Four-day work week benefits: Quality of weekend most important factor, says expert

An extra day off can help with work-life balance, but new expectations at the office need to be managed, too

After a successful adoption in Sharjah, some companies in Dubai are also trialling the four-day week. Alex Kotliarskyi / Unsplash

Conversations about a shorter working week have been doing the rounds for some time now, with a handful of companies in the UAE either fully implementing one or testing the waters.

Government offices in Sharjah were among the first to adopt a four-day week in 2022. In August, Dubai authorities announced that employees at 15 government entities will work a four-day week for the next seven weeks.

Research conducted by the Sharjah's Department of Statistics and Community Development last year showed the policy led to a 90 per cent increase in job satisfaction, while productivity levels were up 86 per cent. Employees were happier, with most overwhelmingly reporting that their mental health was better after the shift.

Less work, less stress?

“The mental health benefits have to do with an important component in our brain: cortisol,” says Sneha John, a clinical psychologist at Aspris Wellbeing Centre in Dubai. “This hormone is secreted every time we are alert, in a state of stress, or having to do things that require our full attention.”

The shorter working week, John adds, could mean cortisol production is more balanced and controlled, with less likelihood of it “spiralling out of proportion”.

“Stress manifests itself in different ways that include bodily dysfunction, from fatigue to headaches and even digestive issues or sleep problems,” she says.

In the UK's four-day week pilot, a six-month trial programme that included 61 companies and about 2,900 workers in 2022, participants reported a significant reduction in burnout levels at the end. The trialled employees were also less anxious, less tired and sleeping better.

Active DMC was one of the first Dubai companies to introduce the four-day week, in September 2021. Sharrah Khilawala, a senior communications consultant at the firm, says: “My stress levels have significantly decreased since we moved to a four-day work week. The extra day off provides a much-needed break to recharge. It has helped alleviate the burnout symptoms I used to experience. I feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed.”

'It's how you spend the extra day'

John says it's important to be conscious of what people choose to do with their extended time off. “While we have all of these health benefits laid out, it still depends on the quality of the way we spend our weekends,” she says.

For Khilawala, for example, having an extra day off primarily means more time with her two young children. “Having an extra day to spend with them every week has been invaluable,” she says. “It allows me to be more involved in their lives, be it addressing school needs, extracurricular activities, quality playtime or simply being present, which has been incredibly fulfilling and rewarding.”

A two-day weekend can often feel too compressed for some people, notes John, who says having an extra day off “might make it easier to balance things out and space out commitments”. She adds: “One day can be about errands, the other for family and friends, while the third one can be about yourself.”

Melissa Whitehead, an account manager at a public relations agency in the UAE that does a four-and-a-half-day work week, says: “It's been a game changer.”

She adds: “Having that extra time to myself has helped me recharge. I can knock out errands or squeeze in some 'me-time' without feeling rushed. I feel like I’m not just working to survive the week, but I'm actually enjoying it more. My stress levels have gone down and my mental health has thanked me for it. I’m also more efficient and more in control of my 'Monday blues'.”

Rethinking the workplace

There are currently two models being trialled across different countries. One is called the 100:80:100 method, which entails 20 per cent fewer working hours, but the salary and delivery outcomes remain the same. The other model still includes a 40-hour work week but is spread over four 10-hour workdays, instead of five eight-hour days.

John, who's worked in the UAE for six years, says she's observed that even companies that have the regular five-day week in place have made positive changes in mental health awareness in recent times. “Many companies want to implement a wellness programme, for example, or conduct webinars about stress and provide useful resources to their employees,” she says. “Some companies even have employee assistance sessions, where workers can speak anonymously to a counsellor for some support.”

She adds this is “quite promising” for major cities such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where “hustling can be romanticised”.

“Being in a country like the UAE, where it is all about hustling, it can get quite easy to work overtime, or work weekends thinking it could yield monetary benefits or a promotion,” John says, adding it's helpful that the government “has put in a lot of initiatives to make mental health a big part of our lives here”.

She recommends that employers thinking of changing working hours should consider a gradual shift to avoid confusion and more anxiety among their staff. “It will be very important for human resource departments to guide their employees through the changes, and lay down new expectations,” John explains.

John says for some, such major shifts can lead to “anxiety of the unknown”, similar to what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic when employees were suddenly forced to isolate.

“Now, we do have an opportunity to plan things and ease our way into a massive change in the workplace,” she says. “The trial period of a four-day week in Dubai is good to get some feedback and test the waters for both employees and employers.”