A day makes a big difference

Abu Dhabi: The new Friday-Saturday weekend will lead to higher efficiencies, officials in government departments have said.

The new weekend will synchronise both public and private sectors in the country, and will be closer to harmonising with the outside world, they said, adding that it would lead to improved results.

All government departments, including ministries and government-owned companies will fall in line with government directives to shift their weekend to Friday-Saturday from September 1. Most countries globally have a Saturday-Sunday weekend.

"The new weekend seems better as it will be harmonised with the local private sector. It will also be closer to harmonising with the outside world," said Arif Al Fara'a, Economic Consultant, Ministry of Economy and Planning.

"Instead of a loss of four working days it will be just three days, and due to the larger window of working days with the outside world, it could increase efficiency and a lot more can be accomplished by the government sector."

A spokesman from Adnoc said the new weekend made little difference to most employees from a personal perspective, but from the business perspective it made sense to switch to a Friday-Saturday weekend.

"As a large oil company, we lost four days with the Western world but now it is reduced to three days and this is better. We do a lot of business with the outside world."

Employees in the government sector welcomed the move saying weekends would be better when aligned with the private sector.

"We are looking forward to the new weekend because many of our friends work in the private sector and they have Friday-Saturday as weekend. Now it is going to be the same for us," said Fatima Al Muhairy, who works in the Ministry of Finance and Industry.

But Saeed Al Shehi of Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company said government employees had become accustomed to the Thursday-Friday weekend.

Whether employees like it or not, the move is a "rational decision", said Steve Brice, Senior Economist, Standard Chartered Bank. "The aim is for the UAE to be closer to the international community and the UAE is a regional hub for a lot of businesses."