Weekdays and workdays are not always the same
A weekday is normally Monday through Friday. A workday is a weekday that remains after applicable holidays or closures are removed. Different countries and employers observe different calendars, so a global calculator should let you supply the relevant holiday dates.
Choose standard or inclusive counting
Standard date difference counts the boundaries between dates and excludes the ending boundary. Inclusive counting includes both the start date and the end date. Use the method required by the deadline, contract, stay, or reporting rule you are following.
Worked example: 1–15 July 2026
Counting both dates gives 15 calendar dates. Eleven fall on Monday through Friday. If 3 July is a holiday for this example, excluding it leaves 10 workdays. Without the custom holiday, the weekday count remains 11.
A repeatable manual method
- List every date in the chosen range.
- Apply either standard or inclusive boundary counting.
- Remove Saturdays and Sundays.
- Remove only the holidays that apply to the task.
- Record the remaining number and the assumptions used.
Adding workdays to a starting date
When calculating a due date, advance one calendar day at a time and increase the workday counter only on an eligible Monday–Friday date. Skip supplied holidays as well. This is different from simply adding the same number of calendar days.