阿拉伯联合酋长国及其国际金融中心迪拜将改为在周五中午结束的四天半工作周，以便更轻松地开展全球业务。
政府在一份声明中表示，从目前的周日到周四的时间表——海湾国家的第一个时间表——将有助于阿联酋“实现业务连续性并与全球经济和银行业保持一致”。该变更将于 1 月 1 日生效，并将适用于政府雇员和学校。
以穆斯林人口为主的阿联酋表示，工作将于下午 12 点结束。当地时间周五（东部时间凌晨 3 点）允许人们参加祈祷。星期五被认为是穆斯林一周中最神圣的一天。从 1 月开始，祈祷将于当地时间下午 1.15 开始，比现在晚大约一个小时。
政府表示，公共部门员工也将有机会在周五灵活工作，包括在家工作。
阿联酋政府人力资源总监 Abdulrahman Al Awar 表示，私营公司可以选择他们认为最适合其业务的周末，前提是员工至少要休息一天。
“因此，每家公司将根据他们经营的行业、他们的客户和他们管理的业务做出决定，”他告诉 CNN。
其他以穆斯林为主的国家，包括印度尼西亚、土耳其、摩洛哥和马来西亚，都采用了周一至周五的时间表。
在平滑世界各地的商业联系的同时，这一转变将意味着阿联酋不再与沙特阿拉伯、卡塔尔和科威特等邻国同步。
迪拜政府宣布将根据阿联酋航空的政策调整工作周。
这不是阿联酋第一次改变其工作周。 1999 年至 2006 年间，该国有一个周四和周五的周末，之后改为周五至周六。
— 迪拜的 Caroline Faraj 和阿布扎比的 Celine Alkhaldi 为这个故事做出了贡献。
Dubai is switching its work week to align with global markets
The United Arab Emirates and its international finance hub Dubai are switching to a four-and-a-half-day work week ending at midday Friday to make it easier to do business globally.
The move away from the current Sunday to Thursday schedule — the first by a Gulf state — will help the UAE "achieve business continuity and alignment with global economies and banking," the government said in a statement. The change will take effect on January 1, and will apply to government employees and schools.
The UAE, which has a predominantly Muslim population, said that work will end at 12 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) on Friday to allow people to attend prayers. Friday is considered the holiest day of the week for Muslims. From January, prayers will begin at 1.15 pm local, about an hour later than at present.
Public sector employees will also be offered the chance to work flexibly on Friday, including from home, the government said.
Abdulrahman Al Awar, director general of human resources for the UAE government, said private companies would be able to choose the weekend they feel is best for their business, provided employees are given at least one day off.
"So each company will decide based on the sector that they operate in, based on their clients and operations that they're managing," he told CNN.
Other predominantly Muslim countries including Indonesia, Turkey, Morocco and Malaysia, have adopted a Monday-Friday schedule.
While smoothing business ties around the world, the shift will mean the UAE is no longer synchronized with neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
The government of Dubai announced it would shift its week in compliance with the Emirates-wide policy.
This is not the first time the UAE has changed its work week. Between 1999 and 2006, the country had a Thursday and Friday weekend, before changing it to Friday-Saturday.
— Caroline Faraj in Dubai and Celine Alkhaldi in Abu Dhabi contributed to this story.
