6 Tips For Teams Working Across Different Time Zones

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This eliminates the need to worry about time zone constraints or file compatibility issues, enabling smooth collaboration and efficient document sharing. Meeting scheduler tools are valuable resources for efficiently organizing and scheduling meetings with individuals or groups. working remotely in a different time zone Crafting the master time zone reference requires meticulous attention to detail. You can create a comprehensive document or a digital dashboard where you record each team member’s location, corresponding time zone, and any relevant daylight-saving time adjustments.

best practices for working across time zones

For example, if I am working with colleagues who are 12 hours ahead, I could re-arrange my schedule to work early mornings and late evenings. Even when your distributed team works well asynchronously, it’s essential to establish clear processes and ensure mutual understanding to scale. As teams constantly change and evolve, time-zone-related agreements should be communicated from the beginning of the onboarding phase. In distributed teams, some members may be disadvantaged due to time differences. As a leader, you should implement measures to ensure no team members are subject to unnecessary pressure or unfair expectations. The pandemic shifted the world of work to become increasingly remote, and it’s showing no sign of slowing down.

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Each has distinct features and benefits, so you can compare a few to see what fits your needs best. By being able to see who is working, people can save time not reaching out to those who aren’t available and adding more to inboxes. There are lots of color options, so you can assign each employee or team a certain color on the calendar. For collaboration, you can share your screen with just the click of a button and also share control of the mouse.

  • Embracing flexibility in working hours and acknowledging the challenges posed by different time zones can cultivate a thriving remote team.
  • Additionally, team members can create a shared document with their work schedules highlighting no-contact hours to ensure clear boundaries are being set and respected.
  • If left unattended, this malpractice can take root and degenerate further into team silos.
  • Teams, for example, can build shared calendars that reflect their availability throughout the day to ensure no time zone borders are crossed.
  • Working across time zones brings unique challenges rarely encountered within the more traditional work models.

Expecting your teammates to be “always-on” doesn’t create the best culture and might make them feel disrespected. So, to avoid this, minimize the messages you send after hours and be patient if you don’t immediately get a response back. Odds are, a great teammate will get back to you when they begin working the next day. Whether you’re working in-office, remotely, or in a global office outside of your main headquarters, make sure you are open to discussing your own work hours and boundaries with your dispersed team. Similarly, invite your teammates to discuss their own work hours and boundaries so that way you all are familiar with the different timezones your everyone is working within.

Be mindful of international employees when scheduling meetings.

The following challenges are common among new remote managers facing the uncertainty of remote work. If you recognize your experience in any of these, don’t worry, we have solutions for you. You’re not alone, the experience of leading a remote team can be tough when not approached properly from the get-go. Without experience, the ability to successfully work with a global team in different formats and complex ways can be intimidating. We find a consultative process is most effective for companies with 50 or more employees and a rapid process is more impactful for companies with fewer than 50 employees. Our virtual leadership training builds the skills you need to lead effective and inclusive digital-first teams.

best practices for working across time zones

More significantly, it defines who a firm is and where it wants to go in the future. If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can’t-miss news delivered to your inbox every Friday. For men, evening exercise helped to lower blood pressure and stimulates the breakdown of body fat.

Collaborating Across Different Time Zones? Easy Peasy.

When scheduling a meeting or call with remote team members, make sure to ask them what time zone they are in so that you can account for any time difference with their local time when you schedule. Finally, you’ll want to adopt the habit of scheduling team meetings at optimal times for everyone. This will ensure all your colleagues can attend and participate in discussions without having to be up early or stay up late. To work more efficiently with distributed teams, you need to treat your team like they are all working together in one office building. While this may not be possible, it is the mindset you need to adopt to organize your time and responsibilities. When she is not researching the most productive collaboration techniques, she can usually be found trying out the latest team chat and collaboration tools and apps.

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