Dubai Launches Summer Initiative to Reduce Working Hours and Suspend Friday Operations
Dubai has now begun an effort to officially test out the idea of cutting working hours of some governmental bodies in the summer. This campaign called “Our Flexible Summer” will mean that the working day will be only seven hours and there will be no work on Fridays. The scheme will be held from 12/08/2024 till 30/09/2024 and with 15 elements of the government.
This is led by the Dubai Government Human Resources Department (DGHR) with the theme promoting flexibility, wellbeing and work-life balance in workplaces. As a result of the reduction of working hours the program in question is intended to give the employees of the government more time to spend for themselves and their families which in its turn will contribute to the enhancement of their quality of life. Further, the implementation of this initiative has the aim of lowering energy consumption in the government offices particularly during summer, which is also a part of sustainable undertaking.
Before the launching of the DGHR, the conducted a survey to check the readiness of the government entities to participate in the initiative. A positive outcome concerning the case was indicated where the majority of the agencies expressed willingness to embrace the new working hours. Such feedback prove that Dubai’s government entities are willing to accept progressive practices that would improve employee engagement and performance.
During the pilot period, the DGHR will gather feedbacks and analyse the organization’s employees’ productivity and well-being” following the implementation of the working hours reduction. This data will be used to produce a report of the findings and future possibilities for the extension of the program to other entities in the future.
The initiative called “Our Flexible Summer” is in the framework of the Dubai Quality of Life Strategy 2033 that focuses on the availability of a better quality of life and efficient use of resources to enhance Dubai as a place to live and work. According to Abdullah Ali Bin Zayed Al Falasi, the Director-General of DGHR, this is part of the ambitious drive of enhancing the efficiency of smart solutions and policy innovations aimed at raising the competitiveness of Dubai on the world market.