20 Vetted Tools and Tips for Managing Time Zone Differences I DONE THIS

For an even simpler way to see what time it is around the world, check out Every Time Zone. It shows the current time in your own city, along with others in popular time zones around the world. Then, if you want another easy way to know what time it is everywhere your team’s located, you can turn on the World clock in the Calendar Labs settings. Some of us do our best work late at night, while others prefer to get up early and spend the late afternoons away from the desk. And while some metropolitan areas offer certain lifestyle perks, other big-city issues—like high costs-of-living—will drive potential employees away.

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. Probably one of the most talked-about challenges of working in different time zones is the effort it takes to schedule meetings. It can get overwhelming trying to set up a time that works for everyone.

Follow this meeting protocol when working remotely

We will highlight how it works, its pros and cons, and ways to implement it. Other cultures avoid direct eye contact during a discussion, while some insist on using formal language. Bringing your team together for a weekly, monthly, or even annual meet-up can be a productive and enlightening experience.

One of the items in the team agreement is to always talk in one time zone. So pick one time zone and then just have the entire team talk in that time zone. You can learn all the idiosyncrasies in the time zone system, how to tell time in space (perhaps the future of remote work!), and the origin story of GMT. One of the best things you can do when managing time zones is learn what the common abbreviations are, or at least know how to look them up. This site lists all of the time zone abbreviations and where they are.

Mental health in the (remote) workplace

We can only imagine what these numbers mean for distributed teams that need to put extra effort into planning a perfect schedule that won’t disturb the regular work and sleep schedules of the people involved. Another key feature of such team chat apps is the pin option as it helps keep the important documents top of mind and easily accessible. But today, for many fully distributed teams and companies that have employees based in a hodgepodge of places worldwide, working across multiple time zones has become a daily reality. Businesses likely have even more schedules to juggle, with some workers awake and logging in for the day while others are just signing off. With all of the applications and tools available, time zone differences may cause a lot of confusion among individuals who operate across time zones.

• Cultural values have a significant impact on hiring approach, attracting individuals who share similar beliefs and rejecting those who do not.
• If the new hire is in a different time zone than the manager, it’s critical for the manager to clearly lay out all applicable goals, expectations, and priorities.
• Work together, even if there is a time gap, and you’ll find that the old adage “two are better than one” is still true.
• Naturally, organizations jumped at the opportunity to select from a global pool of talent which is, essentially, the key factor that led to the formation of teams that span across different time zones.
• In a public Slack channel, praising people who oppose efforts encourages one of our culture pillars of being challenged.
• Then, you won’t have to worry about time off and how many hours people are working.

An enormous amount of effort is needed to overcome this particular downside of global remote work. Tell us the skills you need and we’ll find the best developer for you in days, https://remotemode.net/blog/10-tips-on-working-in-different-time-zones/ not weeks. One of the first mistakes you may make when working remotely from home is to allow all of your favorite (or least favorite) items in the house to distract you.

OUR BEST TIPS FOR KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR GLOBAL TEAM’S SCHEDULE

Not everyone will be pleased with our principles, and that is just fine. One of the reasons a remote company like Turing’s culture is robust and our team members are so united is due to the clear nature of our principles. These moments will strengthen your team’s bond, making working remotely more productive. https://remotemode.net/ Make a deliberate effort to treat your international partners nicely, especially if you like your company to flourish. Whether you are meeting after hours or during work time, it’s crucial to be careful about scheduling such events. Try out different collaboration tools to find which work best for you.

• While it may be the middle of the day for one worker, it may be midnight for another, and frequently sending work messages at an inconvenient hour can result in burnout and stress.
• At Turing, we use corporate channels in team chat applications that are generally public, #random, or some more particular channels that attract individuals who have similar hobbies (e.g., #books, #games, #memes).
• Or, if you attempt to message everyone in a group, Slack can let you know it’s late for some people before you hit send.
• If meeting during these hours really is unavoidable, rotate meeting times to avoid prioritising one time zone over another.
• However, more people than ever before desire to work remotely these days.
• When working with teams in different time zones, the most important thing to remember is to be mindful, empathic, and courteous.
• The large productivity improvement has been made possible by a general absence of interruptions, and a shorter commuting time and the overall comfort of the home or other selected work setting.

In addition to confounding my brain, time zones also provide some fun and interesting challenges when it comes to how we all work together at Buffer as a fully remote, distributed team. The post outlines how to build an effective time zone agnostic team as a company leader, people manager, colleague, and as a geographically remote person. Working in a global team spread across time zones means embracing a remote-first, not a remote-friendly, culture.