# SLA basics for support teams

> What first response time and resolution time measure, how business hours and pause states change the clock, how escalation works, and a starter SLA policy for a small team.

Published: 19 September 2026 · Updated: 19 September 2026 · Prices and figures verified: 18 September 2026 · By the help-desk.reviews team

This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: [How we review](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/how-we-review)

A service level agreement, or SLA, in a help desk is a set of time targets attached to tickets: how quickly a customer gets a first reply, and how quickly the issue is solved. The help desk starts a clock on each ticket, pauses it when the ball is in the customer's court, and warns or escalates before a target is missed. Getting the definitions right matters more than the targets themselves.

**The short version**

- **First response time** measures the wait for the first human reply. **Resolution time** measures the wait until the issue is solved.
- Clocks usually run in **business hours**, and **pause** while you wait on the customer.
- Start with **two or three priorities** and targets your team already meets most of the time.
- Use **escalation** before a breach, not after it.
- Some deadlines are set by **law or contract**, not by you. See the [data protection law guide](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/help-desk-software-and-data-protection-law).

## First response time vs resolution time

**First response time** runs from when the customer's request arrives to the first public reply from a person. An automatic acknowledgment does not count, and a reply from an AI agent should be tracked separately so it does not flatter the figure. **Resolution time** runs until the ticket is marked solved. It includes all the back-and-forth, so it depends on the kind of problem as much as on your team.

Some teams add a third target, **next reply time**, which measures how long a customer waits for each subsequent reply. It stops tickets from stalling after a fast first response.

## Business hours, pause states and holidays

- **Business hours.** A four-hour target on a ticket that arrives at 5 p.m. on Friday should not breach on Friday night. Set the calendar per team if teams work in different time zones.
- **Holidays.** Add public holidays for each region to the calendar, or the clock runs through them.
- **Pause states.** When a ticket is pending on the customer, or on hold while waiting for a third party, the resolution clock should pause. Decide which statuses pause which clocks, and write it down.
- **Reopened tickets.** Decide whether a reopened ticket restarts the resolution clock or continues it.

## Escalation

An SLA without escalation is only a report. Set a warning at, say, 75% of the target, which notifies the assignee, and an escalation at the breach, which notifies the team lead or reassigns the ticket. Escalation can also be functional: moving a ticket to a specialist team when it needs skills the first line does not have. Keep the number of rules small enough that everyone can explain them.

## A starter SLA policy for a small team

The table below is a starting point for a small team working one set of business hours. The targets are our suggestion, not an industry benchmark: set yours from your own recent response times, and tighten them once you meet them consistently.

| Priority | Example | First response | Resolution | Clock |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Urgent | Service down, payment failing for many customers | 1 hour | 8 hours | Around the clock if you have on-call cover; otherwise business hours |
| High | One customer blocked, account access | 4 business hours | 2 business days | Business hours |
| Normal | How-to questions, general requests | 1 business day | 5 business days | Business hours |
| Low | Feature requests, feedback | 2 business days | No target | Business hours |

_An example to adapt, not a standard. Pause resolution clocks while a ticket waits on the customer._

## How help desks support SLAs

SLA features vary by plan more than by vendor. Help Scout's Standard plan includes one SLA policy and its Pro plan unlimited policies, for example, so a team that needs different targets for different customers may need a higher plan. Ticketing help desks such as [Zendesk](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/reviews/zendesk), [Freshdesk](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/reviews/freshdesk) and [Zoho Desk](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/reviews/zoho-desk) support several policies with business-hour calendars on their mid and upper plans. Check the plan notes on each [pricing page](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/pricing/freshdesk) before you commit, and see [help desk vs shared inbox](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/help-desk-vs-shared-inbox) if SLAs are what is pushing you to change tools.

Do not confuse your SLA with the vendor's. A vendor's SLA is its commitment to you, usually on uptime: Intercom's security page states 99.8%. That matters when your own targets depend on the tool being available, and it is worth asking what service credits apply if it is missed.

## Deadlines you do not set yourself

Some response deadlines are set by regulation, such as the time allowed to answer a request from a person about their own data, or by sector rules and enterprise contracts. Those are outside a starter policy. Our [data protection law guide](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/help-desk-software-and-data-protection-law) covers the rules that affect help desks; track those requests with their own ticket type and SLA so they cannot be lost among normal requests. Larger organisations should also see our [best help desk for enterprise](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/best/for-enterprise) list.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a good first response time?

One your team meets consistently and your customers accept. Start from your current median, set the target slightly better, and tighten it once you meet it most of the time.

### Should AI replies count towards first response time?

Track them separately. An AI answer can resolve a question quickly, but if it is counted as a first response, your figure no longer shows how long customers wait for a person.

### Do SLA clocks run on weekends?

Only if you set them to. Most teams use business-hour calendars and run urgent tickets around the clock only when someone is on call.

> **Scored on a public rubric, from prices and documents you can open.** Every score on this site comes from six published criteria: true cost with AI on, pricing transparency, AI as documented, access and switching, channels and languages, and data protection. The cost level is arithmetic on the vendor's list prices. Each price comes from one product database and links to its source, so every page agrees with every other page. The order of our lists is set by our editors and does not always follow the score. Rubric v1.0 · Scores rate list prices and public documentation. We have not run hands-on tests yet, and no page here claims we did. [Read the full method](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/how-we-review)

## Keep reading

- [Help desk vs shared inbox](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/help-desk-vs-shared-inbox)
- [What is an AI help desk?](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/what-is-an-ai-help-desk)
- [Per-seat vs per-resolution pricing](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/per-seat-vs-per-resolution-pricing)
- [Do you need the AI add-on?](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/guides/do-you-need-the-ai-add-on)
- [Best help desk software](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/best/help-desk-software)
- [Help desk true-cost calculator](https://help-desk.reviews/en-gb/tools/true-cost-calculator)

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