The official working week in the United Arab Emirates is being cut down to four and a half days from Monday to Friday, Insider has reported.
The change will bring the Islamic nation, which is home to major financial institutions, in line with western schedules. But, of course, it will give workers a longer weekend - otherwise known as 'the dream'.
The decision, which is to take effect next month, makes the Gulf Arab state, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, one of the few places in the Middle East to operate on western hours instead of on a Sunday to Thursday working week.
The long-rumoured shift comes as the UAE, home to the coastal emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, seeks to bolster its business and tourist appeal as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic and faces stiffer regional competition, particularly with Saudi Arabia.
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Dubai has attracted a variety of Western multinational firms over the years and its Dubai International Financial Centre – overseen by independent regulators – has grown, providing stock traders and market traders a convenient time zone to work between Asian and European markets.
A government statement states: “The new working week will also bring the UAE’s financial sector into closer alignment with global real-time trading and communications-based transactions," adding that the new schedule aimed to 'boost not only trading opportunities but also add to the flexible, secure and enjoyable lifestyle the Emirates offers its citizens and residents'.
Government employees would work a half-day on Friday, the traditional Muslim holy day, and then take Saturday and Sunday off, officials said.
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The statement also outlined that Islamic Friday midday sermons and prayers would begin at 1.15pm instead, after employees had left work.
It is likely that the government shift will see private industry follow suit, as it did in 2006, when the working week changed from Saturday to Wednesday – an Islamic working week followed in some Muslim countries, including Iran and Afghanistan.
State-linked Emirati newspaper The National said all schools would move to the same working week on the first day of next year’s term.
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To further boost its brand as a cosmopolitan hub, the UAE has made a series of changes to its penal code, based on Islamic law, or Shariah.
Among other things, the overhaul has loosened regulations on alcohol consumption, relaxed stringent punishments for drug offences and allowed foreigners to marry, divorce and inherit wealth based on their home country’s legal systems.
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