UAE employees on adapting to the new working week – in pictures

Eight people in different lines of employment reveal how the new week affects them

From left: Nancy Ozbek, Tamara Grannell and Mohammad Al Madani. Chris Whiteoak / The National

How is the UAE acclimatising to the new Monday to Friday working week?

While for some the change has been fairly seamless, others faced unexpected challenges.

The National approached eight people from different lines of work to find out how the move has affected them.

Tamara Grannell, Grade 1 teacher and grade co-ordinator at Swiss International Scientific School. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Tamara Grannell

Nationality: English

Occupation: Grade Co-ordinator at Swiss International Scientific School

“The new Monday-Friday work week is definitely an advantage. I am a grade co-ordinator so I have nine classes, 18 teachers and 198 children who are my responsibility.

“In terms of scheduling and timetabling, it was a logistical nightmare, but other than that everyone settled into it very quickly. The children love the fact that they go home at 12pm. We have a lovely day on a Friday and ease into the long weekend. It’s also been nice to have the same weekends as family back home.”

Nancy Ozbek, head of mall management at Sharaf Group. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Nancy Ozbek

Nationality: Turkish

Occupation: Head of mall management at Sharaf Group

“I am the general manager of Time Square Centre Dubai and Al Masa Mall. For the shopping mall business, the new working week was a fantastic decision.

“We get the most traffic on weekends. Because schools are closing early on Fridays, the weekend starts at three o’clock and we are seeing lots of traffic in the afternoons. We see more families coming to the mall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

Mohammad Al Madani, market manager of Waterfront Market. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Mohammad Al Madani

Nationality: Emirati

Occupation: Market manager of Waterfront Market

“I am the general manager of the Waterfront Market, which is the legacy of the old fish market in Al Shindagha. It has been developed into a mall comprising four main markets, restaurants and retail shops.

“The new working week hasn’t affected our work. We are a mall that serves customers, partners and traders. We work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. During the weekends, footfall is going up to 50,000 a day.

"The adjustment to the new working week has been easy. We’re always here to meet the needs of our customers with the freshest seafood, fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry and dry foods. Even during the pandemic, when most businesses shut down, we remained open and served as a lifeline for families.”

Silver Corpuz, senior mechanic at I Service Any Car in Al Quoz. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Silver Corpuz

Nationality: Filipino

Occupation: Senior mechanic at I Service Any Car

“The shift in working week has impacted those working a six-day week more than five. Everybody here is working six days a week, from the drivers to the technicians to the general manager. Everybody has welcomed the new change, but we’re also getting used to it.

“Even customers are getting used to it. We noticed it on the first Saturday. It was dead, absolutely dead. It was unbelievable. We were busier on Friday, but Saturday became quiet. Because for most of our customers, Saturday was the first day of the weekend and they wouldn’t bring their car unless it was a necessity. So it was quiet Saturday and we were closed on Sunday, which is the second part of the weekend and could be a busy day.

"We’ve already had a conversation with management and we’re going to change our day off from Sunday to Saturday.”

James Young, reverend at Christ Church in Jebel Ali. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: James Young

Nationality: American

Occupation: Reverend at Christ Church in Jebel Ali

“I've been here two and a half years and actually having a service on Sunday morning, I’ve already grown accustomed to it. For the most part, it’s not impacting us greatly. We were already holding a Friday and Saturday service, so we just shifted Friday to Sunday.

“Our theory is Sunday will be the main service, which is what a lot of people prefer because of the tradition within Christianity. But a lot of people liked having a common holy day with the Muslims.

"The biggest issue for us is figuring out when people were available to come to services. There’s a number of people who work for GCC companies so they may not be able to shift in the same way. But our commitment is to hold services when people are able to come.”

Nadeem Khan, executive director of Century Financial Consultancy. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Nadeem Khan

Nationality: Indian

Occupation: Executive director, Century Financial Consultancy

“This new work week is a welcome step for the financial services industry, as we will be in full sync with the global stock markets, forex, banks and financial institutions. Since our work involves working closely with international platforms and liquidity providers, some of the departments at Century Financial were already working Monday to Friday to align with our overseas counter parties and suppliers. Hence it wasn’t a challenge at all to change to the new work week.

"Now all our employees have the same work schedule, resulting in an increase in the company's overall productivity. It will also help staff in achieving quality family time as planning holidays with friends and family will become easier to co-ordinate, especially since they live in cities that have a Monday to Friday work week.”

Ben Davies, human performance expert. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Ben Davies

Nationality: Welsh

Occupation: Human performance expert

“I’m a premium personal trainer, focusing more on performance than basic training. For the new Monday to Friday work week, I’ve just kind of gone with my clients. I had to discuss with them what their plans were and what their work schedule was going to do.

“Ninety-nine per cent of my clients just moved across one day, so I did the same. We just kept the exact same routine and moved forward one day. To be honest, it was very seamless.”

Matthew Pickering, chief executive of Power League Gaming. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Name: Matthew Pickering

Nationality: English

Occupation: Chief executive, Power League Gaming

“We welcome the shift to a new working week. It brings with it efficiencies in collaborating with our publisher partners in the US, UK and Asia. The publisher partners are the companies that make the leading games. We are still Mena-first, but our teams adapted to the new working week very easily, and we continue to deliver these world-class eSports and content experiences to our Arabic audiences.

"Having said that, the shift invariably brings with it challenges with our Mena clients who don’t mirror that working week. So we built in operational flexibility to ensure we are able to continue to support those clients seamlessly.

“Being an eSports and gaming company, we are nonconformist, non-traditional in the way that we work and the hours that we operate, so for us, it's a small stepping stone. I would say the efficiencies that it's brought outweigh any kind of negativity for us.”