7 Strategies for Working with Clients in Different Time Zones

The Couchsurfing team has a similar schedule to make sure everyone's connected. "We have a bi-monthly full company meeting to make sure we all know we still exist," writes designer Ben Hanna. 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. "Any remote worker knows you have to be flexible, so I feel time zone differences don't impact your remote work life too much," says Zapier's Smith.

Here’s what I learned from my teammates at Buffer about the best bags for remote work. As a product marketer, my job is to communicate the value of Buffer to current and future customers. I’m working on a few meaty projects, and being remote and in a “quiet” timezone offers great headspace for deeper work. The Buffer marketing team is one of the most distributed teams in the company. Right now we’re spread across Australia, Singapore, the UK and North America. Having time in the middle of the day to go for swims or meet friends for a bite to eat.

Understanding the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication.

Before diving into strategies, it’s essential to understand the nature of time zone differences and why they can pose challenges. The world is divided into roughly 24 time zones, and the time difference between two locations can range from a few hours to as much as 12 or more hours, depending on where the parties are located. When working across time zones, the key challenge lies in aligning schedules so that both parties are available for communication and action when required. This article will explore several strategies and best practices for addressing time zone differences in email scheduling. We’ll look at the tools and technologies available, share tips for effective communication, and discuss how to avoid common mistakes that can hinder email timing across time zones.

Set up internal wikis.

I recommend using project management tools like Jira or Trello to keep track of tasks and deadlines. This helps ensure that everyone is on the same page, even if they are working in different time zones. I find that having a shared calendar that shows everyone's working hours and availability can be really helpful in coordinating meetings and avoiding scheduling conflicts. It provides a visual representation of when everyone is online and when they're not. Another important strategy is to make good use of asynchronous communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams. This allows team members to communicate and collaborate on their own time, without having to worry about being online at the same time.

Reasons to choose remote work

Moreover, companies should rethink the overall effectiveness of each meeting. It’s a good practice to schedule the meetings only for the exchange of information that can’t be communicated over a team chat app, a document, an email, or a memo. Sure, a team brainstorming session is most effective over a video conference, however, a general weekly update doesn’t necessarily require a 5 a.m. Let’s outline all the key steps companies can take to better manage working across time zones within the asynchronous collaboration framework. To successfully utilize key principles of asynchronous communication to their advantage, distributed teams need to prioritize efficient, written communication.

Yes, Social Media Productivity is a Thing

• You can also use some in-depth analysis, which will allow you to navigate the more complex steps within the process.
• If teams don’t experience any overlap in work hours, there’s bound to be some time wasted as one team is waiting for the instructions or the input from another one, working at a later time.
• Effective time zone management is crucial for remote teams to operate smoothly.
• However, other departments and industries can benefit from the approach as well.

You’re not alone, the experience of leading a remote team can be tough when not approached properly from the get-go. Learn the basics of virtual meeting etiquette to leave the best impression in work meetings. Consider adapting your work schedule to blend your needs with those of your colleagues. This approach may require some negotiation but establishing a routine that accounts for everyone's preferences can boost morale and enhance productivity. Seeing a lunch break in the pile of other tasks will put a smile on your face for sure. And, if you live in a location where the sun sets later, use this to your advantage and go outside once your workday is over.

Why India Has a Single Time Zone for Over a Billion People?

Arizona, for example, does not observe daylight saving time and stays on Mountain Standard Time year-round. Additionally, some regions of the United States, such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are in different time zones than the mainland United States. Specificity is a fundamental factor in building a remote form of work. Carefully set dates, time restrictions, time zone when requesting, and tasks requirement. In the implementation of a remote form of work, other problems practically do not arise in the framework of office work.

Work-Life Balance

To make a remote team function, there is a need for a clear communication strategy to be established. This can be a very challenging task especially when everyone is scattered around the world, speaking different languages and cultural differences. Enforcing and executing assigned tasks where there isn’t proper effective communication can be a daunting experience. In such situations, time and resources which could have been allocated somewhere else are usually wasted on living and working in different time zones trying to get the job done. For meetings involving a large number of participants (or if you don't know everyone’s location and time zone), use our Event Time Announcer to communicate meeting times.

“When an employee’s role is collaborative and nonroutine, they place a premium on synchronous communication,” said Fang. But not everyone is able to do this, and firms might have lower productivity because of it.” It can negatively affect work-life balance and has a direct impact on your personal time,” said Fang. “But workers may choose to do it anyway to meet the demands of their job.”

By setting clear protocols and respecting regional work styles, teams can collaborate effectively despite geographical differences. We live in a digitally connected world, where remote working and hybrid teams are now part of everyday life in many businesses. 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.

An overwhelming amount of research has been conducted over the past year to analyze the effects of the pandemic-mandated remote work. And the vast majority of the studies came to the same conclusion – flexibility and freedom offered within the approach largely impact productivity in the virtual workplace. A 2020 Statista study shows 73% of respondents reported feeling more efficient working outside the office.

For example, if your employer operates on standard business hours in a different time zone, you can choose to begin work earlier or later based on your preferences. This flexibility can lead to increased job satisfaction and reduced stress levels. On the days when you seem to be ineffective, it’s usually because you’re tired, struggling to focus, or because of all those distractions around you. But, apart from these obvious reasons that hinder your productivity, there’s another, a bit unexpected element that can affect your productivity – your time zone. Well, the studies show that there’s a link between time zones and employee productivity.

• Let’s get a more detailed look at what types of teams are leading the way in working across time zones.
• Google Calendar looks basic at first glance, but it's packed with features that make it great for remote teams—or really any team.
• If you have a business with international reach, you could literally work all day, every day—and some business owners come close to doing that.
• Additionally, project management software can help manage tasks and deadlines effectively, notwithstanding different time zones.
• Imagine there’s a remote company that includes workers from Shanghai and Chongqing.

One of the key challenges that many businesses face is finding and hiring skilled software developers to meet their development needs. When it comes to building a successful software project, having the right team of developers is crucial. Laravel is a popular PHP framework known for its elegant syntax and powerful features. If you're looking to hire remote Laravel developers for your project, there are a few key steps you should follow to ensure you find the best talent for the job. Explore key challenges in remote work for app developers and discover actionable strategies to maintain a healthy work-life balance while boosting productivity.

Now, when it comes to your bedtime, it depends on the sunset time in your location. Many studies show that in the places where the sun sets later, people are likely to go to sleep later. In addition, some studies claim that employees tend to get up earlier in particular time zones, like Central and Mountain time zones in the USA, unlike workers on the East coast.

Finally, make sure you honor your team’s national holidays and work hour standards. Respecting local time structures and traditions is a great way to show you care about your team and help ensure the success of your project. Take full advantage of your company’s email, video, or project management tools to reduce the need for online meetings. 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.

Project management tools are invaluable here, as they help track progress and ensure transparency across time zones. With the right tools and a considerate process in place, you can simplify the scheduling and get onto the important work—you know, that thing you’re actually meeting about. The best time to have a global meeting is inevitably going to vary depending on the specific time zones involved. This means that many people in Amarillo must get up before sunrise to get to work on time compared to people in Nashville, who can get up after sunrise.

At worst, you’ll be living in a time zone just a few hours behind or ahead of your colleagues and clients at home. “The loss of an hour from the workday represented a 19% loss in the overlap of business hours. So proportionally, communications went down less than opportunities to communicate did.”