A longer weekend is making UAE employees more motivated and happier with their work-life balance — but squeezing the working week is leaving many under greater pressure on the days they are at work.
A study of employees on four-and-a-half-day schedules found that 70.9 per cent felt more motivated and 73.6 per cent reported a better work-life balance. More than four in five preferred the arrangement to a traditional five-day week.
But the extra time off came at a cost for some, with 37 per cent saying their working days had become more stressful as they tried to meet the same demands in less time.
Nearly five years after the UAE public sector adopted a four-and-a-half-day week, the findings highlight the trade-off at the heart of shorter working patterns. While some private companies report stronger performance and staff retention, others have abandoned trials because clients still expect five-day availability.
Federal government employees have had Friday afternoons, Saturday and Sunday off since 2022, while Sharjah introduced a full three-day weekend.
The study, published in the International Social Science Journal, was led by Professor Linda Smail of Zayed University, who carried out the research with Dr Mouawiya Al Awad, director of the university’s Institute for Social and Economic Research. She said that while “a positive signal” was expected, the researchers “did not expect it to be that strong or that consistent”.
“People are not simply working fewer hours; they are anticipating the break,” Prof Smail told The National. “One respondent put it plainly: ‘I feel more incentivised to get things done by Thursday because I have a longer break coming, so I am more driven.’”
The survey included 155 employees, primarily from the public sector and education. Researchers cautioned that the results do not represent the entire UAE labour market.
“The four-and-a-half-day week redistributes demands rather than simply lightening them,” Prof Smail said. “It buys real recovery time, and it intensifies the working days. Whether the net effect is positive depends less on the hours removed than on whether the organisation redesigned the work to match,” she added.
Private sector experience
TishTash Group, a Dubai-based public relations and communications firm, implemented a four-and-a-half-day week in the summer of 2021. After a three-month trial, the policy became permanent.
Founder and chief executive Natasha Hatherall-Shawe said she wanted the company's working structure to “reflect the lives people are living today”, recognising that her all-female team balances careers, families and other commitments.
“It coincided with a period of exponential growth for us, and while I’d never claim the short week alone drove that, I do think a team that feels genuinely looked after shows up differently for clients.
“We’ve seen a real improvement in staff retention and performance – people are more focused, more present and less burnt out, which in an industry that runs on creativity and reactivity matters enormously.”
However, she said the company must ensure “clients never feel the difference” and that maintaining the shorter week “takes real discipline”.
“Truthfully, the four-and-a-half-day week is not always possible for every team member each week, but we strive to make it the norm,” Ms Hatherall-Shawe said.
Nathan Group, a Dubai HR services firm, implemented a four-and-a-half-day week about a month ago. General Manager Nikhil D’Souza attributes the change to technological advances.
“Through our technology arm, we have built home-grown digital solutions that automate and standardise many HR and operational tasks,” he said. “This has allowed us to redesign jobs, reduce repetitive work and enable our people to focus on higher-value, more professional activities.
“The focus has been on greater efficiency rather than simply compressing the same hours into fewer days.” He said productivity should be measured by outcomes, not hours at a desk, with staff still accountable for client service, responsiveness and results.
Not suitable for all
Not all companies have found the change beneficial. Nishe, a Dubai accountancy and professional services firm, trialled a four-day week in the summer of 2024 but did not make the change permanent.
Nasheeda CC, founder and managing director of the all-female firm, explained that client service posed a challenge, as “we can’t tell them we’re not available”. Some staff had clients who required constant availability, while others did not, creating disparities among employees.
“If we do it properly, I think working less can be more productive,” she said. "But what I heard more was the dissatisfaction around it rather than the satisfaction.”
She stated there was little momentum towards a four-and-a-half-day week in the UAE private sector. “If anything, we see many companies working hard and long hours. I don’t really see the private sector moving into a four-and-a-half-day [week].”
Flexibility over fewer days
Pedro Lacerda, senior vice president at Tasc Outsourcing, a Dubai recruitment and HR firm, said businesses should review their work structures, time allocations and processes to ensure shorter hours do not increase pressure in other areas.
“Reducing hours alone does not create productivity gains,” he said. “Employers need to understand how output, service levels and employee workload change.”
He noted there was “also a question of consistency,” as a four-and-a-half-day week may suit some parts of an organisation but not others, especially teams responsible for customer service or continuous operations.
“Professional and knowledge-based roles can often provide more room to experiment with working patterns because performance can be assessed through projects, deliverables and outcomes,” he said. “For sectors such as hospitality, logistics, facilities management, health care and retail, the considerations are different.”
Mr Lacerda said interest in shorter and more flexible working patterns was “clearly increasing”, but he did not expect the four-and-a-half-day week to replace the five-day model across the private sector. Alternatives may include flexible start and finish times, compressed schedules or different arrangements for different teams.
“How quickly employers adopt it will depend much more on the type of work they do and how their customers and operations are structured,” he said.
