When a customer calls your business after hours, what do they get? If the answer is an unanswered ring or a voicemail they're not sure anyone will check, that's a missed opportunity. Business hour rules (BHRs) are a call feature that makes sure every call that comes to your business phone number gets answered and addressed.
Business Hour Rules Explained
Business hour rules are a time-based call routing feature offered as part of hosted VoIP phone systems. They automatically direct your incoming calls to different destinations depending on whether your business is open or closed, no manual intervention required. Set your hours once, choose where calls go during and after those hours, and your phone system takes it from there, automatically routing callers around the clock, without any daily effort on your part.
How Do You Set Up Business Hour Rules?
When you set up BHRs in your VoIP service’s web admin portal, you choose the open and closed hours of your business for each day of the week as well as the time zone of where your business is located. Typically, you would just use your business's regular open/closed hours for each day so that these rules mirror your company’s daily operating schedule (but you don’t have to—it depends on how you want to use them). So, if your business is open on Monday from 8 am to 6 pm, you will select the ‘Open Time’ for Monday to 8 am and the ‘Close Time’ to 6 pm.
You can set different open/closed hours for each day of the week, if you wish. Say your business is open Monday through Thursday from 8 am to 6 pm, Friday from 9 am to 3 pm, and Saturday from 9 am to 12 pm: You would simply select those specific open/closed times for each day in your call routing rule. If your business is closed on a particular weekday, you’ll select the closed option for that day.
Where Can Business Hour Rules Send Your Calls?
The last bit of information to set in your BHRs is the destinations of where to send your inbound calls. You have to choose two different call destinations—one for your open hours and another for your closed hours.
For example, you can set the destination of calls that arrive during your open hours to be your main auto attendant menu (also known as a 'virtual receptionist'). Continuing the above example: When calls arrive on Monday between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm, they will be sent to your auto attendant menu. The caller will be greeted by your automated recording and be able to choose the most appropriate menu prompt for their needs.
After-Hours Call Handling Options
When a call comes in outside your business hours, what happens next matters more than most businesses realize. A caller who hits a dead end (an endlessly ringing phone, a confusing prompt, or a voicemail that never gets returned) is a caller who may not try again. BHRs give you control over that moment, and the right after-hours destination depends on your business type, your call volume, and how urgently callers typically need a response.
Here are the most common after-hours call destinations to consider:
Voicemail
The simplest and most common option. Route after-hours calls to a general voicemail box or a specific department mailbox and follow up the next business day. Works best when most of your callers can wait for a response and you have a reliable process for checking and returning messages promptly.
After-hours auto attendant
Instead of sending callers straight to voicemail, route them to a secondary auto attendant menu designed specifically for off-hours. This menu can share your current business hours, explain when callers can expect a callback, and offer self-service options, giving callers more information than a voicemail greeting alone.
External phone number
Forward after-hours calls to a mobile number, a personal line, or any external number outside your VoIP system. This is a good option for businesses where some calls genuinely can't wait (a medical office, a property management company, or any operation with on-call staff who need to stay reachable after hours).
After-hours answering service
Some businesses route off-hours calls to a third-party live answering service, so callers always reach a real person regardless of when they call. The answering service can take messages, answer basic questions, or escalate urgent calls without burdening your in-house employees.
Announcement
Route callers to a pre-recorded message that plays your business hours, location, website, or other relevant information, then disconnects. Best for businesses with straightforward, predictable caller needs where a brief, informative business announcement message is all the caller requires.
The right choice—or combination of choices—depends on your business. Many organizations use a layered approach: for example, an after-hours auto attendant that offers callers the option to leave a voicemail, hear an announcement, or press a number to reach an on-call representative. The flexibility of a Voice over IP system means you're not locked into one approach, and you can adjust your after-hours routing anytime your needs change.
Benefits of Business Hour Rules
In addition to keeping your phone system organized, BHRs quietly do a lot of heavy lifting for your business’s inbound calls:
Professionalism around the clock
Callers always get a purposeful, professional response, no matter what time of day it is. Rather than reaching a phone that rings endlessly or rolls to a generic voicemail, they're met with a configured experience that reflects your brand: an auto attendant menu, a greeting, or a clear after-hours message.
Better caller experience
No unanswered rings or dead ends. After-hours callers are guided to the right destination for their situation, whether that's a voicemail box, a recorded announcement with your hours and contact options, or an external phone number. They leave the interaction knowing their message was received, not wondering if they will ever receive a call back.
Fewer interruptions for your team
With these rules routing calls automatically after hours, your staff isn't fielding work calls during lunch breaks or after they’ve logged off for the day. The system handles the transition from open to closed so your team doesn't have to.
Zero daily maintenance
Configure your rules once, and they run on their own from that point forward. Your routing follows your schedule automatically, day after day, without anyone having to select a prompt, update a setting, or remember to change anything before leaving the office.
Flexibility as you grow
Your business hours and call routing needs will change over time, and time-based routing rules are built to accommodate that. Adjust your open and closed hours, swap out call destinations, or update your time zone anytime. Any changes you make will take effect immediately, with no service interruption.
OnSIP’s BHRs Let Your Phone System Flex with Your Daily Operating Schedule
With an OnSIP account, you create your Business hour rules in the Administrators tab of the web app. If you have a main company phone number, just remember to set your BHR as the destination for that particular phone number. That way, when calls come into your main number, the feature will route them to the appropriate destination, whether it’s an auto attendant, a specific user, a queue or ring group, etc.
Once your rules are configured, you can modify them in real-time, at any time. You can change the time zone, the open and closed hours, and the call destinations whenever you need to, and the modifications will take effect instantly.
Call destinations can be almost anything in your OnSIP account: Users, groups, Enhanced Queues, voice mailboxes, external phone numbers, auto attendants, announcements...the options go on and on. You can make your BHRs fit your company’s unique requirements.
Time-based call routing is just one of the many features that make OnSIP a flexible solution for business calling needs. To learn more about this call ability, see OnSIP’s Knowledgebase post on the topic.