“Since there are people working from nearly every time zone in the world, there was always someone online to help with a problem or joke around with when you’re working,” he wrote in his book. A shared team calendar might be helpful as everyone can see each other’s availability. However, from a business standpoint, it is hard to argue against operating across multiple time zones. One advantage is that you can draw on a broader and more diverse pool of talent and skills.
David Fullerton had to overcome the communication hurdle when he was growing the Stack Exchange team. “When there were 4 people, everyone knew everything. When there are 75 people, that no longer scales,” he says. 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. Planning meetings across time zones might sound so painful that you’d rather just never have meetings—but don’t do that either.
Clearly communicate time zone boundaries.
Use online tools like World Time Buddy or Every Time Zone to help you visualize and plan your day accordingly. Team TimeZone is one of the best apps for effectively streamlining employees’ work hours. Using this app, the manager can visualize every developer in the team and what they are working on, minimizing interruptions. Team TimeZone provides detailed as well as compact views for various-sized teams. The app even enables the availability status of the different team members, and it also helps in visualizing the time difference to better grasp the time zone gaps within your team. Harvest is another important time management app that is extremely beneficial and can help immensely with the productivity of the team members in a remote environment.
Everyone will have everything they need to get up and running as soon as they sign in for the day, regardless of what time it is. Bringing your team together for a weekly, monthly, or even annual meet-up can be a productive and enlightening experience.
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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. Having all shifts and time zones covered is especially convenient for support and customer service as people don’t need to work past the conventional work hours in their countries, https://remotemode.net/ in the case of an emergency. However, other departments and industries can benefit from the approach as well. With the remote first work culture spreading across the globe, many companies have employees scattered all over the world. This is a big advantage for companies that provide global products as they have 24-hour support readily available for their consumers.
- This app makes it easier for managers to find the most suitable time for scheduling meetings where most of the remote developers can be available to participate.
- Read to know more to find out the best practices and working remotely tips and tools.
- That might not be enough to schedule meetings across a number of time zones, but it’s a quick way to figure out if you’re ok to call your boss at 6 p.m.
- With more & more companies adopting a remote work model, the tips & tools will help you achieve success while working remotely with teams in different time zones.
Then, when you’re ready to schedule the email, click the arrow on the send icon for the “Schedule message” option. Tasks can be assigned, materials (such as spreadsheets, mockups, and slides) can be added, and deadlines can be defined. Team members will be aware of their responsibilities, effortlessly pick up duties, and leave comments/updates for their teammates to address throughout their shifts. Consistent feedback goes hand in hand with keeping an open line of communication.
Embrace asynchronous collaboration
This can make it easier for employees to quickly know what the time difference is for their location. Consider everyone’s time zone when setting meeting times and try rotating times if needed. If it’s not possible to make meeting times fair for everyone, your best bet could be to rotate the start time so that the same people aren’t inconvenienced every time. Finding the right communication and collaboration tools is essential for all distributed teams, but is especially important for those working across time zones. The first step to successfully working through various time zones is planning ahead. When you’re working with a global team or a client, it’s important to familiarize yourself with their local time and time zone differences.
With a split schedule, you can be more available for meetings with colleagues in different time zones without ignoring your local team. Furthermore, you will be able to stay in touch with your international department without staying up all night. As the world is moving toward a fully distributed work model, there’s still plenty of value in in-person team meetups. While the digital workspace can perfectly support all the work processes, the social component takes the biggest hit in organizations promoting a remote-first work culture.
ROTATE MEETING TIMES
“One danger of my job, as a columnist who works in California, is a feeling of disconnection from the mother ship in New York,” writes technology columnist Farhad Manjoo. Every employee is also assigned a random “pair partner” each week— that means we’ll jump on a call with one of our colleagues just see how things are going, and perhaps work together on a cross-team project. Your availability can be emailed to meeting attendees once you’ve made your preferences. By clicking on a time, they can reserve it, and Calendar will add it to your calendar and email the meeting attendees.
For example, if a Boston-based marketing manager gives a California-based blogger a deadline for “9 a.m. Monday,” it might be hard to determine whether the deadline was for 9 a.m. Even when you’re working with a colleague in the same country as you, not getting as working remotely in a different time zone specific as possible about dates or times can cause confusion or slow your processes. “There’s a give and take. So long as you check with the person on their preferences, it’s fine to ask. Some might even prefer to work a non-standard shift anyway,” Kelly explains.