Dubai News: Amid the ongoing debate over the demand for 4 work weeks by employees around the world, Dubai government employees have got a new gift on the Islamic New Year. From July 1, 2025, a new system called ‘Our Flexible Summer’ has been implemented for all government employees working under the Dubai government.
Under this, employees have to work only 4 days a week. However, at present this system will remain in force only till 12 September 2025. The purpose of this new system is to improve the work-life balance of the employees and increase their productivity. The Dubai Government Human Resources Department (DGHR) has taken this step on the basis of a successful pilot project implemented last year in 2024.
Under this system, all government employees have been divided into two groups. The first group will work 8 hours a day from Monday to Thursday, and will have a holiday on Friday. That is, a total of 32 hours per week. While the second group will work 7 hours from Monday to Thursday and four and a half hours on Friday. In this way the total weekly time will be 32.5 hours.
What is the ‘Our Flexible Summer’ initiative?
This initiative has been started to provide a better work environment to government employees during summer. Last year, a total of 21 government departments participated in this pilot project and according to the report, it significantly increased the satisfaction, happiness and work productivity of the employees.
Abdullah Ali bin Zayed Al Falasi, Director General of DGHR, says the move advances the vision of a “people-centric government” that strikes a balance between work productivity and employee well-being. The government’s initiative also aligns with the UAE’s ‘Year of Community’ vision, which aims to strengthen family ties and social bonding.
Will this system be implemented in the private sector as well?
At present, this system is limited to government employees only, but the demand for its implementation in the private sector is also increasing. A government report and survey released in January this year said that if private companies also adopt flexible working hours, then this can reduce traffic problems and also improve productivity.
However, the government has not yet announced any such mandatory rule for private companies, but the indications are that steps may be taken in this direction in the future.
The Dubai government has taken this step at a time when there is a lot of discussion about the 4 work week all over the world. Such models have already been adopted in countries like Japan, UK, Iceland, Australia and Canada and the experiences related to them have also been positive.
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