Working Across Time Zones: Best Practices and Tools

Here are the best practices you can adopt to ease the flow of your remote work across different time zones. There are a number of software tools and solutions that make managing a remote team easier. Alternatively, if you only have 1 or 2 employees in a different timezone, they might have to provide some flexibility a few days a week to join team meetings. But this flexibility working remotely in a different time zone should be reasonable, meaning an occasional 8 am or 6 pm meeting might be expected, but should not be the norm. As a result, you’ll be able to close any cultural communication gaps, which will lead to a more respectful and productive work environment. Consider working a half-day at the office and then working remotely one or more days a week at night or early in the morning.

This means having a consistent schedule and agenda for your meetings, whether they are daily, weekly, or monthly, and sticking to them as much as possible. You should also have a clear purpose and outcome for each meeting, and prepare and share the necessary materials and information beforehand. Moreover, you should have a routine for your own work, such as setting priorities, managing your energy, and taking breaks. One of the easiest ways to manage your time and tasks across different time zones and schedules is to use online tools that can help you organize, track, and share your work.

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Ideally, these virtual spaces would inspire teams to add to the informal chat thread, regardless of the time they logged in. When working to establish functional global teams, organizations need to primarily focus on optimizing their communication. Teams working in multiple time zones can’t rely on synchronized communication, facial expressions, or non-verbal cues to decipher the message.

• Use this article as your guide to overcome these challenges and you’ll be well on your way to building strong relationships across time zones.
• Teams that work across multiple time zones can’t rely on real-time communication.
• Having distributed teams working across time zones essentially implies round-the-clock workflow.
• Building an asynchronous culture can seem intimidating but you’ll need to if you plan to work across time zones.
• Yes, there are challenges but the benefits ultimately outweigh the hassle.
• Probably one of the most talked-about challenges of working in different time zones is the effort it takes to schedule meetings.
• You can’t just be aware of time zones, you need to construct a company where time zones are at the core of every internal operation.

Working across time zones is, like many things, a learned skill — it’s ok to make mistakes and find your own way. Asking your team, peers, and managers for feedback is a great way to make sure you’re on the right track in every scenario, including this one. Asynchronous communication is important to be inclusive across time zones and schedules, to make sure we hear from introverts, too, and to make sure everyone gets time to focus. Finally, you’ll want to adopt the habit of scheduling team meetings at optimal times for everyone.

Limited opportunities for employee effort recognition

If left unattended, this malpractice can take root and degenerate further into team silos. Coordinating across time zones might be tough, but it’s worth making the effort not just for work-related conversations but for fun. In any work environment building relationships fosters trust, increases collaboration, and raises productivity—but it’s especially important for remote teams. Social relationships with colleagues not only combats isolation, but it decreases barriers to asking questions, getting help, and taking risks that are crucial to growth.

Some popular options include Calendly, Doodle, Google Calendar’s scheduling feature, Microsoft Outlook’s scheduling assistant, or scheduling tools provided by project management platforms like Asana or Trello. These tools streamline the process by eliminating the need for back-and-forth communication to find suitable meeting times. Managing teams across multiple time zones seems to be one of the most common frustrations for many of the remote and hybrid employees that I’ve worked with. When push comes to shove, however, it comes down to creating guidelines for your business to help get everyone on the same page and to work together in the best way possible. Whenever possible, it’s important to develop the ability to communicate asynchronously when working remotely.

The Key to timezone Etiquette

If you’re working across an even wider timezone, your core hours might have to be slimmed down. Another essential technique for working across different time zones and schedules is to communicate clearly and frequently with your contacts. You should establish the best methods, times, and frequencies of communication for each project and contact. You should also use clear and concise language, avoid jargon and slang, and confirm your understanding and expectations. You should also update your contacts regularly on your status, challenges, and achievements, and ask for feedback and suggestions. You should also be respectful and polite, and acknowledge the cultural and linguistic differences of your contacts.

• Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful remote work, especially when spanning multiple time zones.
• Another essential technique for working across different time zones and schedules is to communicate clearly and frequently with your contacts.
• Whether you are meeting after hours or during work time, it’s crucial to be careful about scheduling such events.

The other great perk is that you can include people who are not on your internal email servers, like freelancers, contractors, or clients, to be part of certain channels and conversations. It was popular to organize volunteers during election season thanks to this feature. Each email program has its own unique features, but one that you will find across most of the common options is an alert when you are scheduling with a colleague in a different time zone. This is mostly a feature that works with internal accounts, so if you are emailing customers or other external partners, you might not have the option.