The UAE’s back-to-school policy aims to ease the schedules of federal employees…

If you work for the UAE’s federal government, and are wondering how to deal with the impending bustle of your children’s back-to-school adventures, we have good news that will have you sighing in relief.

back to school

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With the aim of boosting employee satisfaction and improving the quality of working parents’ lives, the policy has been rolled out with a list of accommodating provisions. If your children are enrolled at the elementary level or above, you will be granted flexibility in attendance and departure from work, on the first day of the academic year, to facilitate the safe drop-off and pick-up of your children. That said, you’ll need to ensure that the duration of your flex hours don’t exceed a total of three hours.

However, if your children are just warming up to the joys of school life at nursery or in kindergarten, you could be eligible for flexible work hours on the first day of the new school year, and also during the first week. Again, you’d be following the same rule: make sure the duration of flexible hours does not overshoot three hours a day.

The initiative also takes other factors into consideration, which could make more of you eligible. If you need to be present at parent- teacher meetings, or to attend milestone events like graduation or even just activities that your children are participating in, you could be granted permission to leave work, once again, for no more than three hours.

All of the above said, don’t stress, because productivity will not be compromised on. The flex working hours shall be set without disrupting any work processes, or any of the host of crucial services that are provided through your employer, in accordance with the federal government’s human resources law.