10 Best Practices for Working Across Multiple Time Zones
Or in overlapping time zones, and copy and paste it onto a truly distributed team. Once everyone’s set and communicated their working hours, make sure you’re respecting them! This respect is so key to maintaining work-life balance across time zones, and making sure that everyone is communicating in a productive way. Don’t forget that just because meetings are in a different time zone doesn’t mean your distributed employees shouldn’t get the same perks as employees in HQ. If you’re catering lunch for a lunch and learn in the office, consider sending distributed employees gift cards or letting them expense whatever mealtime it is in their time zone during that meeting. Collaborating in a remote team spanning across different time zones can be a huge challenge.
This is probably the most obvious challenge of working across multiple time zones, and rightfully so. It can get overwhelming trying to set up a time that works for the entire team. In this article, you’ll learn about the benefits and challenges of working across time zones, as well as the best practices you need to follow. 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. The name “instant” suggest live synchronous communication, but asynchronous communication is still a big part of using instant messaging tools like Slack, MS Teams, and Flock.
Be mindful of international employees when scheduling meetings.
Being part of a global team comes with a host of advantages—from learning from each other’s culture to numerous cross-learning opportunities. However, having colleagues in all time zones makes it difficult to keep track of the time and create boundaries. In this blog, I will https://remotemode.net/ talk about a few ways in which you can manage communications with colleagues in different parts of the world, making working across multiple time zones easier. The actual time difference between co-workers is a significant barrier to effective real-time communication.
- It covers all the essential elements including responsibilities, skills, qualifications, and employee benefits.
- Asynchronous communication should be the norm for remote teams, especially those with personnel in multiple time zones.
- Similarly, invite your teammates to discuss their own work hours and boundaries so that way you all are familiar with the different timezones your everyone is working within.
Other moments, like grabbing lunch with colleagues, are a great way to break up the day. Teams can help enable distributed employees by providing a discretionary budget for tech like noise-canceling headphones, microphones, high-quality laptops with cameras, and high-speed Internet access. Having the right kind of gear empowers remote employees to actively participate in the conversation—to literally be seen and heard. A remote worker must be a self-starter who can continue working without someone watching them. They must manage their time and energy wisely, which can be challenging when working from home. Synchronous communication, or real-time communication between teams, is still necessary for team development, bonding, brainstorming, and celebrating project achievements.
Challenges of working remotely across time zones
If you want to learn more about team agreements, then go back to episode number 42. One of the items in the team agreement is to always talk in one time zone. So pick one time zone and then just have the entire team talk in that time zone. Create a Countdown Timer that counts down in seconds, minutes, hours and days to any date, with time zone support. It’s important to set clear working hours to create a sustainable working schedule for yourself and your team.
One of the first mistakes you may make when working remotely from home is to allow all of your favorite (or least favorite) items in the house to distract you. Hence, you should try to separate the place where you work from a relatively quiet place in your home. Messages are clear and easy to grasp at a glance with just one simple emoji. These are also useful when your teammates don’t all speak the same language. Everyone will have everything they need to get up and running as soon as they sign in for the day, regardless of what time it is.
Most Americans don’t closely follow professional or college sports
“That, as well as everyone setting their working hours and turning off notifications outside of those hours, can really help to create and maintain a healthy work environment,” he said. Expecting your teammates to be “always-on” doesn’t create the best culture and might make them feel disrespected. So, to avoid this, minimize the messages you send after hours and be patient if you don’t immediately get a response back. Odds are, a great teammate will get back to you when they begin working the next day. Even after having an initial conversation, you should also speak up if you’re having issues attending many meetings in multiple timezones. Likewise, you should also encourage colleagues to communicate when they’re running into timezone blockers.
The best job for you might not be in your hometown, and you might work better when you aren’t shackled to a 9-to-5 workday. And that’s ok on a distributed team, as long as you can manage the time shift. Your team will likely get more done, and you’ll be able to provide better support for your customers—but you’ll also need to figure out how to make the world feel a bit smaller.
What types of teams are likely to work across time zones?
Not to mention that if all time zones are covered, then the company can serve its customers 24/7 without the need for late-night shifts. By embracing different time zones, you can build a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Research from McKinsey https://remotemode.net/blog/10-tips-on-working-in-different-time-zones/ found that ethnically and racially diverse companies outperform their less diverse peers by 36% when it comes to financial metrics. When you don’t need to consider time zones, you can attract and hire the best talent regardless of location.
- Published in Education
11+ Proven Remote Job Interview Questions +Answers
If you’ve had a remote job, perfect — go ahead and talk about your remote successes. The purpose of this question is to make sure you understand the nature of remote work — and its downsides. Not asking questions can cost you the job whether the interview is a phone call, video call, or in person. So hiring managers want to know what motivates you to come to work each day.
- Prepare for these common remote job interview questions to increase your chances of landing the job.
- Below are 16 questions you’ll likely be asked in a virtual interview for a remote job, plus our advice on how to respond and sample answer.
- Abi is one of the co-founders of Himalayas where he focuses on product and growth.
- You need to demonstrate that you can jump into the role without a lot of oversight and be a success, starting from day one.
- You’ll also want to make sure your internet connection is reliable to avoid technical glitches.
- But you’re also looking for the traits they need to work from home productively.
Sure, you’re going to have to show that you are smart and that you can do the job. But you’ll ALSO have to prove that you can handle (and excel in!) the conditions of a remote job, down to the little details. And when it comes to being the “right fit” for a remote job, it’s not so much about measuring up as it is about knowing how to make yourself the most productive and fruitful version of yourself. Don’t get me wrong – jobs like those have done their part in making it possible for more of us to earn a living without driving to a traditional office every day.
Sample answer
Just like for an in-office position, you need to determine whether a candidate has the experience and skills for the role. But you’re also looking for the traits they need to work from home productively. When it’s a match, it can be a win-win for both the employee and your remote interview meaning company. In any job interview, an employer or hiring manager wants to make sure you’re the right fit for the job and the company. However, in a remote job interview, an employer will want to make sure you’re the right fit for the job, the company, and the remote role.
Finding the Best Interview Format – SHRM
Finding the Best Interview Format.
Posted: Tue, 07 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Think about how you like to organize work and explain to the interviewer how that helps you get your work done. Do you like old-fashioned to-do lists and make one up every day just to cross off your accomplishments? Are you really into calendars and scheduling https://remotemode.net/ tasks and blocks of time to work? Maybe you like to put up the “do not disturb” sign and get really deep into your work, turning off all push notifications until the task is complete. Be careful with the terms you use when writing your job description.
Tell me about your favorite/least favorite job.
While the previous question focuses on communication tools and timing, this question explores the communication skills and soft skills needed for forging relationships. In the past, coffee chats, team happy hours, and other activities built social connections and cross-team relationships. Asking about remote engagement helps you see if the candidate is open to virtual events that strengthen your company culture and values. Asking about communication preferences better aligns expectations between candidates and roles. Teamwork and success depend on staying connected via preferred channels. A candidate who prefers asynchronous communication may create challenges on a team that communicates mainly through video calls.
- Published in Education