Create your net working days calculation in Excel

Do you want to find out how many days an employee actually worked in a year? Excel offers an effective function that can help you with this - calculating net working days. In this tutorial, I will explain how to properly use this function to count workdays and include holidays in your calculation.

Main Insights

With the NET WORKDAY function, you can determine the number of workdays between two dates, automatically excluding weekends and holidays. You only need to specify the start date, end date, and a list of holidays. This function greatly simplifies your time calculation and saves you a lot of effort.

Step 1: Insert NET WORKDAY Function

First, open Excel and select the cell where you want to display the result of your calculation. Enter the function, which looks like this: =NET WORKDAY(. Now you need to enter the start date. You can either type it manually or select the date from another cell. Then add a semicolon to continue.

In the next step, you insert the end date into the function. This date represents the last day for which you want to count workdays. Here too, you can enter the date directly or select a cell where it is stored. Again, add a semicolon to move to the next input.

Step 2: Select Holidays

Now comes the final part of the function: you need to specify the holidays that should be excluded from the calculation. You can either select a list of holidays from an Excel range or enter them manually, separating each holiday with a semicolon. Once this information is provided, close with the closing parenthesis ) and press Enter.

Step 3: Analyze Results

After performing the calculation, the number of workdays between the specified dates will be displayed, with both weekends and selected holidays excluded. To ensure everything is correct, you can check the data and make adjustments if needed. An interesting aspect is that the number of workdays changes when you remove a holiday from the selection - you will immediately see the impact on your result.

Step 4: Adjust Value

If you feel you have selected a holiday incorrectly, or if the requirements have changed, you can simply adjust the list of holidays. Delete a holiday to see how it affects the number of net workdays. You will immediately receive the updated count, making the function especially useful.

Summary

Calculating net workdays in Excel is a practical way to determine how many days an employee actually worked, while excluding weekends and holidays. With the NET WORKDAY function, you can quickly and efficiently determine the necessary data, saving you valuable time and aiding in accurate time planning. By specifying the start and end dates, as well as the list of holidays, you can achieve precise results.