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I'm in the process of negotiating a contract and my potential employer (an UAE national owned company) is requiring a 5 1/2 or 6 day work week. Is that the norm for a a senior management position? As far as I'm concerned there's not a big difference between 5 1/2 qnd 6 days. If you have to go in on a 6th day for any time, the day is committed, and I would suspect that the half days would frequently become more than half. I've held senior management positions in the US for 25 years, and I can't imagine many US execs doing it, especially since the financial packageis not that superior.

lochfyne wrote:I'm in the process of negotiating a contract and my potential employer (an UAE national owned company) is requiring a 5 1/2 or 6 day work week. Is that the norm for a a senior management position? As far as I'm concerned there's not a big difference between 5 1/2 qnd 6 days. If you have to go in on a 6th day for any time, the day is committed, and I would suspect that the half days would frequently become more than half. I've held senior management positions in the US for 25 years, and I can't imagine many US execs doing it, especially since the financial packageis not that superior.

The Public Sector in the UAE has adopted a 5 day working week Sunday through Thursday, this is still optional for the Private Sector which still works a basic 48hour week, many companies have however gone over to the 5 day week working a 9 1/2 day.

It is normal for many people. often you will get an 11 day working fortnight so every second Saturday off. A lot of construction companies do it as do local companies.

And yes westerners do it too.

You have to evaluate your lifestyle and decide if it worth it for you or not.

I wouldn't do it.

Thanks for the comments. My inclination is not to do it. I've been running similar businesses successfully for years in a 5 day week. Sort of makes me feel like an indentured servant.

yeah its a stupid old mentality. I mean i am sure some of us have those weeks where we work a 7 day week let alone 6 .. but this should be to the discretion of the person and not a mandatory 5 1/2 or 6 day week or any of this alternative weekend BS .. there are so many studies on how a two day weekend is better for productivity.

But i think in the crazy construction industry i believe its almost the norm. The guys in the industry can correct me if i am wrong.

Unfortunately many people still work a 6 day week, often 7 days some weeks, it's just the way it works here and depends what industry you're in.