A business day is considered every official working day of the week. Another common term is working day. Typically, these are the days between and including Monday to Friday and do not include public holidays and weekends.[1]
The definition of a business day varies by region. It depends on the local workweek which is dictated by local customs, religions, and business operations. For example, in Saudi Arabia, business days are usually Saturday to Wednesday, whereas in the United States and much of the Western world, they are typically Monday to Friday, and in Egypt, they are from Sunday to Thursday.
Business days are commonly used by shipping companies when determining the arrival date of a package. If a firm such as FedEx ships a parcel on a Thursday that will be delivered in "two business days", it will therefore arrive on a Monday assuming that both Friday and Monday are not holidays.
In finance, how business days are defined are called "business day conventions" and determine how payments are settled on contracts such as interest rate swaps.
The introduction of flex time introduces the internet as a more easily globalized and offshored workforce. The notion of a business day has come under a certain degree of challenge. Information-based companies with a limited dependence on physical goods have less of a need to distinguish a weekend day from a weekday and indeed to many, there is no difference at all. These companies, quite validly, construe a business day to be any day on which they provide service.
Some businesses conduct business transactions and operations on a 24 hour basis due to the nature of the field. Such businesses include hotels, hospitals, police and fire departments, and airports.