Companies still living in the dark ages with six-day work weeks will find it a struggle adjusting to Bahrain's new Friday-Saturday weekend, which goes into effect next month. Although good for the government sector and the few private companies currently operating five days a week, the new weekend may pose a dilemma for those working six.

Friday, for cultural reasons, has to remain Bahrain's main day off but that sixth day, on which most private sector companies wrap up early, won't work fit anymore no matter what you do decide to do with it. Thursdays will now be regular working days for companies operating five days. Since the whole point of the new weekend is to come closer to the Saturday-Sunday weekends in most other parts of the world (although still off by one day), it's silly to now become out of sync with the local economy, even by half a day. Turning half days into full working days would be devastating to company morale while starting your week with a half day on Saturday makes as much sense as George W. Bush on a good… day.

Still with me? OK, on we go…

The only feasible solution, therefore, is to lose that pesky, little half-day for good and give everybody two-day weekends like the rest of the civilised world. Of course, our friends at the local chamber of commerce will go into flying fits of rage, shrieking about how Bahrain already has too many public holidays and that this will reduce productivity, hurt jobs growth and trigger a chain of events that will destroy the entire universe! Or something like that.

But you can all set your Apocalypse Clocks back to 11 because if you look at it more closely the benefits actually outweigh the costs. Having a uniform two-day weekend would improve the private sector's ability to acquire high quality labour, which should improve productivity. Losing the sixth day of the working week won't change much since that is when morale is usually at it slowest with people often arriving late, doing very little and watching the clock all day knowing that half their friends are out having fun. And since it is human nature to procrastinate, I think many employers will find that their staff can do pretty much the same amount of work in five days as they do in five and a half. Giving people a solid two-day break would also discourage fake sick leaves, the unpredictability of which usually cause more disruptions than planned days off. Besides, if it really becomes an issue most employers can easily compensate by adding more work hours within a five-day framework.

Giving people more free time, on the other hand, is actually good for the economy because it gives them more opportunity to spend their money. It also looks better for the country's internationally, what with all this human rights stuff everyone keeps talking about.

I'm going to play Nostradamus now by predicting that this switch is going to force some firms to go five days. The holdouts will eventually have to reorganise as well, if only to attract a quality workforce.

After all, why would anyone want to work for a slave master, when five-day jobs are the norm? It will begin with offices and eventually spill over to shops and other places of work. The measure should be productivity and economic activity, not time spend at work. The six-day working week is a relic from medieval times. Its days are numbered.

tariqk1976@hotmail.com 

tkhonji@yahoo.com

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