People are challenged to work together to solve puzzles, find clues, and do something that is not work-related but still builds stronger relationships and bonds overall. Each email program has its own unique features, but one that you will find across most of the common options is an alert when you are scheduling with a colleague in a different time zone. This is mostly a feature that works with internal accounts, so if you are https://remotemode.net/ emailing customers or other external partners, you might not have the option. Even while many companies are reopening their office spaces, it may look a little different with hybrid events and more people still working from home. With about one-third of all workers working from home in May of 2020, it was clear that the work could still get done and people could be productive even when they were away from their normal desks.
- This can be overwhelming when working remotely and trying to coordinate with clients, colleagues or services.
- Certain etiquette should also be followed in terms of communication while working across time zones.
- If you are responsible for time-sensitive duties, make sure you can commit to them based on your schedule.
- At Buffer, we meet somewhere in the world once a year for a weeklong company retreat.
- It’s easy enough to understand time zones where you live, but if you’re working in a remote team spread across the world, it gets harder to remember what time it is for your team members.
- To start, companies should clearly and frequently communicate their purpose – employees want to know that they’re a part of an important and fulfilling mission.
However, there are strategies that can be implemented to make https://remotemode.net/blog/10-tips-on-working-in-different-time-zones/ more manageable and successful. Once you’ve arranged these meetings and messages, ensure managers and professionals receive training on appropriate meeting etiquette. Timing; dress codes; humor; and approaches to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) vary around the world, so make sure your teams are suitably sensitive to their colleagues’ expectations. Managers of dispersed teams should make a conscious effort to check in regularly and connect with individual team members as well as the group as a whole. These meetings not only improve the relationships between specific colleagues, but also contribute to maintaining team cohesion.
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By making sure the same people aren’t always being inconvenienced, you can avoid the perception of a ‘core team’ in one location whose needs are always put first. Switching up the times of your meetings will help to ensure everyone in your team feels equally valued. Before you even begin working across time zones with any client, it’s best to set clear expectations and boundaries around time. Be clear about your availability and how quickly you can complete the tasks assigned. If you are responsible for time-sensitive duties, make sure you can commit to them based on your schedule.
And, as the pandemic is dying out, and companies are issuing the return-to-the-office memos, it’s pretty much business as usual for teams working across time zones. These benefits aren’t going away with the pandemic for teams operating in international virtual offices. Diversity and inclusion drive innovation and positively impact overall business targets within remote companies that span across time zones. Organizations employing culturally diverse staff, especially in the higher management positions, tend to escape the echo-chamber effect and conformity since they are exposed to multiple perspectives and viewpoints. Understandably, this approach largely supports innovation and ultimately leads to more profit in the long run.
Working Across Time Zones: Best Practices and Tools
Zapier are on a mission to make automation easy and accessible to everyone at work. With over 400 remote employees spread across 30 countries, Zapier is one of the largest fully remote companies. They know what they’re doing and write great guides on how to get the most out of remote work.
- TimeandDate.com’s World Clock Meeting Planner won’t win any design awards, but it makes time shift scheduling straightforward.
- Ideally, your company will set up Google Drive, Dropbox, or whatever file-sharing system you use so files are automatically accessible to the entire company.
- It’s nearly hard to arrange everyone to meet at the same time without inconveniencing someone if you don’t have team members working in overlapping time zones.
- People working on dispersed teams can also feel isolated from one another, leading to a lack of connection, and even become less visible—especially if they are the sole team member in their time zone.
- You can set up a collection of channels for different groups of people and topics of conversation.
- Some of the most well-known apps are Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com, Trello, Zoho, and Teamwork.
It can come in a few ways, like a flexible schedule or the option to work from any location. What better way to travel and work than with the people who understand your lifestyle than to work with us at Support Adventure?! We are an expat-run and fully remote staffing company with people who have a passion for experiencing life abroad. Caribbean countries are in a similar time zone as well to most of the Americas.