Thinking about a multilingual customer service job in Lisbon or Porto and wondering what your week will actually look like? Your work schedule in Portugal is shaped by a fairly protective Labour Code: a normal maximum of 40 hours a week, a real meal break, 11 hours of rest between two working days and clear pay premiums for night work, overtime and public holidays. Customer service adds the logic of shifts, fixed or rotating time slots aligned with the opening hours of the customers you support in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland or the Netherlands. Here is how it all works in practice, and above all how to make the most of it to enjoy the sun, the ocean and city life.
What the Portuguese Labour Code says
The reference text is the Código do Trabalho, Law 7/2009, amended several times, most recently by the Agenda do Trabalho Digno reform that came into force in 2023. It sets a normal working time of 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. The day must include a break of at least one hour and no more than two hours, so that nobody works more than 5 hours in a row (a collective agreement can raise that limit to 6 hours). Between the end of one working day and the start of the next, you are entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest. Every week includes at least one mandatory rest day, and the vast majority of companies give two. The official rules and practical guides are published by the Portuguese labour inspectorate, the ACT (Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho).
| Rule | What the law provides |
|---|---|
| Normal working time | 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week |
| Meal break | 1 to 2 hours, never more than 5 hours of work in a row |
| Rest between two working days | at least 11 consecutive hours |
| Weekly rest | 1 mandatory day, 2 days in practice |
| Night work | between 10 pm and 7 am, paid 25% more |
| Overtime on a working day | +25% for the 1st hour, +37.5% for the following ones |
| Overtime on a rest day or public holiday | +50% per hour |
| Annual overtime cap | 150 hours a year in companies with more than 50 employees |
| Paid leave | 22 working days a year, plus 13 public holidays |
These rules apply to every employee, whatever their nationality. Your contract and the internal rules then set your exact schedule, but they can never go below these minimums. For the rest of the legal framework, our guide to the employment contract in Portugal covers the probation period, notice and renewal.
Shifts in a multilingual customer service job
A multilingual customer service centre does not run like a classic 9 to 5 office: it follows the hours of the end customers. One detail changes everything. Lisbon and Porto are on London time, one hour behind Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Amsterdam. When a German or Dutch helpline opens at 8 am Central European Time, it is 7 am in Lisbon. As a result, many shifts on the French, German and Dutch speaking markets start early and finish mid afternoon, which leaves long sunny evenings.
In practice, a shift usually means 8 hours of work plus a one hour break, so 9 hours on site. Depending on the project, your schedule is fixed (always the same slot) or rotating (one week in the morning, the next one in the afternoon). Rosters are usually shared two to four weeks in advance, and the law provides that a change of shift should in principle happen after a weekly rest day, so your body has time to adjust.
| Shift type | Hours in Lisbon | What you have left |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | 7 am to 4 pm | the whole late afternoon, beach before sunset |
| Day | 9 am to 6 pm | free evenings and terraces |
| Afternoon | 12 pm to 9 pm | mornings for sport, shopping or paperwork |
| Rotating weekend | 1 or 2 Saturdays or Sundays a month | 2 days off during the week instead |
| Night, projects open 24/7 | 11 pm to 8 am | 25% premium and whole free days |
These hours are common examples, not a universal rule. Each project has its own time slots, and they are presented to you before you sign your contract.
Breaks, rotations and days off
On top of the meal break, most customer service projects include short screen breaks, often two breaks of 10 to 15 minutes spread over the day. They are a chance to take the headset off, grab a coffee (around 0.80 euros at the counter) or stretch your legs. Rotations follow a cycle known in advance: you know which weeks you start early, which weeks you start later and which weekends are involved.
As for rest, the norm is two days off a week. On projects open Monday to Friday, those are Saturday and Sunday. On projects open seven days a week, your two days sometimes fall midweek, for example Tuesday and Wednesday. Many expats end up preferring this pattern: beaches, palaces and trains are much quieter on a Tuesday than on a Saturday. Your annual leave comes on top, with 22 working days a year. Our article on paid leave in Portugal explains how to book it cleverly around the 13 public holidays to create plenty of long weekends.
Weekends, nights and public holidays: the premiums
Working on a Saturday or Sunday does not automatically come with a premium if that day is part of your normal schedule and you get your two rest days elsewhere in the week. Premiums apply in three specific cases. Night work first: every hour worked between 10 pm and 7 am is paid 25% more than a daytime hour, unless the collective agreement offers more. Overtime next: +25% for the first hour and +37.5% for the following ones on a working day, +50% on a rest day or public holiday. Public holidays finally: if your company stays open and you work on 25 April or 1 May, you receive, as the employer chooses, either a 50% premium or compensatory rest equal to half the hours worked.
| Situation | Legal premium | Indicative hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Normal hour | none | 6.12 euros gross |
| Night hour, 10 pm to 7 am | +25% | 7.65 euros gross |
| 1st overtime hour | +25% | 7.65 euros gross |
| Following overtime hours | +37.5% | 8.42 euros gross |
| Overtime hour on a rest day or holiday | +50% | 9.18 euros gross |
The hourly rate uses the official Portuguese formula: monthly salary multiplied by 12, divided by 52 weeks of 40 hours. On a basis of 1,060 euros gross a month, that gives about 6.12 euros gross per hour. To see what is left once social security and income tax are deducted, read our breakdown of the salary in Portugal.
Organising your life around shifts
The expats who enjoy their shift patterns the most tend to share a few habits. Nothing complicated, but they make a real difference to your energy and mood.
- Sleep first: keep the same wake up time across your shift week, and on days off when you can. It is the best remedy against rotation fatigue.
- Meals: the prato do dia, the dish of the day, costs 8 to 12 euros in small neighbourhood restaurants. On a morning shift, plan a proper lunch during your break rather than snacking at your desk.
- Sport: many gyms open from 6.30 am and close late. After a morning shift, a surf session in Carcavelos or a run along the Tagus is still possible in full daylight.
- Transport: the metropolitan Navegante pass costs 40 euros a month and covers metro, buses, trams, ferries and suburban trains. The Lisbon metro runs from 6.30 am to 1 am.
- Social life: colleagues on the same roster quickly become your crew, for dinners as well as for weekend trips.
- Paperwork: a weekday off is perfect for the bank, the Loja do Cidadão citizen shop or a medical appointment, when everything is open and quiet.
Enjoying Lisbon and Porto with weekdays off
This is the most underrated perk of rotating rosters. On a Tuesday in October, the beach in Cascais is almost empty and the water is still pleasant. The train from Cais do Sodré takes about forty minutes and is included in your Navegante pass. Same for Sintra, its palaces and forests, 40 minutes from Rossio station, without the Saturday queues. In Porto, weekdays are ideal for walking along the sea from Foz do Douro to Matosinhos, or for taking the train up the Douro valley and its terraced vineyards.
Morning shifts offer another luxury: finishing at 4 pm when the sun sets around 8.30 pm in summer. That leaves more than four hours of daylight for a swim, a sunset from a miradouro viewpoint or a drink on a terrace with colleagues. Few jobs back home allow that rhythm every day.
Working in Portugal with Expat-U
If this rhythm appeals to you, Expat-U helps Europeans move into customer advisor and content moderator roles in Portugal. We recruit French, German and Dutch speakers, who work in their native language while English is used internally. The conditions are simple: a 12 month fixed term contract that can be renewed, paid initial training, a salary of around 1,060 euros gross a month paid 14 times a year, company housing provided for the whole duration of the contract, and a flight reimbursed for French speakers or paid directly for German and Dutch speakers. The schedule of each project is presented before you commit, so you can choose with full knowledge. Open positions are listed on our jobs in Portugal page. For general questions about working in another EU country, the European Commission’s EURES portal is a reliable source.
FAQ
Can you choose your hours in a customer service job in Portugal?
Not entirely. Time slots depend on the project and on the customers’ opening hours. Some projects have a fixed schedule, others rotate. You can share your preferences before you commit, and rosters are published several weeks in advance.
Do you have to work weekends?
It depends on the project. On projects open seven days a week, you work some weekends and get two rest days during the week instead. Weekend work is not paid extra in itself; only overtime, night hours and public holidays carry a premium.
How many hours a week do people work in Portugal?
The normal working time is 40 hours a week, so 8 hours a day over 5 days, plus a one hour meal break. Overtime remains exceptional, capped and paid with a premium of 25% to 50%.
