The working week is the subset of a calendar week treated as business days. In most countries it runs Monday through Friday and totals 5 days.
Regional variations
Working-week start and end days vary by country:
- Australia, UK, US, EU — Monday through Friday.
- Saudi Arabia — Sunday through Thursday.
- United Arab Emirates — Monday through Friday, shifted from Sunday-Thursday on 1 January 2022.
- Israel — Sunday through Thursday.
- Iran — Saturday through Wednesday.
The UAE move in 2022 made it the first Gulf state to align its working week with global financial markets.
Distinction from the calendar week
A calendar week always contains 7 days. A working week contains only the days designated as business days, typically 5. Weekends are the calendar days excluded from the working week.
Payroll relevance
Payroll systems calculate hours, leave, and overtime against the working week, not the calendar week. Australian Fair Work standards set the ordinary working week at 38 hours over 5 days. A payroll week may be defined independently — for example, Thursday to Wednesday — to align pay-cycle cutoffs with banking and award rules.