This New Year means an exciting year like no other for employees in the UAE’s public sector with the country’s long weekend gift for employees all year round as it shifts to a new workweek.
Effective January 2, the country will move its official weekends to every Friday noon until Sunday. This makes the UAE the world’s first country to formally implement a 4.5-day workweek and a 2.5-day weekend—a sweeping facelift in work systems that private companies are expected to follow suit.
Under the new timetable, the workweek for public employees starts at noon on Fridays, in order to give way for Friday prayers and sermons at mosques held after 1:15 pm. In the emirate of Sharjah, Friday will be a full-day holiday, in addition to Saturday and Sunday. The UAE’s new weekend shift is aimed at aligning its economic transactions with the schedules of most non-Arab countries in the world, as well as achieving a happier society with work-life balance.
His Excellency Dr Abdulrahman Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, stated: “The new system will reposition the labour market as a global market and a key driver of the national economy. This will reflect positively on the workers in various business sectors and lead to increased productivity.”
This comes on the back of UAE’s major, pioneering labour reforms in the Middle East which were announced in the last quarter of 2021 and coming into force next month. Last November, the UAE Government had approved Federal Decree Law No 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations, which repealed and replaced Federal Law No 8 of 1980. The new legislation was deemed as the most significant collection of employment reforms aimed at empowering employees in the private sector.
This includes the abolition of unlimited contracts; setting a minimum wage; equal pay for men and women performing the same work; new categories of leaves; new work models such as part-time work, temporary work, and flexible work; condensed working. All these are due to take effect next month, February 2.
GLOBAL ALIGNMENT
One of the backbone institutions of the economy, commercial banks will remain open for six days a week (Sunday to Friday), starting January 2 after the UAE Central Bank directed them early on to provide services even for private companies, who have been left to decide for
themselves if they’d like to As with the global norm, both stock exchanges of Abu Dhabi and Dubai will now adopt the Monday-Friday workweek, in line with the UAE’s goal to align its financial sector with global real-time trading and communications-based transactions. This includes those driving global stock markets, banks, and financial institutions. “The move is expected to boost not only trading opportunities but also add to the flexible, secure and enjoyable lifestyle the Emirates offers its citizens and residents,” the UAE Government Media Office tweeted.
“It will ensure smooth financial, trade and economic transactions with countries that follow a Saturday/Sunday weekend, facilitating stronger international business links and opportunities for thousands of UAE-based multinational companies,” it added.
APPLAUDED GESTURE
Jay-mar Ismael, Head of Recruitment at an HR firm in Abu Dhabi told The Filipino Times: “The new work week introduced by the UAE government starting January 2022 will provide more benefits than challenges because it promotes a healthy work-life balance in the workplace. This will also, in one way or another, increase retention of workers and reduce the attrition rate for companies. Most of the employers I know are aligning their work timings with the new workweek starting next month as they find it more cost-effcient both the employees and employers at the same time,”
“Having a compressed workweek and extra o will not only help reduce commuting time and costs for the employees but more importantly it gives them the opportunity to maintain an equilibrium between their work and personal life. In addition, happier workers are generally healthier and productive workers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ann Misharie David, a Filipina business owner based in Abu Dhabi said:
“From an economic perspective, this new schedule will improve our communication on our import & export transactions as it will be aligned with the working days of the global market. We also anticipate that this change in work schedules would be more productive for our staff.”
WORKWEEK FOR PRIVATE FIRMS
“Each company, depending on the sector they operate in and what suits and serves their business best, can choose the weekend they decide for their employee,” Dr Al Awar told the media.
According to analysts, businesses may o er the four-and-a-half-day work as a selling point to attract top talents who’d like to be free for a longer weekend. As private schools implement the new workweek, most companies are expected to adopt the new system, because many working parents would be impacted by the weekend shift.
In a report by The National, Danny Sebright, President of the US-UAE Business Council in Washington, said that the weekend shift has the strong support of the Council members. “I surveyed and canvassed all the presidents and CEOs of all the major US companies,” he said. “In general, everyone is very, very positive about it. It’s a very important step forward aligning the UAE with the workweek for basically the rest of the world.”
NEW WORK SYSTEMS IN FEBRUARY
This comes on the back of UAE’s major, pioneering labor reforms in the Middle East which were announced in the last quarter of 2021 and coming into force next month.
Last November, the UAE Government had approved Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labor Relations, which repealed and replaced Federal Law No 8 of 1980. The new legislation was deemed as the most significant collection of employment reforms aimed at empowering employees in the private sector.
This includes the abolition of unlimited contracts; setting a minimum wage; equal pay for men and women performing the same work; new categories of leaves; new work models such as part-
time work, temporary work, and flexible work; condensed working week of 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week; among others. All these are due to take effect next month, February 2.
NEW BEGINNINGS
Although it’s up for individual companies to decide if they’re following the new workweek or not, people were thanking and cheering for the UAE’s constant emphasis on work-
life balance for everyone. For them, it sends a strong message about the UAE’s work mantra that the workforce’s happiness is a prerequisite to achieving productivity, and the 2.5 day weekend very well exemplifies that.
Mary Ann Dela Cruz Mendoza, an Abu Dhabi-based expat from Abu Dhabi, said: “As a teacher, I am positive that the new weekend would bring both teachers and students the best teaching and learning journey by turning a tiring five days into a relaxing 4.5 school days.”
“As an expat, it would affect me since my country is having the same weekend – Saturday and Sunday. I would enjoy my weekends with my families back home through video chats, without having to worry that I have to go to work.”
This isn’t the first time that the UAE led the Gulf states in the workweek transition. In 2006, the UAE’s move to implement a Friday-Saturday workweek (from Thursday-
Friday) was adopted by Saudi Arabia in 2013, and then the majority of GCC countries thereafter.
As a report of the Emirates News Agency WAM puts it: “The extended weekend comes as part of the UAE government’s efforts to boost work-life balance and enhance social wellbeing, while increasing performance to advance the UAE’s economic competitiveness.”
Over the past few years, several countries have been trying to experiment on a shortened workweek such as Iceland, New Zealand, Spain and Japan, but the policy remains in a pilot run. However, their experiments reported very promising results. For example, a study in Iceland highlighted that employees who had a four-day workweek felt happier and more satisfied at work with less burnout. Meanwhile, their productivity remains the same and, in fact, even increased despite working fewer hours.
