--- title: "Employee wellbeing in summer: looking after your team through a Gulf summer" description: "Employee wellbeing in summer in the UAE: midday break rules, flexible hours, heat and productivity, and small changes that help teams June to September." canonical: https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/wellbeing-at-work-gulf-summer/ published: 2026-09-15 updated: 2026-09-29 language: en --- # Employee wellbeing in summer: looking after your team through a Gulf summer Employee wellbeing in summer in the UAE starts with the heat. Outdoor work in direct sun is banned from 12:30 to 3pm between 15 June and 15 September. For every team, the gains come from small changes: flexible start times, the hardest work in the cooler morning, water close at hand, and respect for people's sleep. - The UAE midday break bans work under direct sun from 12:30 to 3pm, 15 June to 15 September; 2026 was its 22nd year. - WHO says heat reduces work productivity and raises the chance of accidents, with outdoor and manual workers most exposed. - UAE labour law allows flexible, remote and part-time work models, which give HR room to adapt summer hours. - NIOSH suggests new outdoor workers start with about an hour and a half in the heat and build up gradually. - Wellbeing measures work best when people keep their own health data; aggregate, anonymous feedback is enough for HR. ## How does a Gulf summer affect employee wellbeing? From June to September, the heat in the UAE shapes the working day for almost everyone. People who work outside face it directly. People who work inside meet it on the commute, in the car park and at night, when it is hard to keep a bedroom cool. WHO puts it plainly: heat reduces work productivity and increases the chance of accidents. Outdoor and manual workers are the most exposed, because their work adds heat from their own muscles to the heat of the day. The strain of cooling the body also puts extra load on the heart and kidneys. For office teams, the effect is quieter. A 2022 study in One Earth, based on about 7 million nights of sleep from more than 47,000 adults in 68 countries, found that on nights warmer than 30°C people slept just over 14 minutes less on average. A few short nights in a row show up as slower mornings, shorter tempers and a flat afternoon. At a global scale, the International Labour Organization estimated in 2019 that heat stress could cost 2.2% of all working hours by 2030, the equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs. Most of that loss falls on farming and construction, but no sector escapes the heat entirely. ## What are the summer working hour rules in the UAE? ### The midday break The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) bans work under direct sunlight and in open areas from 12:30 to 3pm every day between 15 June and 15 September. In 2026 the rule ran for the 22nd consecutive year. Work that cannot stop for technical reasons, such as pouring concrete or laying asphalt, is exempt. During the break, employers must provide shaded rest areas, drinking water, cooling such as fans, and first aid. MOHRE takes reports of violations through its call centre, website and app. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development applies a similar ban from 12 noon to 3pm over the same dates, for teams that work across both countries. ### Flexible hours in government In 2026, the Dubai Government Human Resources Department ran its "Our Flexible Summer" scheme from 29 June to 10 September. Employees worked either seven hours Monday to Thursday and four and a half hours on Friday, or eight hours Monday to Thursday with Friday off. Government entities could also allow remote work where it suited the job. ### What the private sector can do There is no single summer timetable for private companies. UAE labour law, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, recognises several work models alongside full-time work: part-time, temporary, flexible working where hours or days change with the needs of the business, remote work where all or part of the work happens outside the workplace, and job sharing. Those models give HR room to agree summer arrangements with employees, within their contracts. ## What can employers change for office teams? Small changes, agreed openly, tend to do more than a single summer event. A practical list: 1. **Move the heaviest work to the morning.** Schedule the hard meetings and deep work before lunch, while people are freshest. 2. **Offer flexible start and finish times.** An earlier start lets people commute before the worst of the heat and get home earlier in the evening. 3. **Use remote days where the job allows.** Fewer journeys through the midday heat, and more control over a cool place to work. 4. **Keep water visible and free.** A water point on every floor does more than a reminder email. 5. **Make indoor movement easy.** Open stairwells, walking meetings in the corridor and a short break every hour all help people who are moving less outside. 6. **Protect the evenings.** Late messages push sleep later on nights that are already short. Agree quiet hours for email and chat. 7. **Plan summer leave early.** Spreading leave fairly across the team avoids the last people in the office carrying everyone's work through August. For the evening side of this, our guide to [finding the quiet hours in a loud week](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/find-the-quiet-hours/) has ideas people can use for themselves. ## What about field and outdoor teams? Outdoor teams need more than the midday break. Two points from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are useful in the Gulf: - **Build up exposure gradually.** NIOSH suggests new workers on an eight-hour shift spend only about an hour and a half in the heat on their first day, increasing by no more than 20% a day. Experienced workers can manage up to 4 hours on the first hot day, building to a full shift by about the fourth day, if they are well hydrated and rested. - **Drink before thirst.** For moderately intense work in moderate heat, NIOSH suggests about one cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes, so that workers never become thirsty. ### Know the signs of heat illness The NHS lists the signs of heat exhaustion as tiredness and dizziness, headache, feeling or being sick, heavy sweating with pale clammy skin, cramps, a high temperature, strong thirst and irritability. The person needs a cool place, water and cooling of the skin. Heatstroke is an emergency: a very high temperature, hot skin that is not sweating, a fast heartbeat, fast breathing, confusion, a fit or loss of consciousness. Call for help at once. In the UAE, the ambulance number is 998. Every supervisor should know these signs. ## How can people look after themselves through the summer? Employers can shape the day; each person still owns their evenings and nights. The basics are simple: - **Sleep.** The CDC says adults aged 18 to 60 need 7 or more hours a night. A cool, dark room and a steady bedtime help. Our guide to [sleeping through a Gulf summer](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/sleeping-through-a-gulf-summer/) goes further. - **Water.** WHO advises drinking water regularly in hot weather, about one cup an hour and at least 2 to 3 litres a day. - **Movement.** The early morning and the hours after sunset are the coolest times to be outside. Our guide to [weight management in the Gulf heat](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/weight-management-gulf-heat/) covers indoor options too. - **Know your limits in the heat.** Our explainer on [what 46 degrees does to you](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/what-46-degrees-does-to-you/) sets out how the body copes. ## Common mistakes - **Treating summer as one event.** A single wellness day in July does less than small changes held for three months. - **Forgetting office teams.** The midday break covers outdoor work, but indoor staff still commute, sleep and move in the same heat. - **Rewarding presence over results.** A late evening at the desk in August costs sleep on nights that are already short. - **Asking for health data.** Wellbeing schemes that collect individual readings make people wary of joining. ## How do you know if it is working without watching people? Health data is sensitive personal data under the UAE's Personal Data Protection Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021, and health data connected to health services has its own federal law, Federal Law No. 2 of 2019. HR does not need it to judge a summer programme. Anonymous pulse surveys, aggregate sick-leave figures and simple questions at team meetings show whether people feel the changes are helping. Our article on [why nobody should see your team's health data](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/why-nobody-should-see-your-teams-health-data/) explains the reasoning in full, and our guide to [running a wellbeing programme through Ramadan](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/wellbeing-programme-through-ramadan/) covers the other season that reshapes the working day. For how summer fits into a programme that runs all year, see our [guide to corporate wellness in the UAE](https://www.sisly.ai/en/blog/corporate-wellness-uae/). ## Where Sisly fits Sisly is a titanium ring or band that reads sleep, energy, stress, heart rate variability, activity and skin temperature against each person's own normal. It is AED 999, paid once, with no subscription, and readings are hosted in the UAE. Sisly never shows an employer an individual's readings. Each person sees how the summer is affecting them, and the choice of what to do about it stays with them. ## FAQ **What are the midday break hours in the UAE?** The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation bans work under direct sunlight and in open areas from 12:30 to 3pm every day between 15 June and 15 September. In 2026 the rule applied for the 22nd year in a row. Employers must provide shaded rest areas, drinking water, cooling and first aid for workers during the break. **Does the midday break apply to office workers?** No. The midday break covers work under direct sun and in open areas, such as construction and outdoor maintenance. Office teams are not covered by it, but the same heat affects their commute, their sleep and their energy, so many of the ideas in this guide still apply to people who work indoors all day. **Are there summer working hours for private companies in the UAE?** There is no single summer timetable for the private sector. UAE labour law allows flexible, remote, part-time and job-sharing work models, so a company can agree summer arrangements with its people within the law. In 2026, Dubai Government ran a flexible summer scheme for its own employees from 29 June to 10 September. **How does heat affect productivity at work?** WHO says heat reduces work productivity and increases the chance of accidents. The International Labour Organization estimated in 2019 that heat stress could cost 2.2% of working hours worldwide by 2030, mostly in farming and construction. Indoors, hot nights that shorten sleep can leave people more tired the next day. **How much water do outdoor workers need in the heat?** NIOSH, the US workplace safety institute, suggests about one cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes for moderately intense work in moderate heat, so that workers never become thirsty. WHO advises at least 2 to 3 litres a day for anyone in hot weather. Cool water needs to be close to where people work. **Should employers track employee health in summer?** Employers can support wellbeing without seeing anyone's health data. Health data is sensitive personal data under UAE law, and people use a wellbeing benefit more when they trust it. Anonymous team surveys and aggregate attendance figures tell HR what is working without exposing any individual's readings.