Business hours, holidays and after-hours call handling

Your phone system knows when you're open. During business hours, calls follow your normal flow (a greeting, a menu, a ring group). Outside hours and on holidays, they go somewhere else, such as a voicemail box, an after-hours message or an on-call mobile.

We set this up with you when you join. This article explains how it works and what you can change yourself.

Business hours

Business hours are the days and times you're open, for example Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. You can have different hours on different days, a lunch break, and separate time periods if different teams keep different hours.

Holidays

Holidays are dates (or date ranges) when you're closed. On a holiday, calls follow your holiday rule even if it falls on a normal working day. You can have a separate holiday greeting, for example one for Christmas and one for Easter.

You can add a holiday closure yourself in about five minutes, including your own holiday greeting. Follow How to set up a holiday closure for the steps, with screenshots and a short video.

What happens outside hours

You choose. Common options are:

• Play an after-hours message, then take a voicemail that's emailed to the team
• Ring an on-call mobile, with a key press to accept so the call doesn't get swallowed by the mobile's voicemail
• Offer a menu: press 1 for urgent matters, or leave a message
• Send calls to the Smart Receptionist, which can answer questions and take details 24/7

Closing early or opening late

You don't need to call us to close early. Dial *99 from any extension to switch your phone system into after-hours mode straight away. Dial *99 again to switch back. The system can also be set to return to normal automatically at the next scheduled change.

Receptionists can do the same thing with one click on the Operator Panel, and we can put it on a button on your desk phone so the light shows which mode you're in.

Working across time zones

If you have sites in different states, each can have its own time zone and its own hours. Calls to a Queensland number can follow Queensland time while your Victorian office follows daylight saving.

Changing your hours

If you've been given an administrator login, you can change your hours yourself under Call Control in the web portal. Follow How to change your business hours for the steps, including different hours for one day and closing over lunch. Otherwise, tell us your new hours and when they start, and what should happen to calls outside them.

Staff can also have their own presence change automatically with your business hours, so they show as Off Work at 5 pm without doing anything. See Presence and call forwarding in Linkus.