Ramadan 2026: UAE cuts public sector working hours announced
UAE Government has revealed the new office hours for public sector workers specifically during Ramadan.
Work from 9am until 2.30pm Monday to Thursday and Friday hours are 9am until midday. This applies to any employees unless working standards directly dictate otherwise.
The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources announced on Wednesday that federal ministries and entities can do that either through applying the approved flexible working system during working days in Ramadan, or granting flexibility for employees to work remotely as of 9.00 a.m., provided they are present at their offices starting from Saturday to Thursday. This threshold should not exceed 70 per cent of the total number of employees employed by the entity, according to approved controls.
The holy month is expected to begin on February 19 in the Emirates, says Abu Dhabi-based International Astronomical Centre. This is because on Feb 17 "sighting the crescent is either impossible or difficult from; most regions of the Arab and Islamic world," said Engineer, Muhammad Shawkat Odeh, Director, IAC.
Islamic months are either 29 or 30 days, depending on the sighting of the crescent. Wednesday is expected to signal the 30th and last day of Shaban, which would then be followed by the completion of this month as a full 30 days, heralding Thursday as the first day of Ramadan.
But the official decision isn't mine- it is for moon-sighting committees that will meet on Shaban's 29th day to look for the new moon, which signals another month-in this case being Ramadan.
Public sector working hours
Generally, the federal government of UAE works five and a half days a week. On non-Ramadan months employees are required to work eight hours on Monday through Thursday and four and a half hours on Friday.
Time to be applied Since January 2022, people are working in the federal government offices from Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday have been introduced as the weekends.
Other emirates apart from Sharjah have implemented a similar work … material. Yet in Sharjah government employees get only 4 days a week and they have weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Comments