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, in the case of an emergency. However, other departments and industries can benefit from the approach as well. While you still want to be cognizant of others’ time zones, setting one official time zone for your company can help alleviate confusion.
- 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.
- The Event Time Announcer shows the local time in cities all over the world at a given time in the past or future.
- Consider meeting times that fall in the middle of the day so they fall within everyone’s normal work hours.
- Working in an office (or with the same work hours) is filled with impromptu moments that break up your day, many of which are unwanted distractions.
- These tools allow you to exchange ideas, give feedback, explain complicated concepts, collaborate on projects, and provide updates without pinging people constantly or scheduling long meetings.
Rike has found the biggest challenge of team members working from different time zones is getting everyone on a company meeting at the same time. “It usually isn’t necessary, but definitely helps to build morale and keep spirits high when we can put faces to names https://remotemode.net/ and not feel so lonely in our remote settings,” Rike said. Suppose you work in one country but half your team is located in another. Consider working a half-day at the office and then working remotely one or more days a week at night or early in the morning.
Develop a values-based culture
We have a few standing methods of making sure these types of communication happen often, including the daily pair call and weekly or biweekly mastermind chats. These chats are normally only 2-3 people maximum, so more often than not it’s possible to find a time that works for everyone across multiple time zones. In addition to confounding my brain, time zones also provide some fun and working remotely in a different time zone interesting challenges when it comes to how we all work together at Buffer as a fully remote, distributed team. While operating with time zone differences has its benefits, it’s also challenging. Particularly if you don’t introduce new processes to manage a truly global team. When you don’t need to consider time zones, you can attract and hire the best talent regardless of location.
Additionally, team members can find it harder to collaborate in an asynchronous environment, and it can take a while for them to adjust. Moreover, scheduling meetings can be difficult, inconveniencing those who have to attend, especially early in the morning or late in the evening. With team members located in many places, it can be hard to keep track of schedules and vacation times.
The Pros and Cons of Working Across Time Zones
For example, you could set a rule that no-one will be forced to attend meetings between 11 pm and 7 am. If meeting during these hours really is unavoidable, rotate meeting times to avoid prioritising one time zone over another. Meeting in person allows your team to bond – essential for future communication. With team members in different time zones, it can be easy for people to restrict communication to those online at the same time.
- The most popular activities usually involve a mix of problem solving, competition, and laughter.
- Your employees’ communication styles, collaboration methods, and work schedules are largely impacted by their cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds.
- Other moments, like grabbing lunch with colleagues, are a great way to break up the day.
