Then, when the rest of the team is online, you’ll be more focused at what you need to discuss with them before it’s time to get offline. “They worked the night shift while my team in Redmond worked days,” Berkun says. “If I planned well, we’d find magic in going to bed frustrated by a missing puzzle piece, and waking to find it in our inbox. It was like having a friend in the future.” Aside from the few weeks every year when we’re all together at our company retreats, there’s always someone at Zapier awake and working. Time zone coverage is just something that’s automatically possible with distributed teams.
Most Remote Moon Until 2043
If left unattended, this malpractice can take root and degenerate further into team silos. If teams don’t experience any overlap in work hours, there’s bound to be some time wasted as one team is waiting for the instructions or the input from another one, working at a later time. And, as team communication is directly correlated to productive collaboration, it can lead to unnecessary delays, missed messages, and an overall drop in productivity. Similarly, working across time zones is beneficial to companies on a larger, operational level.
So, you have a location independent job – or will soon pick up a new job that allows you to work remotely – and you’re thinking of moving overseas. Remote working tools like Zoom and Slack have been around for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that remote work really took off. In order to create a cohesive team, it is important to demonstrate an understanding of cultural differences.
Regional Work Style Differences
You can start by setting how notifications work inside individual apps, or even turn on living and working in different time zones the Do Not Disturb mode on your phone altogether. On iOS, choose Do Not Disturb from Settings, and if you haven an Android device, pick Sound and vibration, then Do Not Disturb from Settings. Open up Every Time Zone in your web browser for an at-a-glance guide to your time zone as compared to multiple cities, including Tokyo, Berlin, and Dubai. It’s laid out so that each time zone appears relative to one another, and if you register for a free account you’ll be able to customize the cities that show up and the order they’re in. The days of having three different clocks hanging on your wall are over. Now, you can have them displayed on Google Calendar whenever you’re planning your week.
IFTTT Launches, Letting Normal People Program “If This, Then That” Tools
Even if this seems like exaggerations, here’s another fact you should know. When it comes to later bedtimes, researchers say the difference is usually around 19 minutes. So, those who live in an area with a later sunset will approximately go to bed 19 minutes later, compared to those who live in an area with earlier sunsets. If you’re among those from the first category, you should probably avoid doing the math to see what these later bedtimes mean on a yearly basis. Imagine there’s a remote company that includes workers from Shanghai and Chongqing. Given the fact that the sun sets an hour later in Chongqing than Shanghai, workers from Chongqing are more likely to go to bed later.
Before starting to blame your time zone for “eating your sleep” and making you less productive, let’s see what each of us can do to improve our effectiveness, regardless of our location. We’ll give you some valuable productivity tips, whether you are in a remote team or working solo, as a freelancer. While I was living in Europe and working for an Australian employer, I established a fairly solid routine that used the best of both worlds. I did have to wake up a little earlier than I would normally, but this allowed me to make phone calls and attend scheduled meetings early in the morning while Australians were still at work.
How to be more productive in any time zone?
A good way to ensure fairness is to create an equal distribution of early or late meetings among the time zones. Purpose-built online tools can identify meeting times that will work for everyone. Our Meeting Planner provides a simple, clear, and easy-to-use solution for coordinating across time zones. When holding mid-day meetings in your time zone means half the team is going to sleepand the other half is just waking up, how do you keep everyone on the same page? We’ve put together a short list of ideas that can help keep your multi-national workforce on track.
- You owe it to yourself and your family to put work away at some point.
- So, who do you think will get more sleep and be better rested (and productive) in the morning?
- Once the steps above have been completed, Microsoft Teams will automatically adjust the time zone based on your set.
- One of the simplest and most effective ways to handle time zone differences is by using time zone conversion tools.
In short, make sure you take everyone’s time zone into account when setting meeting times. In order to avoid inconveniencing the same people repeatedly, you may want to rotate the start time. One of the biggest challenges of working in a remote team with different time zones is the lack of real-time communication. That’s why it’s important to establish clear communication protocols and stick to them.
Although irregular office hours and time zone differences can be a disadvantage for digital nomads, businesses can also take advantage of having staff situated in different locations. Here are a few specific tips for managing working in time zones where business hours don’t overlap… If you’re living in a completely different time zone to your co-workers or customers, it’s inevitable that people may try to contact you while you’re asleep. The study observed an increase in the volume of communication taking place outside of standard working hours. Workers who have strong collaborative relationships and perform tasks that are not routine were more likely to time shift. The findings raise questions about what type of work is best suited to geographic distributions that span multiple time zones.
- Participating in team-building activities becomes more complicated, possibly leading to feelings of isolation for those working in different time zones.
- Although having a global team can boost productivity in a company, there are quite a few challenges especially when it comes to management as everyone works across different time zones.
- The trend of working from home has drastically increased after the COVID-19 epidemic.
- The country is known for its rich culture, friendly people, and affordable cost of living, making it an attractive destination for digital nomads.
Avoid micromanagement and set appropriate expectations.
Consider making a record of all culture-specific holidays to make sure no meetings or group work sessions are scheduled around those dates. With all the apps and tools available, the time zone difference can create plenty of confusion among employees working across time zones. Research shows that organizations spend around 15% of their time on meetings. Finally, a successful asynchronous collaboration calls for a set of functional tools to seamlessly tie all autonomous teams and operations together.
At Deel, we offer a wealth of knowledge and tools that empower remote managers to manage their teams successfully. Deel Engage, our talant management system, empowers managers to build an engaged and highly performant workforce. With tools for role transparency, learning and development, and performance management, your people will be aligned toward a shared goal and business success. If you’re used to real-time communication, moving to asynchronous communication can be unsettling.
Moreover, some agree with even a slight reduction in pay, getting a more flexible schedule. Approximately 46% of commercials switched to full or partial telecommuting in the prior year. The final strategy to maintain a healthy work-life balance when working in a different time zone is to be mindful of your own needs, preferences, and goals. This means paying attention to your physical, mental, and emotional health, and taking care of yourself accordingly. For example, you can monitor your sleep quality and quantity, your nutrition and hydration, your exercise and movement, and your mood and stress levels, and make any necessary changes or improvements. You can also reflect on your work satisfaction and performance, your personal and professional growth, and your work-life balance, and celebrate your progress and accomplishments.
This strategy makes your projects asynchronous, which remote developer Mutahhir Ali Hayat suggests is the best way to make remote development work out. The ability to hand off work is a productivity benefit, but it’s also motivator since you know you must accomplish tasks so you can hand them off to co-workers at day’s end. “It puts a little pressure on you to get your work done,” says TechCrunch’s Russell. A time difference gives you the freedom to code or write without distraction.