Labor revolution in the UAE, which since 2022 have adopted the short four and a half day work week and represent the first Gulf nation to shift its weekend from traditional Friday and Saturday to more western Saturday and Sunday.

The historic reform, in force since the new year, favors international competitiveness over religious tradition: Friday is in fact the Muslim day dedicated to prayer and will be preserved thanks to the half-day free left by the short week.

The new rules apply to the public sector and to the schools of the country; private companies have been invited by the authorities to adopt the new week and the new weekend, but they are not obliged.

The announcement of the historic reform arrived on 7 December last, confirming the ambitions repeatedly reaffirmed by the Abu Dhabi government to make the country a global player. On that occasion, the authorities had underlined the new weekend's goal of "increasing performance to advance economic competitiveness" of the United Arab Emirates, "reflecting the country's strategic status on the global economic map".

The new working week brings the UAE financial sector "into closer alignment with real-time global trade and communications-based transactions such as those that drive global equity markets, banks and financial institutions."

According to a recent survey of 190 companies by consulting firm Mercer, most of the private companies (57 percent) said they wanted to switch to the new Saturday-Sunday weekend. However, only one in four companies (23%) said they will likely apply the short workweek policy, leaving Friday afternoons free. In addition, private sector workers who will keep the "traditional" work week will have to find a balance with the commitments of their children, who will stay at home on Sundays while their parents work.

(Unioneonline / F)

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