The United Arab Emirates (UAE) media office announced on Tuesday, 7 December, that the country will switch to a four-and-a-half-day working week from 1 January 2022, with Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday as its new weekend.
The UAE had a Thursday-Friday weekend before it had adopted Friday and Saturday as its weekend in 2006.
According to the UAE media office, longer weekends would help improve productivity and work-life balance. It stated that all federal government departments would switch to the new weekend from 2022.
The country will have eight working hours a day (7:30 am to 3:30 pm) from Monday to Thursday and four-and-a-half working hours (7:30 am to 12:00 pm) on Fridays. Fridays may also have flexible working hours and work-from-home options.
Friday sermons and prayers will be held after 1:15 pm across the country.
Once this decision is implemented, the UAE will become the only Gulf country with a Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Meanwhile, several netizens took to Twitter to react to the news.
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