Yemen - a new weekend…..

News by email back in July 2015 from good friends SMAS that "the Yemeni government has recently issued a decree that confirms changing Yemen’s weekend from a Friday-Saturday to a Thursday-Friday schedule, giving Thursday as a weekend instead of Saturday. This decision came into effect on the 18th of June, 2015, and have been incorporated in all public sectors and should be implemented nationwide within the month.

For more information, please contact our Yemen office on Yemen@smas-ip.com"

This part of the Empty Quarter had thought that all countries in the region were now aligned on a Friday/Saturday weekend and well remembers the difficulties of managing work across a region where the weekend was not always the same, let alone always Friday/Saturday and hopes that, in due course, the weekend in Yemen might return to Friday/Saturday, although, of course, the choice is that of the Yemeni government.

Saudi Arabia changes weekend to Friday/Saturday

The changes to the weekend in Saudi Arabia have been widely reported. The change takes place this weekend with the official weekend taking three days (Thursday 27 June, Friday 28 June and Saturday 29 June). As is so often the case any deadlines which fall on the weekend will be moved to the next working day (Sunday 30 June). 

Professional firms in Saudi Arabia have been used to working from Saturday to Thursday lunchtime and it will be interesting to see how they amend their work patterns. This part of the Empty Quarter can remember the changes to the weekends in the United Arab Emirates many years ago and wonders how long businesses in Saudi Arabia will take to settle in to a happy routine of having Friday and Saturday off work.