The majority of the organizations that are operating online are facing the issues of time zones. Be it a small startup or a Fortune 55 company, they are all entangled into the following issues:
- The problem of scheduling meetings where the teammates are in 4 different time zones.
- What is a better choice out of the two- asynchronous meetings or only video conferences?
- Keeping the entire team on the same page.
- What are the time zone etiquettes that all businesses must follow?
- Choice of apps and tools that companies can rely on for managing the project?
Working in multiple time zones
Working in multiple time zones has a lot more advantages, as against the minor inconveniences that stand as the disadvantages of having employees in different time zones. As per research by Blueface, it is believed that by the end of 2025, remote work would be preferred by organizations worldwide more than office work.
Cons of operating in different time zones
The most basic but critical issue that you and your organization might suffer if the teammates are from different time zones is the problem of Collaboration. This is so because of the time gap between them which would lead to problems of cooperation and might result in the postponed acknowledgment between teammates and the problems of consensus on scheduled meetings.
The problem of isolation is another issue that employees face when they feel like there is no one else who is working alongside them during their work hours. If the other teammates are from different time zones and you may be from a different time zone, you might miss out on fun virtual activities like Happy hours or office events. Some might eventually feel overwhelmed with the quietness on their organization’s chat box and communication platforms.
Pros of working remotely in different time zones
If your organization has the opportunity to hire a global workforce, you would be able to hire the best engineers or designers and built a great marketing team with people belonging to different parts of the world. The problems of geographical barriers are now no more! You may be able to apply for a job in the US while sitting in your bedroom in India and it would be just fine. This gives you a chance to get acquainted with people from diverse cultures and thinking, and eventually growing as an intellect.
The biggest advantage of having employees from different time zones from the perspective of a company is that you can assure 24×7 operations since there would be employees who would be working at all times, as they all are in different time zones. The organizations might not need to pay employees extra for late-night shifts but can simply employ people from a different time zone.
Some of the common problems faced by remote working teams with teammates from different time zones-
The biggest problem faced is with regards to communication as it is the most important thing that keeps remote businesses running. The time difference might cause a lot of problems for effective communication to take place. The teammates might have a significant difference in time zones and hence might find the meetings being scheduled at an inconvenient hour. If this is the case, they would not be able to give their full attention and focus on the work.
The issue with time conversion might cause a lot of confusion and create havoc. Synching the calendars might solve this problem up to some levels, but the teams must know how to make use of such tools or it would make things worse.
Correspondence specifically is hard when one group is showing up at the virtual workspace similarly as another is leaving, or when one colleague is dozing calmly similarly as another is hitting their early afternoon step. However, there are approaches to handle contrasts between time regions that save joint effort and keep correspondence compelling.
Time zone management can be a huge issue, and hence many companies have started to have it clarified in the team agreements to make it easier for both parties to follow a particular time zone.
These common problems can be solved by following this check-list:
1. Always schedule the meetings well in time
Since the employees are working in different parts of the world, random or impromptu meetings might not be such a good idea. Set a schedule for regular meetings and stick to that schedule for everyone’s convenience.
2. Include the remote employees as well
It has been seen commonly that people who are operating in the same time zone tend to zone out the others. This is because they tend to have more contact with teammates in the same time zone. Remember that everyone is part of a team, no matter how far off they may be. This would increase employee morale and make them feel valued if they are included in all discussions, even if it’s on chat.
3. Set a commonly accepted time zone for projects
Your teammates could be in a far-off land where there is a day during your night time. Therefore, you must select one time zone that is suited to the majority of people that are included in a particular project. They can manage their work to be available for at least the meetings that would be held during these hours. It is important to set a time zone that would be followed by the employees so there is no confusion as to who’s time zone is being referred to. They can then translate this selected time zone as per their time and operate accordingly.
4. Try to make your meetings productive
Communication can only take place through meetings when your team is working remotely. However, these meetings lose their essence when they are held without any decided agenda, making them unproductive and cause distractions for the employees. Planning is an essential part of running a business, which is also essential for team leaders while hosting a team meeting.
Always consider such areas while deciding to hold a meeting for the employees who are living in different time zones- if it is really necessary to conduct the said meeting, the duration of the meeting, if the meeting can be asynchronously and how much time gap should be there between this and the next meeting.
5. Make sure that the timings are decided after considering everyone’s time zones
It is important to consider the time zones of your employees beforehand while scheduling a meeting. If the time is such that the employees might not be able to attend it or attend it without full focus, the meetings lose their essence. It is practically impossible to have a time that is suited for all, or that collides with the work hours of all the employees, but being a little considerate and mindful would be just enough. Create a feedback mechanism where the employees can make the team leaders aware of their suited time slots and a schedule can be created accordingly.
6. Have some flexibility with regards to the timings of meetings
With a team that has members from different time zones, it is common to see that some might not be convinced with the meeting schedules. This could cause them to miss out on vital information if they are not present for the meetings. A simple thing that you can do is allow for late check-ins and rotating meetings for the employees living in a different country than the majority of your employees. A little flexibility can help them feel valued in the organization and make them feel like their problems are being catered to.
7. Make use of online tools to track the time zones
With the growing need for online and virtual conduct of businesses, there is a variety of tools that have come up in order to help you do so. Using tools such as Outlook or Google Calendar that can be linked to every employee’s email, you can simply schedule a meeting as per your time zone and they would have it added to their calendar at the corresponding time according to their time zone. So now you would not mistakenly disturb someone during their off-hours. Such tools help you rule out the guesswork and make things more organized and scheduled for the employer and the employee as well.
8. Adopt a time zone as the base for the organization’s functions
This is a common practice that is used by a majority of organizations that are operating remotely with international employees. The basic thing to follow in this is the manager sets a time zone as the base for all the organization’s operations. He would schedule meetings, program shifts, or decide deadlines based on that single time zone. Other employees can just convert it as per their local time and do things accordingly. This would reduce confusion as they would know the time difference between this pre-decided time zone and their local time zone.
9. Encourage the employees to take breaks
Taking occasional breaks during the shifts helps break the monotony of work and makes the employees feel refreshed and energized to get back to work. Remote working has the biggest flaw of making people feel lethargic of following the same schedule. If they are allowed to take breaks, their productivity would surely increase, especially if the work is target-based, and not hour-based.
10. Try not to exclude employees from a different time zone
Team managers tend to be more comfortable and in contact with the employees who have the same or similar time zone to theirs, which might result in over-burdening such employees. This can also make the other employees feel excluded, therefore make it a habit not to stress upon some employees more than others.
11. Look for overlaps in time zones
Having to cater to several time zones can be a bit of a task sometimes, and as a manager, you cannot keep having the same meeting over and over again with a different set of people. An easy way out is looking for overlaps in the work hours of your teammates so they can be present for the meeting at the same time. This would allow your employees to collaborate on a project easily and gives a kick start to your projects.
12. Make use of the Agile Technique
The agile technique is a sort of venture the board interaction, chiefly utilized for programming improvement, where requests and arrangements advance through the community-oriented exertion of self-putting together and cross-utilitarian groups and their clients. This would help increase the chances of making your project successful. The various communication tools available on the web can help you be in contact with your team and have video meetings where you can also use the ‘whiteboard’ feature to improve the efficacy of your ideas and designs.
13. Always be particular about the documentation
Documentation is all the more essential for a remote working team with employees in different time zones as it gives them a clearer and more definite idea about the projects and all relevant information related to them. Policies, objectives, processes are easier to understand when they are fully documented and can be used as a reference for the smooth functioning of the plans.
14. List of tools for scheduling meetings across different time zones
It can be a difficult and tedious task for the managers to keep referring to their team’s time zones while deciding on an event. These tools are available for all to make things easier and conduct the remote work smoothly by allowing managers to easily compare the different time zones of their team members-
- timeanddate.com allows users to add multiple time zones and easily compare the difference between them with color-coded visuals to make deciding the schedules easier for the managers.
- thetimezoneconverter.com is an intuitive time zone converter.
- spacetime.am helps you analyze the time difference through a chart where you can see every employee’s city and the time there. By providing the feature to be linked to Slack, it helps to notify the employees about the meeting as per their local time.
- timezone.io helps the user have a visual representation of time at all the teammates’ cities so you can simply drag the time and see what it would be for the employees during your scheduled meeting.
- Google Calendar not only notifies you of upcoming events but also provides you the feature of adding multiple time zones to keep you on track with other teammates.
Employees from different time zones might cause some troubles with collaborative working, but the advantage of having the best workforce from all around the world covers up for this problem. These easy points can help make the remote working process much smoother.
