Image source, Warren Little / getty images
A jewelry store in Dubai. (File)
The United Arab Emirates has decided to reduce the working week to four and a half days from next year and to shift the weekends to Saturdays and Sundays, Reuters news agency reports.
The United Arab Emirates has taken this decision to enable their country’s economy to keep pace with international markets.
But, private companies can decide for themselves what their working days are.
The United Arab Emirates, an oil-producing Gulf country, is an important trading and tourism hub for the Arab region.
There are currently Fridays and Saturdays followed as weekends.
From January 1, 2022, the week’s holidays will begin on Friday afternoon, according to a government circular. This also applies to schools.
The United Arab Emirates government has announced that the week’s working day will end at 12 noon, before the Islamists start praying on Friday afternoon.
According to the Reuters agency, the country’s human resources minister, Abdul Rahuman al-Awar, has said that companies can decide what their weekends are based on the sector in which they work and the needs of their profession.
Image source, Getty Images
The United Arab Emirates is seeking to attract foreign business investment to the Arab region
Over the past year, the UAE government has taken a number of steps to attract foreign investment in the face of increasing economic competition with Saudi Arabia.
The majority of the population in the United Arab Emirates, where Sunni Muslims rule, are foreigners.
The United States government has issued a circular stating that weekends are observed on Saturdays and Sundays in the Muslim-majority countries of Indonesia and Morocco, and that the new four-and-a-half-day workday program will improve the balance between workers’ work and personal lives.
The new program will affect banks in the United Arab Emirates, including the stock market.
Friday is a weekend holiday in other Arab Gulf countries where the majority of Muslims live.
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