How To Work In Different Time Zones When You’re A Remote Team

If it’s recurring and unavoidable (and it often will be), try to schedule meeting times so that the burden is shared across the team rather than by the same people each week. While it can be challenging to manage a distributed team, fully remote companies have many benefits. This is why we’re seeing a consistent increase in the number of distributed teams hiring globally. A complete remote organisation cannot rely on many of these shared experiences and physical venues to help create our culture as a totally distributed organisation. It is necessary to create a culture that prioritises your values and requires every team member to understand and uphold them. A remote team’s culture is conveyed in what you think (your values) and demonstrated in how you behave every day (your actions).

One of the best things about Help Scout is that they publish how they work and their post on how to build a globally remote team that really works is a great example. Getting used to higher autonomy and async communication can be challenging, but there are more and more companies doing it–and doing it well. If you are providing information, invest the additional time upfront to answer any questions or solve any issues you think the person may have ahead of time. It’s crucial that you adopt a remote-first mindset, document decisions clearly and concisely for people who are unable to attend, and record the meeting. Ideally, you’ll write a memo before each meeting to help attendees know what to expect and how to prepare. Working in an office (or with the same work hours) is filled with impromptu moments that break up your day, many of which are unwanted distractions.

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If remote employees don’t have overlap in work hours, there can be a lag between a question being asked and answered. In order for the company to be effective and at the same time productive, adaptation will be the key to unlocking that potential. The question will be how then do we ensure that the work environment is flexible enough for all team members across all time zones? It is therefore a good practice for a company to inform their employees prior to hiring that they will be required to work overlapping hours to ensure the company runs smoothly. It also prepares the team mentally and helps them to divide, manage their workload effectively knowing time overlap is a requirement to keep the company moving forward. To avoid the frequent issue of working remotely in a different time zone, businesses might establish an official time zone for all team members to use when scheduling meetings or establishing deadlines.

To avoid confusion, follow the most commonly used time zone across your team. Although it would be convenient to use your local time zone, your teammates from another state or country might find frequent conversions a hassle. Try to ensure https://remotemode.net/blog/10-tips-on-working-in-different-time-zones/ there is an overlap in working hours between people working on the same projects in different locations. This way, there will always be someone available to help out with more time-sensitive matters when you have finished your working day.

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Be sure that your entire team is able to find times that work for all of them. Make sure you don’t let your dispersed team members hop on a call at 7 am just because it’s convenient for you. The logistics of working out the perfect meeting schedule that aligns with your team’s work hours can often be outright impossible. A common drawback to managing a team that operates across time zones is the lack of space for sharing insight about work progress. The already limited communication opportunities leave no room for staff to share what they’re working on, talk about ideas, or future plans.

But even still, if you want to make a distributed team work, you need to accept a time shift. “I’ll take phone calls late in the evening from folks that don’t realize I’m on the east coast and consider that part of the job for someone working remotely in a different time zone,” Furbish says. Once you and your team establish timezones boundaries and preferred work hours, respect them. This means that if you need something from a global teammate, you determine how urgent the task is before sending it. Or, this could mean that you develop a virtual team meeting schedule that fits within everyone’s active work hours — rather than making some teammates call in late at night or in the early morning. Remote companies that embrace multiple time zones must rely on asynchronous communication.

Company

This is a big advantage for companies that provide global products as they have 24-hour support readily available for their consumers. Although having a global team can boost productivity in a company, there are quite a few challenges especially when it comes to management as everyone works across different time zones. To prevent this common hurdle of working across time zones, organizations can set an official time zone for all team members to reference when scheduling meetings or setting deadlines.

Ideally, your company will set up Google Drive, Dropbox, or whatever file-sharing system you use so files are automatically accessible to the entire company. If they can’t access the file, they’ll have to wait for you to be online again. Teams that work across multiple time zones can’t rely on real-time communication. There’s no room to ask clarifying questions and you don’t have the luxury of reading a person’s facial expressions or tone of voice. The need to be online at specific hours on specific days means people don’t have control over the structure of their workdays, and never-ending meetings can force people to work longer hours to get work done. The only way it can work is if you keep team meetings to a minimum, record them for those that can’t attend, and make attendance optional.

Advantages of working across time zones

These discussions will better help your team learn how to strategize and identify respectful or empathetic solutions to timezone-related challenges. When you have a successful game plan, you’re regularly able to video chat with colleagues, hear their thoughts, and gain insight into what the workplace is like on the other side of the world. These benefits allow your team to work better together and can lead your international teammates to feel more included in your team’s day-to-day work.

If you hold regular meetings across time zones, try to rotate meetings times to avoid prioritising certain locations. If only part of your team works from a different time zone, it can still be useful to have every individual attend meetings via video calls. The name “instant” suggest live synchronous communication, but asynchronous communication is still a big part of using instant messaging tools like Slack, MS Teams, and Flock. Even as the world moves toward a remote work paradigm, in-person team meetings still have a lot of value. After all, there are only so many things that can be communicated online. While the digital workplace may fully complement all work activities, firms advocating a remote-first work culture suffer the most from a lack of social interaction.

Be mindful when scheduling meetings across time zones

Meeting planning is made easier with tools like World Time Buddy and Time and Date. Simply enter your team’s current locations, and these calculators will calculate the best times to meet (and even show local holidays being observed). During onboarding, make sure your communication policies and collaboration tools are properly defined and communicated. These rules can be reviewed and referred to by employees, so they know what to do and what is expected of them. Alternatively, try giving colleagues three days per week on their home time zone’s schedule and two per week on another team’s schedule.

Some of them are having clear communication, asynchronous collaborations, establishing a single time zone for office, etc. The large productivity improvement has been made possible by a general absence of interruptions, and a shorter commuting time and the overall comfort of the home or other selected work setting. And, as the epidemic fades and firms issue return-to-work notes, it’s back to business as usual for teams operating across time zones. Of course, for companies that work across time zones, this sort of endeavor would include devising clever ways to get everyone on board and participate in the dialogue.