The Dubai Government Human Resources Department (DGHR) recently is running a ‘four-day work week’ pilot scheme from 12 August to 30 September. The pilot involves 15 Dubai government organisations suspending work on Fridays.
Titled ‘Our Summer is Flexible’, the initiative is part of a drive to increase efficiency and productivity by improving employee work-life balance and satisfaction, and to attract talent into the region.
The concept of introducing a four-day work week gained traction due to the success of work-from-home initiatives through the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrated that businesses could remain functional while providing these flexibilities.
The UAE moved to a four-and-a-half-day week in 2022, and neighbouring emirate of Sharjah was the first to implement a four-day working week. The same year, Belgium became the first European country to implement the four-day working week.
The policy change in Sharjah has generated multiple increases in employee well-being, with satisfaction up 90%, mental health up 87% and productivity up 86%, according to the Emirate’s Department of Statistics and Community Development.
In Belgium, the number of employees who have transitioned to the full-time four-day work week – working 9.5 hours a day for a 38-hour work week – remains low but is increasing, particularly among young employees.
For those who have taken up the shorter work week, 77.6% said it was to make more room for their private lives, 36.5% to reduce their workload and 29.3% to spend more time with their children.
A study by consultant Bain & Company found that two in three workers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia felt that the pandemic made them rethink their work-life balance. It is therefore essential to put a focus on attracting and retaining talent based on demands in the UAE, where up to 90% of the workforce come from outside the country.
Similar studies by the World Government Summit, a non-profit organisation based in Dubai, found that flexibility in the workplace ranks consistently in the top three priorities of employees, and in terms of the attributes they look for in an employer.
In countries such as Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, a shortened work week could come in the form of a flexible daily schedule, such as shift work. This would enable businesses to remain operational through a full five to six-day working week, with individual employees working a four-day shift. To continue to attract international business and talent policy makers in the GCC should aim to react to these initiatives and employment demands.
These changes to the labour laws, aimed at improving employees’ work-life balance, ability to manage personal lives and work responsibilities, and efficiency, are reflective of the recently announced ‘Mental Wealth Framework’ that is designed to support the goals of the Dubai Social Agenda 33, which aims to establish Dubai as a leading global destination for living, working and visiting.
The results of the four-day pilot scheme in Dubai remain to be seen, but it may lead to more flexible employment freedoms in the future.
Contact Nina Pacic, People Business Partner at Sovereign PRO Partner Group below.
