The United Arab Emirates government have made an announcement that it would move its weekends to Saturday and Sunday, with Friday as a half working day, effective from January 1st, 2022, to align with much of the rest of the world from an economic point of view, whereas it will still be different than the rest of the Gulf and Arab countries.
Emirates News Agency (WAM): “It will ensure smooth financial, trade and economic transactions with countries that follow a Saturday/Sunday weekend, facilitating stronger international business links and opportunities for thousands of UAE-based and multinational companies.”
The current Friday-Saturday weekend schedule has been going on for the last 15 years, since 2006, where back then UAE was the first in the Gulf to move its weekend from Thursday and Friday to Friday and Saturday.
The change will affect the public sector and academic organizations. Private companies can decide on their work schedules.
