We are encountering an issue with how SLA timers are displayed in Zendesk tickets. Although our SLA policies are correctly configured to use business hours, and we have a fully defined schedule (Monday to Friday, excluding weekends and holidays), the SLA badges on tickets continue to show time elapsed in calendar hours.
According to Zendesk Support (see this article), this behavior is by design:
"Even if the target was set up on business hours, the badge will always show the time in calendar hours. [...] Although you can choose to calculate the target time in business hours, the timer will still display time in calendar hours and won't take into consideration non-working days or holidays."
This causes significant confusion for agents, especially when tickets appear to be breaching over weekends or holidays — even when the SLA policy explicitly excludes those days. It creates the false impression of SLA violations, leading to:
- Misprioritization of tickets
- Agent stress or incorrect escalations
- Difficulty interpreting SLA performance at a glance
💡 Expected Behavior
If SLA targets are configured using business hours, the ticket badge should:
- Reflect remaining time in business hours, not calendar hours
- Pause during weekends, holidays, or outside scheduled hours
- Provide a true representation of SLA status aligned with the defined policy
📣 Feedback Request
We strongly recommend that Zendesk:
- Either update the SLA badge to respect business hours, or
- Offer an option/toggle to switch the display between business and calendar hour views, based on admin preference
This would ensure SLA visualization is consistent with policy logic and reduce unnecessary confusion for agents and teams relying on these metrics.
Thanks!
