Business Hours and Holidays
Introduction
Organizations that operate across regions often follow different work schedules and time zones. To ensure seamless customer support and SLA compliance, Zoho Desk allows you to configure multiple sets of business hours and holidays, aligning with your operational requirements.
Availability & Permissions
- Who can access: Users with Administrator privileges.
- Where to find it: Setup → Organization → Business Hours.

Creating Business Hours
Business hours determine the calculation of due dates for tickets, SLA escalations, approvals, workflows, and blueprints.
Types of Business Hours
- 24x7 (Always) - For organizations offering round-the-clock support.
- Specific Working Hours - E.g., Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
- Custom Working Hours - Different hours for different days. E.g., Monday: 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Steps to Create Business Hours
- Go to Setup → Organization → Business Hours.
- Click Add Business Hour (or New Business Hour if one exists).
- Provide:
- Name (e.g., Eastern Time Support).
- Time Zone.
- Operational Hours (choose from Always, Specific, or Custom).
- Adjust hours using the green time block bars.
- OperationToggle Associate Holiday List to: al Hours (choose from Always, Specific, or Custom).
- Create a new holiday list, or
- Associate an existing one.
- Click Save.
You can later edit or delete a business hour. However, you must first dissociate any linked SLAs or time-based rules.
Creating Holiday Lists
Holidays are exceptions to working hours and are ignored by SLA and automation triggers
Steps to Create a Holiday List
- Go to Setup → Organization → Business Hours → Holiday Lists.
- Click New Holiday List.
- Provide a Name (e.g., U.S. Holidays).
- Click dates in the calendar to:
- Name the holiday.
- Name the holiday.
- Add single or range-based holidays.
- Click Save.
✅ A holiday list can be reused across multiple business hours.
You cannot:
- Create two holiday lists with the same name.
- Mark partial days as holidays.
- Clone holiday lists.
Associating Holiday Lists with Business Hours
- Go to Setup → Organization → Business Hours → Holiday Lists.
- Click the Edit icon beside the desired holiday list.
- Enable Associate Business Hours.
- Select the desired business hour from the drop-down.
- Click Save.
- A holiday list can be linked to multiple business hours.
- A business hour can only be linked to one holiday l
SLA Behavior with Business Hours
SLA with Resolution Time in Hours
Example:
- SLA = 50 hours
- Business Hours:
- Mon–Fri: 9 AM–6 PM (9 hrs)
- Sat: 9 AM–1 PM (4 hrs)
- Sun: Off
Ticket arrives: Monday @ 10 AM
Due Date:Following Monday @ 11 AM
Breakdown:

- Monday: 8 hours
- Tue–Fri: 36 hours
- Saturday: 4 hours
- Monday: 2 hours → 50 hours total
Deleting Holidays from a List
- Go to Setup → Organization → Holiday Lists.
- Click the Edit icon next to the holiday list.
- Click the holiday on the calendar.
- Click the Delete icon in the pop-up
- Click Save.
Deactivating a Holiday List
- Go to Setup → Organization → Business Hours → Holiday Lists.
- Use Knowledge Base: Save time with internal articles for agents and self-service content for customers.
- Hover over the holiday list.
- Toggle Off.
- Click Save.
💡 Deactivating a holiday list does not disable the associated business hour.