The weekend system in Jordan has experienced gradual changes over the past decades, in response to both local and international social and economic transformations. Initially, the weekend was restricted to Thursday and Friday, aligning with religious and social particularities, where Friday holds a religious significance in the life of the Jordanian community. Over time, as Jordan's ties to the global economy grew, it became necessary to reconsider this system. With increasing needs to interact with global markets and institutions which predominantly operate from Monday to Friday, Jordan took a significant step by transitioning to having Friday and Saturday as the weekend, an attempt to balance maintaining Friday as a religious holiday and reducing the time gap with the external economic world, serving trade, investment, and financial communication.
Recently, the Jordanian government has started considering adding a third day to the weekend, so that the weekly holiday would consist of three days. This proposal stems from economic and technological developments, as global financial markets do not operate on Saturdays and Sundays, making the continuation of a working day on Sunday in Jordan less beneficial for many activities linked with international financial and commercial dealings. The expansion in digitalization and automation of government services has contributed to reducing the need for the physical presence of employees, making the application of a three-day weekend more plausible.
In reality, Sunday does not add true value to sectors that rely on coordination with global stock markets or international financial institutions; it could instead become a formal workday involving operational costs without tangible economic returns. On the government administration front, the expansion in digitalization and automation services has reduced the need for employees’ physical presence, making the implementation of a three-day weekend more realistic, while maintaining the quality of service and resource efficiency. However, this approach should not include vital sectors such as education and health, which require ongoing operation under specific systems, with the possibility of compensating the additional holiday day by increasing working hours in other sectors to ensure productivity is maintained. This trend is not new or exclusive to Jordan, as several countries around the world and in the Arab world have adopted flexible work models. The UAE has adopted a Saturday and Sunday weekend with a half-day on Friday in the public sector, while countries like Iceland, Japan, and Europe have experimented with a four-day work week with positive effects on productivity and employee satisfaction.
Economically, the idea of a three-day weekend carries multiple dimensions. On one hand, it may contribute to improving the quality of life for workers and enhancing the balance between professional and social life, which positively reflects on job satisfaction and productivity in the medium term. It could also create opportunities to invigorate domestic tourism and service sectors, with more time available for families to spend and entertain. On the other hand, challenges that cannot be ignored arise, notably the need to align public and private sectors, ensuring there is no decline in productivity or complicating supply chains and services, with re-engineering working hours to maintain the annual production volume and prevent any negative impact on the competitiveness of the economy.
In my opinion, the three-day weekend is not merely an administrative decision but an economic and social choice requiring extensive and thorough study, where its success is measured by the quality and efficiency of services, not by the number of working days, taking into consideration the particularities of vital sectors to establish a more flexible and efficient governmental model capable of meeting today's needs and future challenges of citizens.
