If you struggle to follow through with the shallow guide we have provided, living and working in different time zones you can use the in-depth guide to navigate through the process without any issues. You can also use some of our in-depth analysis on some more complex steps, which are there to help you go through the process without any issues. We have also provided an instance where you may want to schedule a meeting with a different time zone.
Then, when communicating with each other, always tell the time in that time zone. When using proper time converters, you’ll convert any meeting time into your own time zone with ease. Let’s say that you live and work in London and your colleagues in Shanghai. Due to time differences, you won’t be able to work at the same time for more than a few hours per day. That’s perfectly fine as long as you communicate clearly and provide each other with all the crucial information on time. 💡Speaking of teleworking, here’s our list of the best productivity apps for remote teams.
- The default time zone will be set according to what Microsoft Teams has gathered from your Office 365 account.
- I’ve heard some remote teams use a follow-the-sun model where the team hands off work to the next time zone when their day ends.
- Do you find the complexities of leading a dispersed team overwhelming?
- In general I am most productive in the hours between 9am-12pm and unfortunately the majority of the team would not be online during those hours.
- The lab uses the research of the Institute for Life Management Science to produce courses, certifications, podcasts, videos, and other tools.
Here are some tips on how to maximize your productivity, no matter the time zone. In this case, the time difference is seven hours, so when you start working at 9 am, it’s 4 pm for your coworker in China, so he’s almost done with his work for the day. And that’s why you can schedule a quick daily meeting at this moment – it’s a morning call for you in London, but an afternoon call for your Shanghai colleague. This way, you’ll be able to make plans for the rest of your day and for tomorrow. When working in a remote team whose members are spread all over the world, one of the key issues would be dealing with diverse time zones. But, here’s what you can do to make the most out of this situation.
Why may you want to schedule a Teams meeting for different time zones?
That’s why the most crucial part of building a remote team is hiring self-directed workers—”managers of one,” as the Basecamp team calls them in their book Rework. “You want someone who’s capable of building something from scratch and seeing it through. Finding these people frees the rest of your team to work more and manage less,” the book explains. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team found success planning work around time shifts. Scott Berkun, in his book The Year Without Pants, relates that Microsoft’s U.S. and India teams worked in a system called “Follow the Sun.”
There’s fascinating science behind how children experience time zones differently than adults. That fatigue, brain fog, digestive upset, mood swings, all come from misaligned rhythms. Doctors say flying east (“losing time”) often triggers worse jet lag. For instance, India opted for a single time zone across the entire country.
Rules to Manage Remote Teams in Different Time Zones …
- It might not be possible—or even desirable—for each team member to take ownership of part of your company’s work, but you can break projects up in a way that everyone has their own specific area to focus on.
- My final tip if you’re working abroad is to make sure people can easily contact you.
- When employees are engaged, their passion and commitment reflect productivity, innovation, and positive company culture.
- Remote work is the conventional labor form of the current world circumstances.
- Examples would be sending an email or leaving a voice message for them to respond to whenever it’s convenient for them.
You may also need to adopt a growth mindset and embrace the learning opportunities that come from working in a different cultural and professional environment. Another key strategy to maintain a healthy work-life balance when working in a different time zone is to plan ahead. This means anticipating the potential challenges and opportunities that may arise from working across multiple time zones, and preparing accordingly.
The logistics of working out the perfect meeting schedule that aligns with your team’s work hours can often be outright impossible. Teams that thrive working across time zones have clearly defined roles that fit the model of asynchronous work. To build a successful team that operates autonomously, companies should consider setting clear employee expectations regarding personality traits and soft skills best suited for this work model. These can be used as a reference point throughout the hiring process and as additional coaching with established teams. Similarly, the rest of the team should be comfortable working autonomously with minimum instruction and interference to ensure maximum productivity.
These tools allow team members to collaborate on tasks, track progress, and communicate about project deadlines and milestones. When you work with people in different time zones, it’s important to set expectations around your availability. Let recipients know if you’re available to respond outside of normal work hours, or if you prefer to work within certain hours.
‘Time shifting’ and daylight saving: How workers adapt
Sometimes you need someone to hold you accountable or just to work alongside you. Jeff Atwood found that when he started Stack Overflow programming on his own turned into a lonely job. We post thoughts and updates about team projects on Slack, regardless of who’s online. Plus, each department has a weekly video call to map out that week’s work, and every Thursday we’ll have an all-hands call in order to get everyone together. Staying up a bit late or getting up an hour earlier isn’t a bad tradeoff for a job you love, but how about 2 a.m.? That’s what The Year Without Pants author, Berkun, encountered when he worked at Automattic.
Users will now be informed of the different time zone change that has been made using the steps above. You can use the above process to change the time zone again if you have selected the wrong one. You must ensure that all the steps above have been completed to set the time zone for a scheduled meeting in Microsoft Teams. The default time zone will be set according to what Microsoft Teams has gathered from your Office 365 account. The steps above will change the preferences based on what you have selected. I was recently offered a remote position with a 3 hour time difference (working remote in the East Coast for a West Coast team) and wanted to know what the time zone etiquette was for this situation.
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If teammates have to miss the meeting or go straight to bed after, they can check in later and look back at the follow-up discussion to catch up. So, be sure to start by determining why you need to schedule this meeting. Use these free meeting agenda templates to have more productive meetings.
You can work at opposite times from the rest of your team, and still join in on all the office banter. “That means that the remote person has a lot of autonomy and any problems that arise can be solved by either leaving messages on Slack/email or syncing up for a couple of hours one day.” If you’re always waiting for someone to tell you what to do next, and that someone’s asleep while you’re working, you’ll never get anything done.
Plus, if you live in a location where the sun sets earlier, maybe you won’t always have enough time to enjoy daylight after work. Therefore, taking advantage of your mornings will rejuvenate your mind and will ensure you have a productive workday. Besides, team managers can record meetings for all those workers who haven’t been able to attend.
Tools
Having distributed teams working across time zones essentially implies round-the-clock workflow. Companies employing diverse teams spanning multiple time zones enjoy complete time zone coverage. However, other departments and industries can benefit from the approach as well. Diversity and inclusion drive innovation and positively impact overall business targets within remote companies that span across time zones. Understandably, this approach largely supports innovation and ultimately leads to more profit in the long run. In fact, one prediction by Gartner shows that 75% of companies employing diverse decision-making teams can expect to outperform their business objectives in 2022.
You’ll need to know which times of the day your colleague in London will be awake, and the times you’re most likely to get support tickets from your Australian customers. Planning meetings across time zones might sound so painful that you’d rather just never have meetings—but don’t do that either. On Slack, for example, if you set your time zone, other users will be able to see your local time when they interact with you. They’ll also get notified if they’re reaching out to you outside of office hours, which can be helpful if you don’t care for your phone buzzing in the middle of the night. You can do this on the web by clicking on your profile picture (top right), then choosing Edit profile. Both Google Calendar and Apple Calendar let you assign time zones when you create new events.
That way, everyone knows when to expect responses and can plan meetings accordingly. Like, having team members in certain regions handle specific projects to maximize productivity during overlapping hours? Documentation is key when working with remote teams, especially when time zones are involved. It helps to provide a reference point for everyone and ensures that no important details are lost in translation.
This simplification can confuse solar time by over an hour in some parts. That means in northeastern states, the sun can rise as early as 4 a.m. You can learn more about why India uses just one official time and what it means for its people. In 1884, 24 standard time zones were created based on the Greenwich Meridian. But when it came to implementing the system, nations bent the rules.
