In a world where customers expect quick responses, it is crucial to balance the customer's needs with the actual working hours. Schedules and Holiday Calendars in Zendesk are fundamental tools for managing this balance. They ensure that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are fair, realistic and reflect availability, which supports better expectation alignment and a more positive experience for both customers and agents.
The foundation for effective service: What are Schedules and Holiday Calendars?
To understand the value, here is a description of what each component does, and how they work together in a robust system for case management.
Schedules: Defines working hours
A schedule is a digital representation of business hours. It specifies when a team is "on duty" and actively working on cases. When a schedule is linked to an SLA policy, the SLA clock only counts during the periods when the schedule is defined as open.
- Business Hours: The most common type. Here, specific time periods are defined per day, typically Monday-Friday, e.g. 09:00-17:00. Outside these hours (nights, weekends and public holidays), the SLA is paused.
- 24/7: Well suited to teams with continuous support. The SLA clock counts constantly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Custom: The most flexible solution with full control. Different business hours can be defined for each day of the week, which suits teams with changing shifts or weekly variations.
Holiday Calendars: Respects days off
Where a schedule handles the fixed weekly rhythm, a Holiday Calendar handles the extraordinary days. This includes public holidays such as Christmas and Easter as well as company-specific closure days such as annual company parties, scheduled maintenance windows or internal workshop days. By linking a Holiday Calendar to a schedule, it is ensured that SLAs are automatically paused on these days, regardless of what the weekly schedule otherwise specifies.
The consequence of omitting schedules
Omitting the use of schedules can create a negative domino effect in the support organisation. Example: A customer creates a case on Friday at 16:59 with an SLA of "First response within 8 hours". Without a schedule that pauses the SLA at the weekend, the system expects a response on Saturday at 00:59. This can result in the following:
Without schedules:
- Unrealistic deadlines: SLAs run constantly, which creates unrealistic expectations.
- Stress and burnout: Agents are pressured to respond outside working hours in order to avoid breached SLAs.
- Dissatisfied customers: Customers can become confused and disappointed when there is no response at the weekend, even though the system indicates that there should have been.
- Unreliable metrics: Reporting on SLA compliance loses value when it does not reflect the actual workload.
With schedules:
- Fair and realistic expectations: Customers and agents can see when an expectation is reasonable.
- Improved working environment: Agents can take time off outside business hours, which supports work-life balance.
- Increased trust: Customers can have greater trust in agreements being met when they are based on actual availability.
- Precise performance measurement: Data and KPIs become a more reliable basis for measuring efficiency.
Step-by-step: Create and configure a schedule
Setting up a schedule is a simple process that can typically be completed in a few minutes.
- Navigate to the Admin Center: Go to Admin Center → Objects and rules → Tickets → Schedules.
- Create a new schedule: Click Add schedule.
- Name the schedule: Provide a descriptive name that is easy to identify, e.g. "DK Support - Standard", "Billing Team - EU" or "Enterprise 24/7". This makes administering several schedules simpler.
- Define business hours: For each day of the week, specify the start and end time in 24-hour format (e.g. 09:00-17:00). If you are closed on a day, leave the field empty.
- Select time zone: Select the time zone where the majority of the team for the schedule is located. For a Danish team, this is typically (GMT+01:00) Copenhagen.
- Save the schedule: Click Create schedule to save the settings.
Examples of schedules: From standard to advanced
Below are common scenarios that illustrate the flexibility of schedules.
Standard Business Hours
Monday - Friday: 09:00 - 17:00
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
Extended business hours
Monday - Friday: 08:00 - 20:00
Saturday: 10:00 - 14:00
Sunday: Closed
24/7 support
All days: 00:00 - 23:59
Custom schedule with variation
Monday: 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday: 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday: 09:00 - 12:00 (short day due to internal meetings)
Thursday: 09:00 - 17:00
Friday: 09:00 - 15:00 (early weekend)
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
Planning public holidays and holiday periods
A Holiday Calendar ensures that SLAs do not count on days when you are closed.
Create a Holiday Calendar
- Navigate to the Holiday settings: Go to Admin Center → Objects and rules → Tickets → Holidays.
- Add a public holiday: Click Add holiday.
- Define the public holiday: Enter a name (e.g. "Christmas Day") and select the date. For days such as Christmas Eve, where you may close for half a day, two separate holidays can be created: "Christmas Eve - Morning" (e.g. 09:00-12:00) and "Christmas Eve - Afternoon" (the whole day).
- Link schedules: Select which schedule or schedules the public holiday should apply to. This makes it possible to have different holiday calendars for different teams.
- Save the public holiday: Click Add holiday.
Danish public holidays and company-specific days
It is recommended to keep the Holiday Calendar updated with both official and internal closure days.
Danish public holidays (examples):
- New Year's Day (1 January)
- Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Monday
- Ascension Day, Whit Monday
- Constitution Day (5 June)
- Christmas Eve (24 December) - often marked as a half day
- Christmas Day (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December)
- New Year's Eve (31 December) - often marked as a half day
Company-specific days:
- Summer party
- Christmas lunch
- Scheduled system maintenance
- Annual strategy days
Integration with SLA policies: Where the effect is achieved
A schedule only has an effect when it is linked to an SLA policy.
- Go to Admin Center → Objects and rules → Tickets → SLAs.
- Select the SLA policy to be edited, or create a new one.
- Under the Business hours dropdown menu, select the schedule you created.
- Save the SLA policy.
After this, the SLA clock for all cases under that policy is regulated by the selected schedule and its linked Holiday Calendar.
Best practice: Optimise the use of schedules
To get the most out of the feature, the following practice is recommended:
1. Be precise
Schedules should reflect the actual business hours. If support actually closes at 16:30 on Fridays, the schedule should reflect this. It is better to keep to a more conservative timeframe than to promise something that cannot be met.
2. Use multiple schedules for different teams
Avoid a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Different teams often have different business hours and coverage.
- First-line support: Monday-Friday 09:00-17:00
- Bookkeeping/accounting team: Monday-Thursday 09:00-16:00
- Technical emergency support (VIP customers): 24/7
3. Maintain Holiday Calendars proactively
Create a fixed reminder (e.g. each quarter or at the start of the year) to review and update Holiday Calendars with upcoming public holidays and internal closure days.
4. Communicate clearly externally and internally
Make sure customers can see when support is available, e.g. on the help page, in automatic responses and in the contact form. Internally, agents should know the schedules that apply to their work.
5. Test the setup
After creating a new schedule and linking it to an SLA, the setup should be tested. Create a test case just before closing time on a Friday and verify that the SLA pauses correctly and resumes on Monday morning. Repeat a similar test for an upcoming public holiday.
Important considerations: Time zones and global teams
In international operations, time zones become a crucial factor.
- Centralised model: One central team covers several time zones, and the schedule is based on the team's physical location. This can result in long response times for customers in other time zones.
- Regional model (recommended): Create separate schedules per region (e.g. "NA Support", "EMEA Support", "APAC Support"). Link them to region-specific SLA policies and possibly different brands in Zendesk. This provides more fair and effective coverage.
- Be consistent: Choose a strategy and stick to it. Mixed models can create confusion and make administration difficult.
Troubleshooting: Common challenges and solutions
Even with a good setup, challenges can arise.
Problem: The SLA still counts at the weekend, even though there is a schedule.
- Solution: Check whether the correct schedule is selected in the relevant SLA policy. A common error is that the schedule is created but not linked.
- Preventive tip: Review SLA policies regularly to ensure that they use the correct schedules.
Problem: A public holiday is not respected.
- Solution: Verify: 1) Is the public holiday created correctly in the Holiday Calendar? 2) Is the Holiday Calendar linked to the schedule that the SLA policy uses?
- Preventive tip: When creating a new public holiday, double-check that the relevant schedules are selected in the dropdown menu.
Problem: Agents in another time zone see incorrect SLA times.
- Solution: This is typically related to the agent's time zone setting in Zendesk. If it is incorrect, times are shown in the wrong time zone. Check that the time zone is correct under Profile → Settings.
Conclusion: A roadmap for stable and realistic service
Correct implementation of Schedules and Holiday Calendars is a strategic decision that affects customer satisfaction, agent efficiency and business results. By defining clear and realistic frameworks for service, a more predictable, fair and effective support environment is created. The article can be used as a roadmap for optimising the Zendesk setup and delivering service that supports both customers and agents.