You should avoid scheduling meetings during the times that you know everyone will not be awake, but this isn’t always possible if you work with people across multiple continents. If you do need to schedule something during off-hours, check first to make sure it is okay. With this awesome tool, you can just video-record yourself and your screen and go through presentations, audits, implementations, walk-throughs, or anything you want to share with your team or colleagues. Then, you just need to share a link with them, and they will be able to view the video when and as many times as they want. This is a true gem for digital nomads wanting to be more productive and avoid endless (and sometimes useless) meetings.
- During onboarding, managers should confirm new hires’ working hours and understand exactly when they’ll be available.
- This was a possibility even before many people started working from home—for example, between a home office in New York, New York, and a satellite office in Los Angeles, California.
- See the impact of fewer, shorter meetings, increased accountability, and enhanced productivity with Fellow.
- To work effectively with a time shift, you’ll also need to work in public.
- If the situation has already developed, then the data waiting time can be spent more profitably.
“Any remote worker knows you have to be flexible, living and working in different time zones so I feel time zone differences don’t impact your remote work life too much,” says Zapier’s Smith. “I’d quite happily sacrifice staying a little later or getting up a little earlier to avoid the stresses of a morning commute in rush hour traffic.” Undoubtedly, one of the trickiest parts of working across time zones is scheduling meetings. If all meeting participants aren’t on the same page in terms of when the meeting will occur, some people could miss or be late to the meeting, wasting everyone’s time (and the company’s money). Many business leaders are re-calibrating and tailoring their operations to best support a dispersed workforce.
Likewise, employees should inform their manager and teammates about the best way to reach them outside of working hours if an emergency arises. Working in different time zones can create a range of challenges that, if unaddressed, can hinder communication, productivity, and collaboration. “The main challenge is synchronizing projects, which sometimes delays decision-making,” says business owner Josh Cremer, who has experience managing teams in different time zones. Working with a distributed team can be challenging at first because it’s difficult to build the kind of rapport that comes naturally when working in an office setting. It takes extra effort for remote teams to stay on task without face-to-face communication. On-the-fly collaboration tends to occur less frequently when working across time zones, but the right tools can change that.
Con: There’s no constant collaboration
For example, implementing a virtual project management platform can help teams coordinate assignments, track individuals’ progress on tasks, and boost overall efficiency. And companies can leverage the benefits of having workers across the nation—and the world. Freelance Brand and Marketing Strategist Janine Maral, who is currently based in Eastern Standard Time, has experience working remotely across different U.S. time zones as well as with global clients. She too has found that working this way can allow more flexibility to structure your day. The first step to successfully working through various time zones is planning ahead.
Pro: You can work with the most talented people
“The big transition with a distributed workforce is going from synchronous to asynchronous collaboration,” they write. “Not only do we not have to be in the same spot to work together, we also don’t have to work at the same time to work together.” It’s possible to hire people around the globe and still have your whole team working 9-to-5 at your office’s time zone—after all, plenty of people work night shifts—but it’s not optimal. It’s always important for managers to keep in touch with their teams, but this is especially true when workers are spread across the country or globally.
Diving into a dispersed workforce
Over the years, though, I’ve developed a few tips and tricks that have helped me navigate the complexities of working across different time zones. And today, I’m excited to share these tips with you, and I hope this will help you succeed in facing this popular concern among aspiring remote workers and digital nomads. Teams in traditional office settings sometimes measure productivity by how long each team member spends at their desk.
Be prepared to quickly tasks switching
This is easy for teams that work with people across two or three time zones that are all next to each other. However, it becomes more complicated when working with a global workforce (people who work on opposite sides of the world). For example, if someone works in Australia while another is located in the United States, it may be difficult to attend a meeting at the same time unless the Aussie gets up pretty early in the morning. The difficulties of managing different time zones, language barriers, and cultural differences can be frustrating. Plus, you need to understand the differences between synchronous and asynchronous communication, and when to use each. With employees working in multiple time zones, it’s crucial to discuss differing schedules openly and regularly.
By taking care of yourself, you’ll be better equipped to handle the challenges of working remotely through various time zones and enjoy traveling the world. Also, show empathy and understanding towards your team members or remote employees, as they may be making similar sacrifices to accommodate your needs. Maintaining open lines of communication and a positive attitude can go a long way in building strong relationships with your colleagues. Clearly define goals, roles, responsibilities, and deadlines so that everyone on the team knows what needs to be done and by when. To overcome this substantial obstacle, it’s important to utilize technology to its fullest potential. This might mean using instant messaging platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams to stay in touch throughout the day or scheduling regular check-ins to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
The transition will become difficult if you are accustomed to completing tasks one at a time. However, it is necessary to maintain the overall workflow in the asynchronous form of the business organization. Before scheduling tasks, take into account colleagues’ time zones and working hours. When working with a distributed team, it’s important to understand the differences between sync and async communication, and the extreme importance of asynchronous communication. 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.
You can also try asking them what times they are available during, and when their day starts/ends so you know how much overlap there will be with yours. Asynchronous communication (“async”) is when information is sent at separate times with a delay in between. For example, writing an email, sending a Loom video, or leaving a voice message for someone so they can respond to it whenever works best with their schedule (and yours). There’s no need to wait for a conference call or meeting to start talking when you work together from the same office. But when working with a distributed team, communicating takes more effort. Asynchronous communication means working without being in direct contact with people, such as through email, online chat, or by sending video messages such as Loom videos.
