UAE: Some private firms to follow the new weekend in 2022

Some UAE private sector companies on Tuesday announced that they will also be switching their weekends to Saturday-Sunday from next year, in line with the government’s decision.

The UAE Government on Tuesday announced that the public sector will have a 4.5-day working week, weekends will start on Friday afternoon and end on Sunday, from next year.

Dr Abdul Rahman Al Awar, UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, stressed that as per the new labour law announced recently, private sector employees are entitled to at least one day off per week. This can be increased at the discretion of the company.

The private sector had modified its working pattern when the UAE's working week moved from Thursday-Friday to Friday-Saturday in 2006. Private sectors in the UAE are expected to adopt the new work week schedule to maintain business flow.

Dubai’s budget carrier flydubai announced that it will follow the government’s decision.

“Flydubai welcomes this announcement and we will follow the guidelines as set out by the authorities,”

Adeeb Ahamed, managing director of Lulu Financial Holdings, said the latest shift to a Saturday-Sunday weekend signifies the UAE's openness to align the economy with global markets and make positive changes that will attract top global talent and companies to its shores.

“This landmark decision is expected to inspire the private sector to rethink the workplace culture. As one of the region’s largest financial services providers, we will soon launch our internal study to see how best this model can be adapted into our work-week policy,”

Vijay Gandhi, regional director for EMEA at global management consulting firm Korn Ferry, said the overlap in working days with the rest of the world will bring in the homogeneous working environment with the rest of the world.

“However, there will still be companies with operations, clients and partners in the wider Gulf region who will have to continue operating on Sundays… With a more flexible work environment, the transition to the new weekend wouldn’t be that difficult,”

News Source: Khaleej Times