The government of Dubai has officially implemented a temporary four-day work week for all its public sector workers. That could be us, but you playin'.
Dubai's new shorter work week will now involve all government workers, who will be divided into two groups. The first will work eight hours per day, but get Fridays completely off. The second will still work for 4.5 hours on Friday, but will only need to be on for seven hours on other days.
Such changes will be in effect from July 1 to September 12, at which point Dubai's government workers will presumably be obliged to return to their usual five-day schedules. The four-day work week is part of Dubai's 2025 Our Flexible Summer initiative.
"This initiative demonstrates our firm commitment to enhancing the government work environment, making it more adaptable and responsive to the needs of employees and the community," said Abdullah Ali bin Zayed Al Falasi, director general of the Dubai government's human resources department. "This supports Dubai’s aspirations to lead in delivering flexible, sustainable, and people-centric government services."
Dubai's four-day work week follows a trial it conducted in 2024 involving 21 government entities. This experiment resulted in overall employee satisfaction increasing by 98 percent, with workers experiencing enhanced productivity and happiness. Yet despite these results, as well as positive outcomes from previous experiments by other organisations, it seems Dubai's government still isn't quite ready to commit to a more permanent change.
Is the four-day work week the future?
Numerous organisations across the globe have tried out shorter work weeks over the years, which have repeatedly reported positive results. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders also reiterated his ongoing support for a four-day work week last month, arguing that there's no reason workers shouldn't get a four-day work week if artificial intelligence is enhancing workers' productivity as its advocates claim.
"[A four-day work week is] not a radical idea," said Sanders. "There are companies around the world that are doing it, with some success."
Companies which have tried it include Microsoft Japan, which announced in 2019 that its four-day work week trial had increased productivity by 40 percent. New Zealand firm Perpetual Guardian saw productivity increase by 20 percent during their own trial, prompting them to switch to a permanent four-day work week in 2018. Both organisations saw savings in reduced electricity costs as well.
Iceland ran a four-day work week trial between from 2015 to 2019, and found that the almost 3,000 workers involved were happier, healthier, and more productive. A similar 2022 UK trial produced favourable results as well, with the overwhelming majority of participating organisations still operating on a four-day work week one year after the study's publication. Belgium also approved a four-day work week in 2022, enabling workers to request longer 10-hour days in exchange for one day off, while Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic introduced an optional four-day work week.
Yet despite years of trials spanning the globe, resulting in mountains of evidence demonstrating benefits to employers as well as employees, the four-day work week still remains a rare model. Though it's popular for companies to portray themselves as forward thinking and at the cutting-edge, it seems few are willing to actually follow through and apply widely tested and scientifically-backed changes with clear proven benefits.
