How Long is a Business Day Globally? Understanding With Examples

business day
Dec 28, 2024 Reading time : 6 min

Supposedly you are at a bank queue depositing your cash, and then you ask the receptionist how long it takes to process the transfer. The receptionist replies, “2-3 business days.” Now you are wondering how long is a business day

Understanding how long that would help you track down the status and address the task’s incompletion. The main confusion arises when people baffled themselves between business days and working days.

The duration of both indexes is different and to have a better understanding, let’s discuss how long is one business day considered with an example.

How Long Are Business Days?

To make this concept easy for you to comprehend, business days are considered as weekdays, excluding Saturdays. The timings of business days are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, including a break, so the entire day operates on an 8-hour shift.

Business days are your Monday to Friday that is followed globally but if any public holiday falls in between the remaining business days, will be compensated to the next week. 

For example, if you order something online on Tuesday and the platform states “order will be delivered within 3-5 business days,”. In the usual scenario, your product will be delivered by next Monday. However, if there is a public holiday falling in between, supposedly on Wednesday, in this case, the product will be delivered by next Tuesday. 

So how long is 10 business days? That would be 2 weeks from the commencement day and may take longer if any holidays take place in between. 

Here is the chart to make it efficient to calculate business days:

DayNumber of Business Days Day of Task Completion
Monday1 dayTuesday
Monday2 daysWednesday
Monday3 daysThursday
Monday4 daysFriday
Monday5 daysMonday

And if a holiday falls between the business days, the off days will be adjusted accordingly. Below is the table to help you understand better if there is only one business day involved.

DayNumber of Public or Religious HolidayDay of Task Completion
Monday1Wednesday
Monday2Thursday
Monday3Friday
Monday4Monday
Monday5Tuesday

However, there’s a catch: many think business days are synonyms to working days, but that is not true. There’s a huge difference between both criteria, and you should know about it. Let’s discuss how business days and business days are contradictory terms. 

How are Business Days and Working Days Different?

The entire crux of business days and working days revolves around operational shifts, yet they are different. A working day is the term typically used for employees, referring to the calendar period when they are required to work. 

It includes working on weekends as well if the firm demands and the nature is more flexible compared to business days. Instead of offering rest days on weekends, employees may be given off on mid-week. 

The other noticeable differences are:

Business DayWorking Day
Followed same all around the globe.Varies depending upon company to company.
Effects the general public and services as a whole.Applied on employees only.
Excludes the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), considered as off days.In some cases, weekends are included, often referred to as overtime or roster plans.

There are some countries that don’t consider Saturdays and Sundays as weekends. Let’s highlight some of those countries that have distinctive durations of business days. 

How Long are Business Days in Different Country?

Till now, we have kept on mentioning that business days are considered to be Monday to Friday. However, some countries follow different trends due to religious beliefs and culture. 

  • Many Middle Eastern countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia have Sunday to Thursday working days due to their religious prayers on Friday. 
  • In Nepal, the business days range from Sunday to Friday. Along with India, where many industries follow Monday to Saturday business days. 
  • Malaysia has longer lunch breaks, allowing Muslims to perform their prayers. 
  • In some regions of Belarus, they have 4 business days and in Jordan, the work week takes place between Saturday and Thursday. 

It is crucial to keep in account all the business days followed around the globe. Many may wonder how it would help us generally.

Why Tracking Down Business Days is Important?

Everyone has a subjective reason to track down business days; it could be either to track the delivery date of a product or dealing with legal compliance. 

If your operations and tasks heavily rely on market standards, noting down business days will help you a lot. Without being aware of market duration, it would be difficult for you to even perform penny tasks such as depositing a letter. 

As a business organization, by keeping track of total business days, management can set realistic goals and deadlines. Moreover, as an honest taxpayer, you can keep track of tax filing to avoid penalties. For an international trader, it’s very crucial to understand the dynamics of global operations.

If you are an investor, keeping track of available active days in a week lets you assess the trading plan. Tracking the business days is not just about tracing the operational time but lets you plan your activities accordingly. 

Final Words

So by now, you must have understood how business days are calculated and how they are different from working days. Understanding the terminology helps you to easily manage your tasks and avoid any delays. 

However, it is important to note various sectors and organizations consider Saturdays as part of their business days. And in some institutes, alternative Saturdays are recognized as business days. So it becomes important to discuss the operational days. 

Frequently Asked Questions
Is business hours considered as 24 hours?

No, business hours around the globe are usually around 9:00 AM-6:00 PM. However, certain jobs require 24 hours of work, such as those in the logistics department, troubleshooting help support, and call centers.

How long is 7-10 business days?

Generally, business days are considered as 5 days working a week; considering this criterion, 7-10 business days are regarded as 2 whole weeks. For example, if the day is December 13 Friday 2024 from that particular moment on, 27 December 2024 would be considered a full 10 business days due to weekends and the Christmas holiday included.

Is Saturday considered a business day?

In the majority of countries and sectors, Saturday is considered a weekend and not part of the business day. However, few banks and government sectors operate on odd Saturdays, such as first, third, and fifth.

What is the major difference between business days and working days?

The most noticeable difference between working days and business days is flexibility. Working days are often flexible and vary from company to company. On the other hand, business days are rigid and the same in every region.

Sources

How Long is a Business Day? – Google Community Help

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