Quick answer
Use Excel WORKDAY to add business days to a date and calculate a future working-day deadline.
=WORKDAY(start_date,days,holidays)
WORKDAY syntax explained
The WORKDAY function takes three arguments. The first is the start date — the day you are counting from. The second is the number of business days you want to add. The third, optional argument is a range containing public holidays you want to exclude.
=WORKDAY(A2, 5, B2:B10)
In this example, A2 holds your start date and B2:B10 holds a list of holiday dates. Excel returns the date that falls 5 working days after the start date, skipping weekends and the listed holidays.
Step-by-step example
You invoice a customer on 3 June 2026 with a payment term of 10 business days. You want to know when you can legitimately follow up if payment has not arrived.
In cell A2 enter 03/06/2026. In cell B2 enter:
=WORKDAY(A2, 10, Holidays!A:A)
Excel returns 17 June 2026 — skipping both weekends that fall between 3 and 17 June. If any of those days are public holidays, WORKDAY skips them automatically provided they appear in the holiday range.
WORKDAY.INTL for custom weekend settings
The standard WORKDAY function treats Saturday and Sunday as non-working days. If your business operates on a different schedule — for example a Middle Eastern company where the weekend is Friday and Saturday — use WORKDAY.INTL instead. This allows you to specify which days of the week count as rest days.
=WORKDAY.INTL(A2, 10, 7, Holidays!A:A)
The third argument (7 in this example) tells Excel that Friday is the weekend day in a Sunday-to-Thursday working week.
WORKDAY vs NETWORKDAYS
WORKDAY and NETWORKDAYS are complementary but do different things. WORKDAY calculates a future date by adding a number of business days to a start date. NETWORKDAYS counts how many business days fall between two dates.
If you need to know how many working days remain in a project, use NETWORKDAYS. If you need to know when a future deadline falls, use WORKDAY.
Common errors and how to fix them
The most frequent error with WORKDAY is entering the start date as a text string rather than a proper date value. Excel can only perform date arithmetic on its internal date serial numbers. If your start cell shows a date but Excel is treating it as text, wrap it in DATEVALUE() or change the cell format to Date.
Another common mistake is including the start date in the count. WORKDAY automatically excludes the start date and counts from the next business day. If you want to include the start date in your count, add 1 to your days argument.
A third issue is forgetting that WORKDAY returns a serial number, not a formatted date. Format the cell as a date to see the result properly.
When to skip the spreadsheet
If you only need a one-off calculation for a single invoice or deadline, open the Business Day Calculator instead of building a formula. The calculator gives the same answer immediately and does not require maintaining a holiday list.
Need a quick answer without spreadsheet setup?
FAQs
What does WORKDAY do?
WORKDAY returns a date a chosen number of working days before or after a start date. It automatically skips weekends and optionally skips listed public holidays too.
Does WORKDAY skip weekends?
Yes. By default it skips Saturdays and Sundays. Use WORKDAY.INTL if you need a different weekend pattern.
Can WORKDAY exclude holidays?
Yes. Add a holiday range as the optional third argument. Put your holiday dates in a separate range and reference that range in the formula.
Does WORKDAY count the start date?
No. WORKDAY starts counting from the next business day after the start date. If you want to include the start date, add 1 to your days argument.
What is the difference between WORKDAY and WORKDAY.INTL?
WORKDAY.INTL allows you to specify which days of the week are treated as weekends, using a numeric code or a custom weekend string. Use it for non-standard working patterns such as Middle Eastern or Gulf-region week structures.