Market research and consulting firm, Ipsos ran a study that looks at how residents in the UAE are adapting to the freshly announced changes to the workweek in the country. The survey ran its course of two days online and collected answers from 1200 UAE residents.
With the official weekend in the UAE shifting from Friday & Saturday to Saturday & Sunday, residents have had to adjust their personal and social activities accordingly. The study showed that 80% of Arab ex-pats and 74% of the local nationals, are considering Saturday to become their new Friday. This means that they will now do everything they used to do on a Friday on Saturdays of the week.
Opinions also varied between those who work within the public sector versus those working with private companies. 77% of the public sector agreed to Saturday becoming their new Friday, as compared to only 57% of those employed within the private sector. Self-employed had a similar opinion, 57% of them agreed to split their activities between Saturday and Sunday.
78% of the students and 74% of the single/unmarried respondents opted for Saturday as their new Friday. Only 62% of married respondents declared Saturday as the new Friday.
How and when such trends will settle and embed themselves within our society, is still debatable. The change of weekend has only been in place for 4 weeks so far, such behaviors and patterns will evolve with time.
