The working week can often seem like a permanent feature of modern life. Hundreds of millions of people construct their daily commute, their childcare arrangements and their social lives around the basic idea of five days on, two days off. Yet the history of employment shows that this convention is anything but fixed.
It was only with the advent of the Industrial Revolution that working hours became clock based. Before then, people in agricultural societies worked in tandem with the seasons and leisure was often centred around religious festivals. The most famous proponent of the five-day model was industrialist Henry Ford whose Ford Motor Company adopted it for factory workers and office staff in the US in 1926.
Many Middle Eastern societies developed along different lines but still face the same questions when it comes to striking the right balance between productivity and quality of life. In this regard, the UAE has become the country to watch.
A recent study into a four-and-a-half-day week led by academics from Zayed University found that 70.9 per cent of employees surveyed felt more motivated and 73.6 per cent reported a better work-life balance. More than four in five preferred the arrangement to the more conventional five-day week. The research also contained an important qualification – 37 per cent said their days had become more stressful as they attempted to complete the same amount of work in less time.
A shorter week, it seems, does not automatically translate into a better one. The key lesson is that success depends on whether organisations redesign work rather than simply squeeze more into fewer hours.
This is a something worth considering as the UAE continues to rethink employment in the 21st century. As well as fostering a home-grown labour force through various incentives for Emiratis, the country has recognised that attracting and retaining outside talent requires more than good salaries. The UAE’s evolving visa system, for example, sits alongside flexible or shorter working weeks to reflect a broader effort to make the Emirates a place where more people come to live and work for longer.
There is a particular force accelerating the kind of changes Ford may have appreciated but could not have foreseen. Artificial intelligence is already altering recruitment and the nature of many jobs, automating tasks while throwing up new questions about skills and employment. The UAE's experience suggests that technology can be useful when it frees people to concentrate on higher-value work rather than just increasing the amount they are expected to do.
In a country that has prioritised family life and social cohesion alongside economic dynamism, these are important topics. The future of white-collar work should not be measured by how many hours people spend at their desks. Instead, it is more economically and socially useful to examine what those hours produce and what kind of lives they allow people to lead outside them. The UAE has shown itself willing to allow experimentation with once-unquestioned assumptions. It is ideally positioned to ensure a work environment where flexibility means genuinely better work as well as happier workers.
