The debate is raging on whether other GCC countries will follow in the UAE’s footsteps and switch to a Saturday and Sunday weekend, with analysts Arabian Business spoke to listing several obstacles before saying they wouldn’t be surprised if they do.
Back in 2006, when the UAE switched its weekend to Friday and Saturday (from Thursday and Friday), it was quickly followed by Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC, but this time might be different because there are “sensitivities about Friday being a day of prayer. Whether other GCC countries do it will depend on how connected they are to the global markers and eventually how connected they are to the UAE”, said Sami Halabi, director of policy and co-founder at Triangle, a development, policy and media consulting firm.
One of the reasons why implementing international business-friendly initiatives in the UAE – including the shift to an international weekend – is easier than it is in other countries is because of its large expat community which embraces such changes in line with the global economy, explained Bassem Daher, partner at Galadari Advocates and Legal Consultants.
“This is a much easier step for the UAE because of its leadership, its identity as a financial global hub and because of the country’s underlying society, which is mainly made of international people. Therefore, for the legislator, synchronising with international markets is much easier for the UAE than it is for other countries, including regional ones,” said Daher.
“That being said, due to the brotherly competition between regional countries, I would not be surprised if talks are already in progress to see the feasibility of implementing a similar move in their country. The UAE shows the example in the region and we later see everyone following, although maybe not as quickly this time,” he continued.
Countries with a larger local population may find it more difficult to make that transition even though it would align them with global markets.
“The willingness of other GCC countries to follow will be attenuated by the fact that only Qatar has a comparable presence of expatriates as a percentage of the population,” said Omar Al-Ubaydli, director of research at the Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies.
On the economic level, the UAE has a lot to gain in having its days-off aligned with the majority of global markets, and other regional countries need to take that in consideration as well, said Halabi.
“What the different work week does is it creates friction in the market and among trading partners when you are not operating on the same days and it was basically a hindrance for growth. As long as you are not in the driving seat of the global economy, you have to go along with the metrics of how it works or suffer the consequence. It is your choice,” explained Halabi.
“If you believe there is more rationale for you to have a different work week, then fine, but if you see yourself as a global financial hub, you cannot be closed 20 percent of the time when the global market is operating and open 20 percent of the time it’s closed,” he continued.
The change to the UAE’s working week, which currently only applies to the public sector, will come into force from January 1, 2022, with Friday sermons and prayers to be held at 1.15pm throughout the year. The decision also makes the country the first in the world to introduce a national working week shorter than the five-day week.
“This relates to how much the UAE is already intertwined with the global economy, from the trade and finance perspective, and where it wants to be in ten years. Right now, the economy is still oil-export driven, but longer term, it needs more integration with the global market to sustain economic development,” said Halabi.
“All things considered it is a logical move from the UAE and it was only a matter of time that they did so. It will also be a matter of time before other GCC countries follow. Saudi Arabia may be the outlier because they are going to be more dependent on oil longer, their transition to a liberal society is slower and because of how big they are population-wise, but it can also surprise you. The UAE is often the litmus test for many changes in the region and this may be the case now as well,” he continued.
While other countries in the GCC maintain a Friday and Saturday weekend, UAE-based regional headquarters of multinationals may need to adopt flexible working hours – something which is accounted for in the new labour law, going into effect on February 2, 2022.
“Regional headquarters based in Dubai have two challenges: operating within the region, but also being aligned with their many offices around the world. In their regional operations, things had been moving smoothly when the working week was aligned with the rest of the region,” said Daher.
“However, the private sector still has flexibility in setting its working days so we might see hybrid days off within the same company, depending on the needs of the market served by different employees,” he added.
Daher gave the example of how those working in international finance and trade from the UAE often worked on Friday and took Sunday off to illustrate that: “For UAE’s private sector, however, the percentage of their business with international markets largely outweighs that of their business in regional markets.”
On the other hand, Halabi said: “Businesses have been giving the flexibility to decide their working hours and so for any multinational business that perhaps has more linkage with the region than they have with the rest of the world, they could say they will stick with the old weekend.”
“But government offices are moving in the other direction so there is going to be pressure on businesses to move in that direction as well,” he said.
Kuwait has no plans to follow the United Arab Emirates and change its weekend, two people familiar with top level decision-making said, according to Bloomberg.
Kuwait hasn’t had any discussions to modify its weekend, and isn’t likely to, the people said. The country changed its weekend to Friday-Saturday from Thursday-Friday in 2007 to better serve business.
Switching to a Saturday-Sunday break would probably be very unpopular in Kuwait as local families tend to gather together on Fridays. Such a decision would also likely be opposed by parliament, which has the power to block legislation.
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