How do working hours and time zones factor into Span metrics?
Last updated: October 27, 2026
Span measures durations such as PR cycle time in elapsed calendar time, with weekends optionally removed, and uses a single organization-wide time zone to decide where days and weekends start. Focus time is the one place Span assumes a standard 8-hour day.
Why it matters
Comparing Span with another tool, or reading numbers for a team spread across time zones, goes wrong fast if you assume business hours. Knowing which metrics count every hour, which assume an 8-hour day, and which time zone sets the day boundaries explains most differences.
How it works
PR, review, and issue durations use calendar time. PR cycle time, every PR lifecycle stage, review response time, issue cycle time, and the issue time-in-status metrics measure the real elapsed time between two events, for example from ready for review to first review. Span doesn't cap a day at 8 hours or use a 9-to-5 window, so time that passes overnight still counts. The only optional adjustment is weekend exclusion. Measuring elapsed time keeps these metrics consistent when a PR's author and reviewer work in different time zones or on different schedules.
Focus time uses an 8-hour day. For each weekday, a person's focus time is 8 hours minus their meeting time minus their fragmented time, never below 0. The 8 hours aren't tied to a clock window: Span doesn't read working hours, so a meeting at 19:00 subtracts from the 8 hours the same as one at 10:00.
Which time zone applies where:
What | Time zone used |
|---|---|
Which calendar dates are Saturday and Sunday for weekend exclusion | Organization time zone |
Which day, week (starting Monday), month, or quarter a PR, review, or issue lands in on a chart | Organization time zone |
Splitting a calendar meeting into days | The person's calendar time zone (the event's or calendar's time zone, or the organization's when missing) |
Whether a calendar out-of-office event covers more than 4 hours between 8am and 6pm | The person's local time zone |
Which days count as weekdays for focus time and meeting metrics | Organization time zone |
The elapsed time between two timestamps is the same in any time zone. The time zone only decides where days and weekends begin.
Setup
Setting | Where | Default |
|---|---|---|
Weekend exclusion for PR cycle time, issue cycle time, review response time, and the other duration metrics | Settings → Metrics → Cycle & Response Times: Weekends | Excluded for organizations created through Span's standard setup. If the setting was never set, weekends count |
Fragmented time threshold: the longest gap between meetings that counts as fragmented. Options 30, 60, 90 (recommended), or 120 minutes. Directly changes focus time | Settings → Metrics → Meeting Time | 90 minutes |
Organization time zone: the reference for weekends and chart days. Set during initial setup | Settings → Org Calendar → Time Zone | America/Los_Angeles unless set |
Out-of-office source: Calendar Integration or HRIS Integration. Decides which days count as active weekdays | Settings → Org Calendar → Out of Office Days Source | Calendar |
What you can't customize. Span doesn't support:
Custom business hours, such as a 9am to 5pm window
Holiday calendars or regional business-day definitions
Different business hours or time zones by team, region, or person
Other weekend definitions, such as Friday and Saturday
Things to know
Worked example (calendar time): a PR opened Friday 17:00 and merged Monday 09:00 shows 64 hours with weekends included and 16 hours with weekends excluded. A tool that counts business hours (9 to 5, weekdays only) would show 0 hours, since the PR opened after 17:00 Friday and merged at 09:00 Monday.
Worked example (distributed teams): your organization time zone is Los Angeles and part of the team works in Sydney, 17 hours ahead (US daylight time, Australian standard time). A PR merged 07:00 Monday in Sydney is 14:00 Sunday in Los Angeles, so it lands in the previous week on charts. With weekends excluded, Span treats Saturday 17:00 to Monday 17:00 Sydney time as the weekend, so Monday-morning work in Sydney counts as weekend time.
Short weekend spans drop out: for PR and review metrics, a stage that starts and ends inside the organization's weekend has no value with weekends excluded. Distributed teams hit this more often when the organization's weekend overlaps their working hours.
Focus time and calendars you can't read: Span gives 8 focus hours to any active weekday with no qualifying meetings, including for people whose calendar Span can't read. Team averages rise when such people are on the team.
Holidays: Span doesn't remove holidays from durations. For per-week rates and focus time, a holiday counts as an active day unless people mark it out of office in their calendar or HRIS.
Related articles
How to setup weekend exclusion for metrics
How to read Span's "/ week" metrics
Need help?
Contact your Span account team or reach out to support@span.app.