New working Rules: 4 days work a week till September 12, 2025

New working Rules: Dubai has indeed launched a new initiative for a four-day work week and reduced hours for its public sector employees. This began on July 1, 2025, as part of the “Our Flexible Summer” initiative. New working Rules: 4 days work a week till September 12, 2025.

Here is the key aspects:

This new schedule applies to all employees of Dubai government entities. It started on July 1, 2025, and will run until September 12, 2025. This is specifically for the hot summer months to improve work-life balance during this period.

Government employees are divided into two groups with slightly different schedules:
Group 1: Works 8 hours daily from Monday to Thursday, with Friday off, totaling 32 work hours.

Group 2: Works 7 hours per day from Monday to Thursday and 4.5 hours on Friday, totaling 32.5 hours per week.

Why is this being implemented? The Dubai Government Human Resources Department (DGHR) launched this initiative to:

Enhance work-life balance for public sector employees.

Boost productivity.

Support family cohesion, especially during the summer school break.

It follows a successful pilot program in 2024, which showed enhanced productivity and improved employee satisfaction (reportedly 98%).

What about the private sector?

Currently, the “Our Flexible Summer” initiative only applies to the public sector. However, there is a growing conversation and support for expanding flexible work policies, including reduced hours and remote work, to the private sector.

The Dubai government has indicated a preference for such policies, citing potential benefits like easing traffic congestion and improving overall productivity across the city. While there’s no immediate mandate for the private sector, many companies might consider adopting similar flexible arrangements to remain competitive in attracting and retaining talent.

It’s important to distinguish this specific “Our Flexible Summer” initiative from the broader UAE weekend change that took effect on January 1, 2022. At that time, the UAE federal government, and subsequently many local governments and private companies, shifted their weekend from Friday-Saturday to Saturday-Sunday, with a half-day on Friday, effectively creating a 4.5-day work week for many.

Sharjah, one of the other emirates, went a step further and permanently adopted a four-day work week (Monday-Thursday) with a three-day weekend (Friday-Sunday) for its government employees in 2022. The current Dubai initiative for the summer of 2025 is an additional layer of flexibility and reduced hours specifically for Dubai government employees.

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