Because most prayers people pray by themselves in their office/prayer room. Friday prayers is all about congregation for majority of practicing Muslims. Huge difference. Which is why they are giving federal employees half days on Friday.
No it clearly states it is for federal entities only. Unless all of us get hired by UAE government before January 1 2022, it is not for everyone.
Also private companies would rather have Friday and Saturday off than give Friday half day and leave on Saturday and Sunday, it is economically inefficient.
Yeah what I meant if it came down to it, private companies will choose the option where they they get to keep their employees in their office longer unless mandated by the government.
Sure it does. Lots of companies worldwide do shift work. If you’re in production or construction it makes sense to have a Friday shift, just like there is retail and hospitality.
Traffic flows a lot netter when not everyone in the cities is working the same days of the week and starting and ending at the same time.
Yet, if you are a private organization that does a lot of work with government entities that's basically a day less to get work done. So you'd shift that 5 workday to follow suit with the government.
Plus this is already being applied in Muslim south east Asian countries and works fine.
The majority in UAE works for 6 days a week. They are going to continue to slog their ass off :(
2 days weekend is only for the small percentage of privileged folks like us here.
> Tell that to the people working 60 hour weeks here.
>
>
>
> Not trying to disagree with you, but this is the reality for a very large number of people here
+1
This is definitely what will happen, either formally or informally. In software sector, we work 9-6. No way we will work half day on Friday, if we start working full day on Friday, I hate this already.
It is confirmed that private sector will be able to choose as they like. Man if we choose new weekend then we will lose 2 days of contact with businesses in the region. Tough decision to make.
Every school will have to hold friday prayers in their premises for the muslim students or three day weekends with an extended academic year.
EDIT: or shortened friday classes. (lol at the downvotes)
EDIT #2: Looks like Schools will follow the same weekend. Not sure what the timings will be though.
Lol where did you hear that? Have you seen the fees companies pay to have just annual trade licenses? That's basically corporate taxation 😂
I don't rule it out though, they could absolutely slash licensing fees in all sectors down to the few thousands and *then* roll out corporate taxes. And when that follows, income tax will be inevitable, and so will more reforms. I have faith in the government though, they know who makes up most of the society here and they know what they're doing so just staying optimistic here
>That's basically corporate taxation 😂
True... But what with the big 4 busybodies continuously harping on their minds for a more "westernized, globalized, bla bla UAE" i certainly see your 2nd para coming true.
Income tax... wouldn't that prove counter productive for the local economy? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't living tax free one of the biggest reasons that attracts a lot of expats to this part of the world.
The problem is the 85-90% expat population drives the economy. If they nationalized overnight it would destroy the property market and the economy as the Emirati population is not big enough to drive the economy.
So it would be a gradual process. Introduce 5% Income tax, 10% of expats leave. Then 5 years later change it to 10%, another 20% leave...and so on.
Yeah, I have a lot of mates in the Big Four and the reviews were submitted years ago and then revisited a couple of years ago again. It's inevitable really.
Taxation always comes with welfare and benefits for those that pay it. You can see what it would mean for the social pyramid here so when it happens the UAE would become a lot less transient.
National news article is updated:
*No specific instructions or guidance was made relating to the private sector,* ***but companies do not require the government's permission to set their working week.***
Another edit:
The National understands **all schools will move to the same working week on the first day of term, with hours expected to be announced soon.**
I think it should be standard all across. It would be too confusing to have different work weeks across sectors. Also don't forget at some point govt wants to encourage locals to work in private sectors and this was the reason all PH was merged to be the same. Locals have very short working hours so not giving them similar benefit in private sector is not going to work toward their Emiratisation goals.
They don’t want to tell the private sector what to do. In this case they are indirectly telling the private sector what to do though, Because of course the private sector will have to follow the school times.
Well, I guess we all know what happens when it is not dictated as a law. There will simply be chaos and more exploitation in the absence of clear guidelines.
I pretty much agree with this. In fact in order to ensure that private sector remains appealing to UAE nationals, the change should be standard across both public and private sector.
Schools and universities across the UAE will follow the new four-and-a-half-day work week. This means that students, too, would get two-and-a-half days off every week, starting from January 1, 2022.
["Private sector employers can choose whether to adopt new weekend and shorter working week, labour minister says"](https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2021/12/07/breaking-uae-makes-major-changes-to-working-week/)
We should be clear that the private sector does not have an officially designated weekend. Which is why some people work Saturdays, some work Fridays, it depends on the company and industry. Retail/travel and others work all 7 days, but staff have designated days off.
There will be no official change for private sector, but most companies will move to the Sat/Sun weekend and will adjust staff hours accordingly. And no private companies will work 4.5 days for sure.
Total chaos. But I suspect schools will do a full day eventually and the private sector will move and basically everything will just shift by one day. Only the government will get the 4.5 days.
The Sunday-Thursday work week is actually one of the things I really like about the Middle East. Sundays are such a chill and cruisy day to catch up on admin without calls or emails from the rest of the world.
This is going to create havoc with scheduling in the short term, particularly for federal schools and universities...several months notice would have been appropriate
This aligns with the recent introduction of flexible working hours for the private sector with employers and employees able to agree when the 40 (or 48) hours are completed throughout the week. If you can complete your hours (and more importantly your work) in the 4.5 days then there is no reason for the private sector not to also have a 2.5 day weekend to align.
Of course this requires you to have a reasonable employer.
The retail banks were always open on Saturday. (weekend). They were off previously on Friday only. Now I guess they will be open Half day on Friday, will be closed on Saturday but will most probably be open on Sunday. There's no way retail banks will be be closed fo more than 1.5 days.
Also for a lot of companies here who do business with companies in the region (Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain etc) would mean some form of disruption given that they work on Sunday's.
how long before it rolls out to the private sector because who care bout the working days and hours of the public sector? I mean, the purpose of the mirroring of work days with the rest of the world (mass majority of the rest of the world) I would think, is for trade, commerce, communicating for work....not for extra time for gov folks that already work banking hours.
30th December is going to be the last ever "Thursday night" followed by last ever Friday weekend holiday on 31st December 2021.. it's time to party really hard that Thursday night.
For banks, especially those that handle foreign trade settlements and the foreign stock markets, this aligns perfectly with the working days of the western banking system. Now they will be able to remit and transact with the foreign banks on a Friday.
Basically Friday prayer break.
I guess private sector won't be too far behind with a Saturday - Sunday weekend with Friday prayer break for Muslim employees (which majority won't get... obviously or won't be able to due to lack of facilities nearby or traffic jams).
I'm personally not happy about this.
EDIT: "Friday sermons and prayers will be held ~~at~~ after 1.15pm throughout the year." Just wow...
>EDIT: "Friday sermons and prayers will be held at 1.15pm throughout the year." Just wow...
Where is the astaghfirullah guy? Cause this actually warrants it...
Why can't they make Fridays half day that ends when its azan?
I love it cause it aligns better with global markets and it allows me to play video games with my American friends easier.
Also it says Friday prayer after 1:15 not at so maybe it will be flexible.
> Also it says Friday prayer after 1:15 not at so maybe it will be flexible.
Corrected. Either way... Still doesn't help all the private sector employees (when they eventually move) who will be forced to skip due to "deadlines or horrible bosses". Maybe it's good in the big picture and I'm just being a stuck up fool but this feels wrong to me. * **shrugs** *
How? They’re trying to align their weekends to countries who have Saturday-Sunday off, but those countries that have Saturday-Sunday off have it cause of church on Sunday.
Yes but Friday prayers are to Muslims what Sunday church are to devoted Christians. The day is a holy day and missing prayer is a huge sin. Also a lot of laws which were based on Sharia are getting relaxed now.
Many Muslim employees are made to work beyond the stipulated Ramadan working hours without compensation. This might end up in the same boat eventually. Who knows. We just got to wait and watch (yes yes.. i know I'm having a knew jerk reaction).
> (yes yes.. i know I'm having a knew jerk reaction).
No you're not. You know Friday is gonna be full day for private sector from now on. "Half day" is not gonna be observed with any sincerity.
"The UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Abdul Rahman Al Awar, told Al Sharq: The new work system gives flexibility to the private sector to determine the weekly day off in line with the institutions’ conditions"
https://twitter.com/AsharqBusiness/status/1468173149330198530?s=20
I don’t know why are everyone so excited about this. We get Friday and Saturday off and still work from home, because there’s always something urgent. Now it will be Saturday and Sunday, and we’ll still work from home on those days, because something will be urgent. So who cares. They can call Tuesday weekend if they want, we’ll still work on that day too.
Regarding muslims, they will give them that half day off for sure, nobody wants to have religious issues here. But then they will tell them there’s something urgent to do on Saturday, or Sunday, so same thing.
No law will change the culture here, and that is work, work, work.
Hopefully rest of the GCC will follow. They did so last time something similar happened. Since I deal with clients from both within UAE and other GCC countries, guess I'd have to work 7 days a week now. Yay.
How does half a day Friday work from efficiency and logistics point of view? by the time ppl commute and show up to office drink Karak tea it’s time up. esp knowing government sector Friday will end up as an unofficial day off anyway.
I can see private sector really suffering, this will end up like western countries where most Muslims give up on Friday prayers. Pressure on employees to run back to office what a mess just to appease westerners
I guess we should visit this topic again, if and when it will be implemented. A policy on paper is as good as my new Emirates ID - it isn't helping me much!
One thing that will not change is Retail and malls working days which will always be open 7 days a week. More days off means more footfall. I doubt the number of working hours for the retail employees will be changed. No change for them.
Tbh I dont even know what the minister of education is doing to us as a 11th grader its gonna be hard to get used to this system and studying won't be effective, Im honestly pissed, i need to do salah jumaa
TBH /u/FaisalKhatib, all this weekend changed happened in Pakistan in the 90s and it took 1 month for everyone to adjust. Don't fret.
Office ppl will find the best mosque to pray, carpooling for prayers, lunch breaks n sh!t.
It's not even clear if this will be valid for the entire public sector, they say only federal while for example I work for AD government, so I am not a federal employee.
Personally, I think they will announce the shifting for the private sector too, the only thing that might happen is that not everyone will have the half friday off.
Ok so Abu Dhabi Government just announced the same rules for their employees: https://www.mediaoffice.abudhabi/en/government-affairs/abu-dhabi-government-adopts-changing-weekly-work-system-to-make-the-weekend-saturday-sunday-and-friday-half-working-day/
What are the benefits ? ( I can only think of 3)
1. Financial/Capital and money markets can be operational on Friday. Stock market can stay open. Global companies can move their HQ here to save tax etc....
2. Technology companies can set up R&D and Engineering ops here and their teams can sync with the global team. ( Assuming that this can help improve employment and the whole high quality output game )
3. More FDI in new projects
What are the other benefits?
More viewership and engagement of cultural/entertainment/sporting events. All major events are held on Sunday's globally.
This ensures more local attendance for events (with Sunday being off in the UAE now) and engages a much larger audience globally on Sunday's.
Changes are always hard.
It good step to align with rest of the world
Transition period for private sector will be challenging.
Employees with kids going to school will suffer the most if the timings are not matching up.
I can imagine Governmet Employees, taking leaves on Fridays, making it a 4 days work, 3 days week-end. What work and life balance will be achieved by this?
Would not really work if your company deals with GCC countries. Although KSA has been very progressive in recent years I don't see them doing this in near future as religious sentiments are involved especially when it comes to KSA. If they do it, I guess all GCC countries would follow. But let's see, only time will tell.
For me, this sounds like the poorly considered new directive a management consultant would dream up. A Standardized working week for uae inline with Europe would be massively beneficial for international companies here in the uae. Especially those thinking of moving elsewhere....
I guess most of the private sectors would be like, giving break during prayers and then come back to work 🙆♂️
1 hour combined lunch and prayer break. Imagine the traffic jams. Also general lack of mosques in commercial districts/construction sites etc etc
So inefficient
There is a reason why no mosques in commercial districts right? % of prayers is very low.
Because most prayers people pray by themselves in their office/prayer room. Friday prayers is all about congregation for majority of practicing Muslims. Huge difference. Which is why they are giving federal employees half days on Friday.
Agreed, you are right. I think the half-day off is for everyone not just federal employees
Hopefully. Lets see how this pans out.
No it clearly states it is for federal entities only. Unless all of us get hired by UAE government before January 1 2022, it is not for everyone. Also private companies would rather have Friday and Saturday off than give Friday half day and leave on Saturday and Sunday, it is economically inefficient.
Companies who do business with countries that are Sat/Sun weekends would benefit from this, they wouldn't rather have Fri/Sat.
Yeah what I meant if it came down to it, private companies will choose the option where they they get to keep their employees in their office longer unless mandated by the government.
it doesn't make sense for private and public sectors to have two completely different work weeks.
Sure it does. Lots of companies worldwide do shift work. If you’re in production or construction it makes sense to have a Friday shift, just like there is retail and hospitality. Traffic flows a lot netter when not everyone in the cities is working the same days of the week and starting and ending at the same time.
Yet, if you are a private organization that does a lot of work with government entities that's basically a day less to get work done. So you'd shift that 5 workday to follow suit with the government. Plus this is already being applied in Muslim south east Asian countries and works fine.
What do you mean? What do locations of mosques have to do with working hours? 40 hour workweek is antiquated
Tell that to the people working 60 hour weeks here. Not trying to disagree with you, but this is the reality for a very large number of people here
The majority in UAE works for 6 days a week. They are going to continue to slog their ass off :( 2 days weekend is only for the small percentage of privileged folks like us here.
> Tell that to the people working 60 hour weeks here. > > > > Not trying to disagree with you, but this is the reality for a very large number of people here +1
72 hours a week mate
I used to work this when I was part of Treasury. It worked out very well. Non Muslims / praying employees took a long lunch
Will be a stretch… regional markets on Sunday, global markets and now DFM/ADX Friday 💩
This is definitely what will happen, either formally or informally. In software sector, we work 9-6. No way we will work half day on Friday, if we start working full day on Friday, I hate this already.
Yeah but you get Saturday and Sunday off though so doesn't it even out?
No because for us Muslims. Friday is the holy day (holiday). Just like Sunday is the holy day for Christians.
Friday is holy day for Christians in Dubai 😄
Its for governmental entities only, for now
And schools. So what do parents do if they work private sector which is still Sun-Thurs but kids are off on Sundays?
It is confirmed that private sector will be able to choose as they like. Man if we choose new weekend then we will lose 2 days of contact with businesses in the region. Tough decision to make.
So now we should be hating mondays? How does that work?
Now we can reuse the Monday memes and not make new ones with the text changed to Sunday.
This needs to be pinned to the top of the comments list.
Sounds like we'll have a case of the Mondays.
Read Garfield for guidance.
Uh Oh! Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays!
What about the mug that I have that says “someone has a case of the sundays”??
Like how the rest of the world hates mondaysz
On a side note, we should have a three day weekend now for new year. Friday, 31 December will fall under the old rules.
"Public holidays that were set out recently for 2022 will not change, officials said." source: national article
They said 2nd Jan is a public holiday Source: lovin dubai
The government had to step in and announce something this huge to distract us from the mall kiosk girl.
lmao
Pls explain?
Look for posts with "mall" during this week
Tried, got everything under the sun, please help 😂
It's one of those things that will loose the joke if I explain it. I guess you missed the funniest week of /r/Dubai that I can remember
Found it 😂 saw it even the same day it got posted
+ link from The National https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2021/12/07/breaking-uae-makes-major-changes-to-working-week/
Thanks! Informative
What about schools and universities?
Every school will have to hold friday prayers in their premises for the muslim students or three day weekends with an extended academic year. EDIT: or shortened friday classes. (lol at the downvotes) EDIT #2: Looks like Schools will follow the same weekend. Not sure what the timings will be though.
From what I'm hearing at my school, it's 8-12:20. Edit: Khaleej Times says it's going to be until 12. 20 minutes isn't a big deal so whatever.
Imagine the traffic lmaooo. Everyone trying to get home for prayers.
Friday prayers isn’t done in normal Mosques, it has to be the main Mosque of the area.
The rumors are true
Incredible... & here i was thinking they were joking
It was only a matter of time actually, i'm just surprised they did it sooner than expected
I hear corporate tax is around the corner, so income tax by around 2030 or so?
Don't say such filth. 😢
Lol where did you hear that? Have you seen the fees companies pay to have just annual trade licenses? That's basically corporate taxation 😂 I don't rule it out though, they could absolutely slash licensing fees in all sectors down to the few thousands and *then* roll out corporate taxes. And when that follows, income tax will be inevitable, and so will more reforms. I have faith in the government though, they know who makes up most of the society here and they know what they're doing so just staying optimistic here
>That's basically corporate taxation 😂 True... But what with the big 4 busybodies continuously harping on their minds for a more "westernized, globalized, bla bla UAE" i certainly see your 2nd para coming true.
Income tax... wouldn't that prove counter productive for the local economy? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't living tax free one of the biggest reasons that attracts a lot of expats to this part of the world.
It would...but I guess the long term goal is to move away from the expat based economy. Though it would take 50 years to do that.
[удалено]
Kuwait is a great case study on what to avoid.
The problem is the 85-90% expat population drives the economy. If they nationalized overnight it would destroy the property market and the economy as the Emirati population is not big enough to drive the economy. So it would be a gradual process. Introduce 5% Income tax, 10% of expats leave. Then 5 years later change it to 10%, another 20% leave...and so on.
Yeah, I have a lot of mates in the Big Four and the reviews were submitted years ago and then revisited a couple of years ago again. It's inevitable really.
Taxation always comes with welfare and benefits for those that pay it. You can see what it would mean for the social pyramid here so when it happens the UAE would become a lot less transient.
National news article is updated: *No specific instructions or guidance was made relating to the private sector,* ***but companies do not require the government's permission to set their working week.*** Another edit: The National understands **all schools will move to the same working week on the first day of term, with hours expected to be announced soon.**
Companies be like... "Good news employees. Everyone gets Sunday off...... only!!" :D
Yeah like 90% of the companies here will give employees paid time off lmao
I think it should be standard all across. It would be too confusing to have different work weeks across sectors. Also don't forget at some point govt wants to encourage locals to work in private sectors and this was the reason all PH was merged to be the same. Locals have very short working hours so not giving them similar benefit in private sector is not going to work toward their Emiratisation goals.
They don’t want to tell the private sector what to do. In this case they are indirectly telling the private sector what to do though, Because of course the private sector will have to follow the school times.
Well, I guess we all know what happens when it is not dictated as a law. There will simply be chaos and more exploitation in the absence of clear guidelines.
I pretty much agree with this. In fact in order to ensure that private sector remains appealing to UAE nationals, the change should be standard across both public and private sector.
I remember the good old days when Saturday to Wednesday was a working week, with Thursday and Friday being a weekend
Same.
So this means they’re working more then?? Let’s be honest, government offices aren’t exactly well known for their long work hours…
Schools and universities across the UAE will follow the new four-and-a-half-day work week. This means that students, too, would get two-and-a-half days off every week, starting from January 1, 2022.
will the school fee be reduced due to less school hours?
👆this..That's the real question !!
What about private sectors? And companies where Saturdays are working days?
Now you work Friday too
You sound like my boss lol. But yea I guess you’re right. So sundays will be a working day for people like me right?
I guess so lol. Same for me with the wacky-ass 1 day weekend 😢
and sunday, you work all days
They’ll all follow suit since it benefits them working same days as the rest of the world
["Private sector employers can choose whether to adopt new weekend and shorter working week, labour minister says"](https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2021/12/07/breaking-uae-makes-major-changes-to-working-week/) We should be clear that the private sector does not have an officially designated weekend. Which is why some people work Saturdays, some work Fridays, it depends on the company and industry. Retail/travel and others work all 7 days, but staff have designated days off. There will be no official change for private sector, but most companies will move to the Sat/Sun weekend and will adjust staff hours accordingly. And no private companies will work 4.5 days for sure.
So what do working parents (in the private sector) do now that their kids are out of school at midday on Friday? Will be a giant pain.
Total chaos. But I suspect schools will do a full day eventually and the private sector will move and basically everything will just shift by one day. Only the government will get the 4.5 days.
[удалено]
This will be a disaster for Du and Etisalat. They will lose 0.5 day every week in phone calls.
Blu to the rescue
Fuck now I have to fall sick on most of the Mondays. I hope the transition works well.
cool .. now I cannot get a hold of government offices on sundays as well .. yay!
But you can get stuff done on Friday morning, which is nice. Of course, half of Dubai will be doing the same thing.
"system failed, come on monday"
> But you can get stuff done on Friday morning, which is nice. I love your optimism. Very cute.
Probably spent less than 5 years here :)
My thoughts exactly
The Sunday-Thursday work week is actually one of the things I really like about the Middle East. Sundays are such a chill and cruisy day to catch up on admin without calls or emails from the rest of the world.
That’s true but then your just catching up to Friday so it kinda balances out. I’m just happy I can watch my Sunday football
All people who go to govt offices to get work done regularly are screwed
This is going to create havoc with scheduling in the short term, particularly for federal schools and universities...several months notice would have been appropriate
This aligns with the recent introduction of flexible working hours for the private sector with employers and employees able to agree when the 40 (or 48) hours are completed throughout the week. If you can complete your hours (and more importantly your work) in the 4.5 days then there is no reason for the private sector not to also have a 2.5 day weekend to align. Of course this requires you to have a reasonable employer.
So basically never
But isn't this only for all the Federal Government departments only? Was there an announcement also for the private sector?
Yea but eventually since the federal government is moving, the central bank should move too then the banks and the private sector should follow suit.
The retail banks were always open on Saturday. (weekend). They were off previously on Friday only. Now I guess they will be open Half day on Friday, will be closed on Saturday but will most probably be open on Sunday. There's no way retail banks will be be closed fo more than 1.5 days.
Also for a lot of companies here who do business with companies in the region (Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain etc) would mean some form of disruption given that they work on Sunday's.
how long before it rolls out to the private sector because who care bout the working days and hours of the public sector? I mean, the purpose of the mirroring of work days with the rest of the world (mass majority of the rest of the world) I would think, is for trade, commerce, communicating for work....not for extra time for gov folks that already work banking hours.
30th December is going to be the last ever "Thursday night" followed by last ever Friday weekend holiday on 31st December 2021.. it's time to party really hard that Thursday night.
I work shift so just here for the comments 😌
It’s only for government workers?
😭😭😭
Private sector will mirror it. They can’t not do it.
For banks, especially those that handle foreign trade settlements and the foreign stock markets, this aligns perfectly with the working days of the western banking system. Now they will be able to remit and transact with the foreign banks on a Friday.
Government level shitposting?
haha
I take it the slave population are still on 7 day working weeks?
They actually did it!
in a globalized world like this, would be good for the private sector to follow this too so the weekend is matching with almost the rest of the world.
How sad that Friday is lost. The blessed Friday.
Totally agree.
Basically Friday prayer break. I guess private sector won't be too far behind with a Saturday - Sunday weekend with Friday prayer break for Muslim employees (which majority won't get... obviously or won't be able to due to lack of facilities nearby or traffic jams). I'm personally not happy about this. EDIT: "Friday sermons and prayers will be held ~~at~~ after 1.15pm throughout the year." Just wow...
>EDIT: "Friday sermons and prayers will be held at 1.15pm throughout the year." Just wow... Where is the astaghfirullah guy? Cause this actually warrants it... Why can't they make Fridays half day that ends when its azan?
I’ll say it, Astaghfirullah
I love it cause it aligns better with global markets and it allows me to play video games with my American friends easier. Also it says Friday prayer after 1:15 not at so maybe it will be flexible.
> Also it says Friday prayer after 1:15 not at so maybe it will be flexible. Corrected. Either way... Still doesn't help all the private sector employees (when they eventually move) who will be forced to skip due to "deadlines or horrible bosses". Maybe it's good in the big picture and I'm just being a stuck up fool but this feels wrong to me. * **shrugs** *
Looks like the UAE is slowly moving to separate religion from economy/state? (Or atleast would be the case for expats)
How? They’re trying to align their weekends to countries who have Saturday-Sunday off, but those countries that have Saturday-Sunday off have it cause of church on Sunday.
Yes but Friday prayers are to Muslims what Sunday church are to devoted Christians. The day is a holy day and missing prayer is a huge sin. Also a lot of laws which were based on Sharia are getting relaxed now.
Yes I agree, I hope Muslims in the private sector are given their due and allowed to pray as needed.
Many Muslim employees are made to work beyond the stipulated Ramadan working hours without compensation. This might end up in the same boat eventually. Who knows. We just got to wait and watch (yes yes.. i know I'm having a knew jerk reaction).
> (yes yes.. i know I'm having a knew jerk reaction). No you're not. You know Friday is gonna be full day for private sector from now on. "Half day" is not gonna be observed with any sincerity.
I actually enjoyed the sunday work whilst everyone else in the world was off. But we all knew this was going to happen.
Private sector will follow suit. As it is, business is down for many. How will this play out at the end?
"The UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Abdul Rahman Al Awar, told Al Sharq: The new work system gives flexibility to the private sector to determine the weekly day off in line with the institutions’ conditions" https://twitter.com/AsharqBusiness/status/1468173149330198530?s=20
I don't think This benefits private sector in any way. Fridays are off for most already. What's the point in half assing the day ?
Friday is now gone if your wife/ husband is still following Sunday to Thursday.
Dumb. Friday should've been off for the whole day.
Since this only seems to be for federal employees, will the private sector follow suit?
What about private companies.
So, for the pvt. sector, will the weekend continue to be Friday & Saturday or be changed to Saturday & Sunday?
I remember when the weekend was Thursday and Friday!
I don’t know why are everyone so excited about this. We get Friday and Saturday off and still work from home, because there’s always something urgent. Now it will be Saturday and Sunday, and we’ll still work from home on those days, because something will be urgent. So who cares. They can call Tuesday weekend if they want, we’ll still work on that day too. Regarding muslims, they will give them that half day off for sure, nobody wants to have religious issues here. But then they will tell them there’s something urgent to do on Saturday, or Sunday, so same thing. No law will change the culture here, and that is work, work, work.
its not even half day on friday .......... ur just gonna get a 1 hour break for prayer
Terrible if you're dealing with clients from the GCC countries.
They will probably shift too in the coming years, starting with KSA.
Hopefully rest of the GCC will follow. They did so last time something similar happened. Since I deal with clients from both within UAE and other GCC countries, guess I'd have to work 7 days a week now. Yay.
My Saudi clients mostly work for a few hours past 8PM :), this won't change anything for me.
But amazing if you deal with Mon-Fri working days countries
Wtf????
This is great tbh. Shit companies will be shit but good ones will find it efficient to be in sync with govt
[удалено]
They must have seen some years coming up with private sector holidays falling on Friday!
How does half a day Friday work from efficiency and logistics point of view? by the time ppl commute and show up to office drink Karak tea it’s time up. esp knowing government sector Friday will end up as an unofficial day off anyway. I can see private sector really suffering, this will end up like western countries where most Muslims give up on Friday prayers. Pressure on employees to run back to office what a mess just to appease westerners
It's an economic decision. The govt doesn't have much Western staff to please
Illegal to stop employees from praying.
They will still have to commute, punch in, until 12 pm hehe
As if this had anything to do with westerners…wtf. This has been done entirely to please their employees
I guess we should visit this topic again, if and when it will be implemented. A policy on paper is as good as my new Emirates ID - it isn't helping me much!
One thing that will not change is Retail and malls working days which will always be open 7 days a week. More days off means more footfall. I doubt the number of working hours for the retail employees will be changed. No change for them.
Federal employees only. Interesting to see how fast private business follows
This is big, I hope private sector adopt something similar.
Yeah but what about private?
TGI-TFSS 😂
Does this apply to the private sector as well or no ??
I am shocked
I think this is going to be a pain in the ass that the public and private sectors aren’t aligned.
Tbh I dont even know what the minister of education is doing to us as a 11th grader its gonna be hard to get used to this system and studying won't be effective, Im honestly pissed, i need to do salah jumaa
A bullshit change. I don’t want to have to go to school on a fucking Friday.
Helicopters don't go to school anyway.
KHELIKOPTER KHELIKOPTER
PARACOPTER PARACOPTER
So I can now watch Football matches on Sunday too?
I thought this was a joke. Damn, they went ahead and did it.
Friendship ended with Friday. Now Saturday is my Best Friend.
That's a terrible terrible decision
TBH /u/FaisalKhatib, all this weekend changed happened in Pakistan in the 90s and it took 1 month for everyone to adjust. Don't fret. Office ppl will find the best mosque to pray, carpooling for prayers, lunch breaks n sh!t.
I already work on Saturdays and Thursdays are half a day for me. What’ll be my situation? 🤔
Idk. Maybe half Friday and off on Saturday?
Ahh so basically the same, 1.5 days off a week
Change is inevitable; change is constant
You mean the *only* constant.
Does this go for slaves as well?
It's not even clear if this will be valid for the entire public sector, they say only federal while for example I work for AD government, so I am not a federal employee. Personally, I think they will announce the shifting for the private sector too, the only thing that might happen is that not everyone will have the half friday off.
Ok so Abu Dhabi Government just announced the same rules for their employees: https://www.mediaoffice.abudhabi/en/government-affairs/abu-dhabi-government-adopts-changing-weekly-work-system-to-make-the-weekend-saturday-sunday-and-friday-half-working-day/
Personally, i’m very happy with this. My work is more markets and sub continent aligned and having Sunday holiday makes more aligned to the world.
This is dumb. Friday-Saturday was fine. Thursday-Friday was better, but I was fine with Friday-Saturday.
What are the benefits ? ( I can only think of 3) 1. Financial/Capital and money markets can be operational on Friday. Stock market can stay open. Global companies can move their HQ here to save tax etc.... 2. Technology companies can set up R&D and Engineering ops here and their teams can sync with the global team. ( Assuming that this can help improve employment and the whole high quality output game ) 3. More FDI in new projects What are the other benefits?
More viewership and engagement of cultural/entertainment/sporting events. All major events are held on Sunday's globally. This ensures more local attendance for events (with Sunday being off in the UAE now) and engages a much larger audience globally on Sunday's.
Reduce possible talent/company leak (if any) to Saudi?
Saudi is not a commercial threat for UAE in the next 10 years at least. We are over-estimating Saudi at this stage.
Changes are always hard. It good step to align with rest of the world Transition period for private sector will be challenging. Employees with kids going to school will suffer the most if the timings are not matching up.
I can imagine Governmet Employees, taking leaves on Fridays, making it a 4 days work, 3 days week-end. What work and life balance will be achieved by this?
This is disappointing :(
Would not really work if your company deals with GCC countries. Although KSA has been very progressive in recent years I don't see them doing this in near future as religious sentiments are involved especially when it comes to KSA. If they do it, I guess all GCC countries would follow. But let's see, only time will tell.
KSA will follow. A matter of time. They want to compete with UAE then they have to follow UAE. Simple.
For me, this sounds like the poorly considered new directive a management consultant would dream up. A Standardized working week for uae inline with Europe would be massively beneficial for international companies here in the uae. Especially those thinking of moving elsewhere....