UAE private sector will have flexibility to choose weekend for employees
- 07 Dec 2021
Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
Private companies in the UAE will have flexibility to choose their working week, a UAE minister said, after the announcement of a new a working week of four and half days with a Saturday-Sunday weekend from the start of next year.
The move is a major shift aimed at improving competitiveness.
The UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar said private sector would have flexibility to choose weekend for their employees.
"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," Abdulrahman Al-Awar told Reuters.
The minister said weekend change would hopefully attract more capital to stock markets and talent to the UAE economy.
The UAE Central Bank will also change working hours to comply with new UAE weekend.
The minister said change in working hours will enhance integration of UAE banking sector with banking community globally.
The UAE has once again become the first nation in the world to introduce a national working week that is shorter than the global five-day week for public sector.
According to the law, the public sector employees in the UAE will work for 8 hours a day for four days a week.
On Fridays, employees will have privilege to work for four hours only.
That amounts to 36 hours. This makes the UAE first nation in the world to have shorter than the five-day week.
