STPS Training Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide

Every company with operations in Mexico — including US firms nearshoring there — is required to train its workers, and the training plan is the document that organizes that effort: which courses, for whom, when, and with what evidence. This guide walks the full cycle, from needs assessment to DC-3 certificates, and shows how an LMS turns the paperwork into an automatic process.

Published August 25, 2026 · Geedle Team

What is the STPS training plan?

It is the document where a company operating in Mexico defines which courses it will deliver to its workers, in what period, and with what objectives. Together with the program — which sets dates, positions, and content — it is part of the obligations the Mexican Federal Labor Law places on employers, and the STPS (Mexico’s labor authority) can request it in any review.

What legal framework requires a training plan in Mexico?

The obligation comes from articles 153-A through 153-X of the Mexican Federal Labor Law: employers must provide training to all their workers. From there come the forms DC-1 (joint commission agreements), DC-2 (training plans and programs), DC-3 (individual certificate per course), and DC-4 (list of certificates), all administered by the STPS.

If you want to go deeper into each form and how the individual certificate is issued, we cover it in our guide to STPS compliance and DC-3 certificates.

How do you build the training plan step by step?

It takes five steps: detect training needs by position, design the program with a calendar and owners, formalize it in the DC-2 form, deliver the courses issuing a DC-3 certificate per worker and course, and safeguard the evidence of the whole cycle. Repeating the process each period closes the compliance loop.

1. Training needs assessment. Compare what each position demands against what each person can do today: assessments, interviews with area managers, incidents, and the regulatory requirements of your industry. The output is a prioritized list of courses per position, not a generic catalog.
2. Program and calendar. Group the courses by area or position, assign dates, duration in hours, delivery format, and instructors or a registered training agent. A realistic calendar — one that respects your operational peak seasons — is the one that actually gets executed.
3. Registering the plan. Formalize the plans and programs in the DC-2 form and document the joint commission agreements in the DC-1. These documents are the baseline the authority compares against actual execution.
4. Delivery and DC-3 certificates. Every completed course must generate its DC-3 certificate with name, position, course, duration in hours, period, and instructor. Without the certificate, for practical purposes the course never happened.
5. Evidence and closing the cycle. Safeguard attendance lists, results, and certificates — the DC-4 concentrates the list of issued certificates — and feed what you learned into the next period’s needs assessment.

How does an LMS automate the training plan?

An LMS centralizes the whole plan: it enrolls each worker in the courses for their position, runs the calendar with automatic reminders, records progress, hours, and grades, and issues certificates when each course ends. When a review arrives, the evidence report is exported in minutes instead of being rebuilt by hand.

In practice, that means mapping your DC-2 to learning paths per position and letting the platform do the tracking. Our LMS implementation service configures that documentation flow from day one, and our corporate training programs are delivered already aligned to this cycle.

What evidence does the STPS request in a review?

The authority can request forms DC-1 through DC-4, the workers’ DC-3 certificates, and evidence that the courses actually happened: attendance lists, hours, periods, and the instructor or registered training agent. Keep everything filed by worker and by course, with dates and results, ready to export on request.

Want to know how far you are from having this cycle running? Request a free LMS assessment and we will tell you where to start with your specific case.

Note: always verify the current STPS forms and requirements; this guide is for orientation only, not legal advice.