The UAE's 4.5-Day Workweek: Employee Perceptions, Organizational Redesign and Employee Well-Being Under a Reduced-Hours Workweek

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

International Social Science Journal

Publication Date

9-11-2026

Abstract

This study examines employee perceptions of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) transition to a nationwide 4.5-day workweek and perceived changes in productivity, motivation, stress and well-being. Self-determination theory and the Job Demands–Resources model guide the interpretation of the balance of recovery and concentrated workload pressure. An exploratory cross-sectional survey was completed by 155 employees recruited via convenience and snowball sampling. The sample was concentrated in public-sector education (71.6% public sector; 78.7% education) and is not representative of the wider UAE labour market. Well-being was assessed using the WHO-5; other items assessed satisfaction, productivity, work–life balance, stress and motivation. Most respondents reported higher motivation (70.9%) and improved work–life balance (73.6%). The mean WHO-5 score was 67.5, and 84% scored above 50, the well-being threshold. However, 36.9% reported increased weekday stress linked to workload compression. The regression model did not identify a consistent demographic or occupational pattern, although statistical power was limited. In a cross-sectional mediation model, work–life balance accounted for part of the observed association between satisfaction and well-being. Private-sector respondents more often reported productivity gains, but this subgroup was small (n = 22), and the overall model was not significant. Employees thus described the reform as a redistribution of demands: more recovery time but denser weekday work, pointing to the importance of organizational redesign, workload coordination and sector-specific implementation in evaluating reduced-hours schedules.

ISSN

0020-8701

Publisher

Wiley

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

4.5-day workweek, Job Demands–Resources model, productivity, self-determination theory, stress, weekend length, well-being, work–life balance

Scopus ID

105050293121

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Bronze: This publication is openly available on the publisher’s website but without an open license

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