timezone Challenges faced while working in different time zones

Depending on how many time zones you’re juggling, it can be a struggle to keep track of who is where and what time it is there. Scheduling a meeting can take 10 extra minutes just to figure out what time it is for everyone who needs to be there. File sharing and quick email responses are usually the best weapons to combat time zone miscommunications. You’ll also want to make sure you hire people who can do their work with little to no supervision. That way, you don’t have employees waiting for hours for direction on what to do next. Alongside the benefits of working across time zones, there are some challenges to consider as well.

• Not everyone will be pleased with our principles, and that is just fine.
• There are ways to combat the difficulties of working across time zones that can be adopted as part of constructing a good working culture as a developer.
• These tools are excellent for keeping track of the progress of various tasks, team-wide updates, important communication, and streamlining the project across the team.

By the time they read your second message and take action, an entire day (or more!) could have passed without them doing anything. This isn’t how high-performing remote teams working remotely collaborate. As a result, you’ll be able to close any cultural communication gaps, which will lead to a more respectful and productive work environment. Suppose working remotely in a different time zone 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. Often called split shifts, this involves working part of the day during your time zone, then working part of the day during the time zone of another team.

The Pros and Cons of Working Across Time Zones

The clockwise is a smart calendar that helps optimize your workflow to allocate the right resources to the important tasks and projects. The best way to ensure high productivity in remote teams is to combine synchronous and asynchronous communication depending on the priority and complexity of the tasks. 🎓 To learn more about the pros and cons of asynchronous communication for remote teams, be sure to check out our in-depth guide on the blog. Some companies today have all of their employees working in one main headquarters or office location. However, with the ease of telecommuting, many other companies have remote employees positioned at different locations and working in different time zones around the world. And companies can leverage the benefits of having workers across the nation—and the world.

Getting used to higher autonomy and async communication can be challenging, but there are more and more companies doing it–and doing it well. Many Heads of Remote will spend time in both worlds, improving the internal experience while advocating for remote-first beyond the organization. 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.

Consider split shifts or workdays that accommodate different time zones.

You should also be respectful and use virtual tools to keep your teams on track. Set meetings and deadlines in multiple time zones, when necessary, especially when setting up calls with colleagues, vendors, and prospective employees. You wouldn’t want a talented employee to miss out on a job opportunity because of a time-zone mishap. As mentioned above, tools to facilitate asynchronous collaboration will minimise the need for after-hours communication.

What would normally cause late nights and a lot of unwanted stress, worked beautifully because I was overseas and eight hours ahead of the rest of the team. Now I’ll be frank, I don’t like editing on a deadline because there’s only so much editing a girl can do. I’m also a morning person, I do my best, most efficient work between 7 and 10 am. That’s a problem when editing studies because typically the researchers are still writing it mere days before submission. Business leaders should set aside time in their schedules to jump on last minute calls in case any confusion arises for their overseas team members.

Common mistakes to avoid when working with a dispersed team

It makes scheduling meetings difficult, but we can also hand off work to keep the wheels turning 24/7. Jon Russell, a Bangkok-based reporter for TechCrunch, says remote work is what enables their site to run a 24-hour newsroom. “When it comes to online publishing, being in different places isn’t so strange,” says Russell. It’s possible to hire people around the globe and still have your whole team working 9-to-5 at your office’s time zone—after all, plenty of people work night shifts—but it’s not optimal. Thanks to modern technology, companies can utilize online sharing features to maximize productivity and extend the work day.