The Government of the UAE announced a big change to its work schedule. The nation’s movement towards a 4.5-day work week is considered to be a big step which is primarily aligned with the efforts of the government to promote social wellbeing and boost work-life balance by also enhancing the performance. Also, the advancement of UAE’s economic competitiveness is also a part of this initiative.
What will change according to this initiative?
As per the initiative, the weekend across the nation will shift to Saturday and Sunday making UAE one of the first nations to formalize a workweek which is shorter than five days. Additionally, since 2006 the weekend in UAE fell on Friday and Saturday which is the standard in many predominantly Muslim countries. Thus, the government further aimed to bring the nation in line with the western schedules i.e., weekends on Saturday and Sunday. With effect from January 1, 2022 the employees will work from Monday to Thursday, with a half day on Fridays and these will be primarily adopted by Government offices and schools. However, on the other hand, private sectors currently have full freedom to set their working days and are not under any obligation to alter their weekends as per the changes documented. Though, in future it is expected they might also have to change the alignment of the UAE with global markets, reflecting the country’s strategic status on the global economic map.
According to these new guidelines the employees across different sectors will have to complete an eight-hour workday from Monday to Thursday. However, on Fridays they will have to work only 4.5 hours.
Benefits of Workweek change in the UAE
The first and most important change kept in mind with these changes includes enhancement in the productivity. Since, the weekend is aligned with weekends in with Europe and Asia will further help in increasing the performance since employees will have a better work-life balance. Also, a shorter working week can boost productivity of the workforce. Despite some challenges the government took the initiative keeping in mind the international standards as well.
The news has also been warmly welcomed across several social media platforms and the headlines were trending as the official announcements were widely retweeted.