While it may seem overkill to hire a person solely dedicated to this, it’s a mistake to think that you can simply take what was working in the office. Or in overlapping time zones, and copy and paste it onto a truly distributed team. This is foundational to working in a distributed team spread across time zones where quick check-ins aren’t feasible. Working in a global team spread across time zones means embracing a remote-first, not a remote-friendly, culture. You can’t just be aware of time zones, you need to construct a company where time zones are at the core of every internal operation.

Research from McKinsey found that ethnically and racially diverse companies outperform their less diverse peers by 36% when it comes to financial metrics. Traditionally companies have relegated themselves to hiring people who live within commuting distance of their offices or at most, the same time zone. Learn how to balance synchronous and asynchronous communication to allow for autonomous work and meaningful connections.

Work with time zones in Outlook for macOS

The Event Time Announcer shows the local time in cities all over the world at a given time in the past or future. There is no silver bullet here — just lean more into the tools that your team already uses. Also keep in mind that meetings are sometimes better than offline chat — just use good judgment and always think about alternatives. 😉 Meetings are not that effective at reaching an agreement or getting actual work done. Use this guide to make you convey your message clearly with remote communication. Eastern Standard Time (EST) covers the states in the eastern part of North America and runs from Maine to Florida, while Central Standard Time (CST) includes Texas up to Montana.

It’s great when your calendar app can help you manage across time zones, but often you just need to know what time it is somewhere else, such as to see if it’s a good time to call someone. The time zone features in your calendar app aren’t meant for such simple lookups, so while you could use them, it’s a lot more work than just using a simple utility. Here are my recommendations for each platform for utilities that help you quickly look up time zones. Click Calendar in the left pane, then scroll in the right pane to the “Time zones” section.

How to work across time zones in Outlook

“My team had hit the natural limits of space and time on planet earth,” Berkun says. “For us to speak at the same time, someone would have to be miserable.” Whether it’s just a team check-in or something more collaborative, meetings will always be a thing. “A remote work environment should encourage performance—not presence,” says entrepreneur Neil Patel. Then, you won’t have to worry about time off and how many hours people are working. “You are simply looking for high-performers who can get stuff done.”

• If you are a participant, it’s important to make sure you are prepared.
• This diversity can work to build a strong team foundation for companies.
• Time zone coverage is just something that’s automatically possible with distributed teams.
• These benefits allow your team to work better together and can lead your international teammates to feel more included in your team’s day-to-day work.

It is equally important for managers to schedule meetings within their teams’ working hours. Be sure that your entire team is able to find times that work for all of them. Make sure you don’t let your dispersed team members hop on a call working remotely in a different time zone at 7 am just because it’s convenient for you. A shared team calendar might be helpful as everyone can see each other’s availability. When introducing yourself, let your colleagues know your schedule and preferred communication channels.

Save Time

On many HubSpot marketing teams, if we schedule a meeting that requires people in other timezones to wake up early or stay up late, we try to be empathetic to those colleagues in some way. Working across time zones brings unique challenges rarely encountered within the more traditional work models. As the rewards largely outweigh the drawbacks, it’s worth exploring the best team practices provided above to make working across time zones work. They will help you craft your perfect blend of flexibility, asynchronous work, and inclusive mindset to push your distributed team towards perpetual success. Some of the best practice examples suggest encouraging employees to craft their own shared experiences in company team chat apps. The most popular company channels in team chat apps usually include those public, #random channels, or some more specific channels that gather people who share the same interests (e.g. #books, #gaming, #memes).

The discussions above have been about creating the right conditions to support remote working. This final section outlines practical recommendations for meetings and events throughout the iteration when conducted online. We have had https://remotemode.net/ some success with virtual coffee and lunch meetings for more regular interactions. Consider also including more relaxed conversation time built into the agenda of longer meetings, particularly those that go on for several hours.

Finally, a successful asynchronous collaboration calls for a set of functional tools to seamlessly tie all autonomous teams and operations together. Using a single, multifunctional tool such as Pumble, to streamline diverse conversations and collaborative projects across time zones can increase overall productivity by 30%. Teams operating across time zones require a unique set of functionalities specifically customized to meet the needs of the asynchronous workforce.