Leading Your Team During Ramadan

Confirm the working hours and plan the month before it starts

Labour rules in several Gulf countries reduce working hours during Ramadan, and governments and employers usually announce the arrangements shortly before the month begins. The details differ by country, by sector and sometimes by employee, so confirm with your HR team what your organisation will apply rather than relying on assumptions or last year's practice.

Then plan backwards. Two to three weeks before Ramadan, review the deadlines that fall in the month, move what can move, and agree with your own manager which priorities must hold. Telling your team early what will be expected removes a great deal of uncertainty.

Schedule demanding work for when the team's energy is highest

For many people who fast, concentration is strongest earlier in the working day and dips in the afternoon. Plan around that pattern rather than against it. These are general tendencies, not rules, so ask your team what works for them.

Treat fasting and non-fasting colleagues fairly

Most Gulf teams are multicultural, so not everyone will be fasting, and whether someone fasts is a personal matter. Do not ask people whether they are fasting or comment on it. Offer flexibility in a way that is consistent and transparent, so nobody feels they are quietly carrying more.

Agree openly how cover will work, especially for client-facing roles and shifts. Make sure everyone knows the organisation's guidance and any local rules on eating and drinking in shared or public areas during fasting hours. Avoid assuming that non-fasting colleagues will simply absorb the extra workload. If the team's capacity is lower, adjust the plan, not just the people.

Communicate with extra care and fewer messages

Teams with remote members benefit from the same habits as in any month, applied more deliberately; the guide on leading a hybrid team covers them in detail.

• ✦Set response expectations. Agree that messages after working hours do not need a reply until the next working day, unless something is genuinely urgent.
• ✦Shorten meetings. Cut default meeting lengths and send agendas in advance so the time is used well.
• ✦Be explicit about priorities. When capacity is lower, people need to know what matters most this week.
• ✦Keep feedback timely but considered. Difficult conversations can still happen; choose a time of day when you are both at your best.
• ✦Recognise effort. A short note of thanks at the end of a demanding week matters more when energy is lower.

Look after your own energy as the leader

Leaders often hold their team's wellbeing in mind and forget their own. If you are fasting, your concentration and patience will follow the same daily rhythm as everyone else's, so protect your best hours for the decisions that matter. If you are not fasting, check whether you are unconsciously expecting the pace of a normal month.

Plan your own diary with the same care you apply to the team's. The guide on managing your energy, not your time offers a practical way to match work to energy across the day.

Planning errors managers make during Ramadan

• ✦Carrying normal targets into a shorter month. Without adjustment, the team is set up to fall short.
• ✦Putting key meetings late in the day. Attention is usually lowest then, for fasting and non-fasting colleagues alike.
• ✦Making assumptions about who is fasting. Ask about scheduling preferences, not personal practice.
• ✦Overloading non-fasting colleagues. Fairness means sharing adjustments across the whole team.
• ✦Postponing every hard decision until after the month. Work still needs to happen; plan when and how rather than delaying everything.
• ✦Forgetting the run-up to Eid. Leave requests cluster at the end of the month, so agree cover early.

Example: a newly relocated team lead planning her first Ramadan in the Gulf

Imagine a team lead who has recently relocated to Bahrain from Europe to run a twelve-person finance team in a multinational. It is her first Ramadan managing in the region. Three weeks before the month, she asks HR which working hours the company will apply, then sits down with her team to plan.

Together they move the monthly review from late afternoon to the first hour of the day, cut two recurring meetings and agree that messages after working hours wait until morning. Two team members volunteer to cover a client deadline in exchange for time back after Eid. The month runs without a missed deadline, and the team says it felt well considered.

This is a hypothetical scenario. Her advantage was not specialist cultural knowledge. It was asking early and planning together.

When coaching helps managers lead through Ramadan and beyond

Ramadan is a short, predictable test of skills managers need all year: planning around reduced capacity, communicating with care and treating people fairly across a multicultural team. If those skills feel stretched, coaching gives you a confidential space to plan, reflect and adjust.

In one-to-one executive coaching, in Arabic or English, you can work on how you lead in your specific context. For leaders new to the region, cross-cultural communication for leaders covers the wider adjustment.