the problem. In fact, the new obligation regarding algorithms introduces an interesting paradox: the more automated the management of workers, the greater the need to know and document how that automation works.
It will not be enough to argue that “the program decided it.”
If an automated system participates in certain employment decisions, the company must be able to inform about its existence and the criteria and rules it uses when they affect matters covered by the regulation.
Another important consideration for employers is differentiating between the obligation to inform in writing and the need to modify each employment contract.
The Royal Decree allows certain elements to be communicated through documents other than the contract itself. In some cases, the information can be provided by a precise reference to the applicable law or collective bargaining agreement.
When the conditions that must be communicated change, the company must also inform the worker in writing of those modifications, except in cases where the change arises directly from legal, regulatory, or applicable collective bargaining changes.
Therefore, for many SMEs, the challenge will not be to rewrite all their employment documentation but to check what information they currently provide, how they communicate it, and whether they can prove that the worker received it.
What SMEs should review before October 5
With the deadline fast approaching, companies should especially review their contracts and labor documentation, the way they communicate rosters and schedule changes, the conditions applicable to overtime and supplementary hours, and the digital systems used to organize the workforce.
It will also be important to determine whether any HR, planning, logistics, or business-management tool uses algorithms to make decisions that affect working conditions.
This is not a matter that only affects large companies with complex AI systems. A small business may use a cloud application that automatically generates worker schedules without previously considering that behind that planning sits an automated decision system.
The Royal Decree also states that the information must be accessible and understandable and that the company must keep proof of its transmission or receipt when provided electronically.
The timeline, moreover, leaves little room for maneuver. The regulation was published on September 15 and takes effect on October 5, 2026.
For SMEs, the change represents a new administrative obligation, but it also highlights a problem that goes beyond mere regulatory compliance. A poorly organized roaster has costs in overtime, productivity, absenteeism, and workplace culture. From October onward, the company will also need to be much more transparent about the rules it uses to organize it.
