The United Arab Emirates government announced a shift to a four-and-a-half day working week, from Monday morning to noon on Friday, for federal entities starting January, one of only a handful of countries to do so as the Gulf nation seeks to attract more investment and match global markets.
The UAE government tweeted the announcement, which will apply to federal employees, who will work from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Monday to Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to noon Friday, effective January 1, 2022.
Friday will be a half day, as it is a holy day in Islam; the UAE currently practices a Sunday to Thursday work week like most Gulf states. The transition to longer weekends is intended to “boost productivity and improve work-life balance,” the UAE government said.
The government didn’t announce changes for the private sector. The private education sector in the UAE joined the switch to a new work week, the UAE’s education regulator tweeted, according to the Financial Times.
In the U.S., the 40-hour five-day work week dates back to as early as 1926, when Henry Ford allowed his factory workers to take Saturdays and Sundays off, saying fewer hours lead to better productivity. Times have changed and technological developments have created room for greater flexibility in terms of working hours, location and number of working days for some occupations. According to an August Ipsos poll, two thirds of U.S. adults said they were in support of a four-day work week. More than two thirds said they would like flexibility in working locations and working hours. In fact, discussions about having a shorter working week have been around since the 1960s, according to the BBC. To keep up with the changing landscape of work and improve work-life balance, some countries and companies have been experimenting with a shorter working schedule. In December last year, the Spanish government said it was studying the effect of reduced working hours and a four-day working week. Researchers in Iceland experimented with a shorter work week involving some 1% of its working population – which they said turned out to be an “overwhelming success” in terms of productivity and well-being.
Sourced from Forbes - contributed by Lisa Kim