Excel WORKDAY Function — How to Use It (with 6 Examples)

Contents

What does WORKDAY do?
Syntax
6 real examples
WORKDAY.INTL — custom weekends
WORKDAY vs NETWORKDAYS
FAQ

What does WORKDAY do?

WORKDAY adds a set number of working days to a date, automatically skipping weekends. The result is a future (or past) date that accounts for non-working days — making it the standard formula for payment due dates, project deadlines, delivery estimates, and SLA calculations.

Without WORKDAY, calculating "30 working days from today" would require manually counting through a calendar. WORKDAY does it in one formula.

Syntax

=WORKDAY(start_date, days, [holidays])

Argument	Description
start_date required	The starting date. Use a cell reference, DATE function, or TODAY().
days required	The number of working days to add. Use a negative number to go backwards.
holidays optional	A range of dates to exclude in addition to weekends — e.g. public holidays.

💡 The result is a date serial number

WORKDAY returns a number. Format the cell as a date (Ctrl+1 → Date) to display it properly. Or wrap with TEXT: =TEXT(WORKDAY(A2,30),"dd/mm/yyyy").

6 real examples

Example 1

30-day payment due date

An invoice is dated today. Payment is due 30 working days later.

=WORKDAY(TODAY(), 30)

Example 2

Due date from an invoice date cell

=WORKDAY(A2, 30)

A2 contains the invoice date. Returns the date exactly 30 working days later, skipping all weekends automatically.

Example 3

Due date excluding public holidays

Your holidays are listed in column F. WORKDAY skips them in addition to weekends.

=WORKDAY(A2, 30, $F$2:$F$20)

Example 4

Go backwards — find a start date

A deadline is in A2. When must work begin to finish 10 working days before the deadline?

=WORKDAY(A2, -10)

Example 5

Display result as a formatted date

="Due: "&TEXT(WORKDAY(A2, 30), "d mmmm yyyy")

Produces "Due: 14 July 2026" — a readable deadline string you can include in a message or report.

Example 6

SLA deadline tracker

Flag any case where the working day deadline has already passed.

=IF(WORKDAY(A2, 5) < TODAY(), "Breached", "On track")

WORKDAY.INTL — when weekends aren't Saturday and Sunday

If your working week is different — Friday/Saturday weekends, six-day weeks, or any other pattern — use WORKDAY.INTL.

=WORKDAY.INTL(start_date, days, weekend, [holidays])

The weekend argument uses a code or a string:

Code	Weekend days
1 (default)	Saturday and Sunday
2	Sunday and Monday
7	Friday and Saturday
"0000001"	Sunday only (6-day working week)
"0000011"	Saturday and Sunday (same as code 1)

The 7-character string represents Mon–Sun. 1 = non-working, 0 = working.

WORKDAY vs NETWORKDAYS — which to use?

Formula	What it does	Use when
WORKDAY	Adds working days to get a future/past date	You need a deadline date
NETWORKDAYS	Counts working days between two dates	You need to count elapsed business days

FAQ

Does WORKDAY count the start date as day 1?

No. WORKDAY starts counting from the day after start_date. =WORKDAY(TODAY(),1) returns tomorrow (if it is a working day). The start date itself is day zero.

What if the start date falls on a weekend?

WORKDAY still counts from the start date correctly — it skips weekends in the count going forward. If the start date itself is a Saturday, day 1 is Monday.

Can WORKDAY handle bank holidays automatically?

Not automatically — you must maintain a list of holiday dates in a range and pass it as the third argument. There is no built-in bank holiday calendar in Excel.

Why does WORKDAY return a number instead of a date?

Excel stores dates as serial numbers internally. Format the result cell as a Date (Ctrl+1) or use TEXT to format it as part of a string.

Practise WORKDAY with real scenarios

ExcelPro has WORKDAY and NETWORKDAYS exercises in the HR, Accounting and Small Business tracks. Free to start.

Try date exercises →

Related formulas

NETWORKDAYS DATEDIF EOMONTH EDATE TEXT TODAY

The Excel WORKDAY Functionexplained simply