How to manage different time zones when working remotely
As remote work has become part of life for many people since 2020, we thought it would be helpful to compile some tips to tackle time zones issues.
With lockdowns, quarantines, and social distancing, many companies and people were forced to experience working remotely or, at least, a hybrid workplace. And the majority of us were not prepared for this.
For global teams that collaborate across time zones, this became a great challenge.
Tips for work across multiple time zones
I work with a team that is mainly based in Brazil, while I live in Switzerland. Normally, the time difference is 4 hours (5 during the European summertime).
Naturally, we developed some “etiquette” that embraces empathy and inclusion for people working in different time zones, and it can be summarized in three main steps:
1. Planning
It is impossible to talk about working across time zones without talking about planning. This is vital when organizing projects, assignments, and meetings, as it gives you a bigger picture of everything you and your team have to do, and the time you need for these tasks.
Commonly, teams organize their calendars and tasks weekly, but last-minute changes often come up. So, by using online platforms such as Trello, Jira, Asana, Google Calendar, coworkers can keep each other updated in real-time.
To manage remote work better worldwide, on Google Calendar, for example, you can set different time zones and make it easier to find a time that fits each colleague’s calendar.
Another tool that can help you quickly grasp the different time zones is Worldtime buddy, especially when you work from more than two countries.
Working in an international team is a great opportunity to exchange knowledge and learn from different cultures, so in your planning, consider also the time for non-professional moments with your colleagues.
Believe me, this time is more than nice, it is necessary. Team building activities (games, workshops, book clubs, happy hour, etc) can help you to get more from it.
2. Time management
In regard to planning, time management is an agreement you should have with yourself.
When you are so involved in a project and working with people in another country, you can feel as if you were there with them in their time zone. Being engaged is a positive thing, but when this approach becomes the norm, in the long term, it can affect your prioritization — and worse — your mental health.
Being disciplined and organized with yourself and your own time zone is the only way to manage both your deadlines and your private life. Check some simple but useful tips:
- Use time spots on your calendar also for tasks, not only for meetings.
- Track your time. With Closewise or Toggl Track, for example, you can manage your time, gain insights and discover if you use your time wisely.
- Let people know your time zone. On Slack, you can set this information. It’ll help them and you to respect the time you really have available to work.
- Find the best methodology for you. For lots of people, pomodoro technique is quite effective for working “smart”.
3. Asynchronous communication
After you have a clear plan and you are in control of your time, you will notice the time always seems shorter than you think.
There are always so many things to sync across teams and stakeholders, and it is not so unusual to have the impression that there is no time for meetings and tasks at all. This becomes more of a struggle when finding available slots between calendars from different time zones.
To handle this situation, asynchronous communication is an alternative. When we talk about async communication, you shouldn’t think that is just using Slack, emails, or any other instant message tool. It is more about sharing documentation and data.
- Use what is out there: choose tools that are more comfortable and useful for you.
- Be clear, concise, and useful: the information that you share should be easily understood by anyone, anywhere.
- Don’t just use text: videos and audios can also help and now are available on Slack, for example. Loom is another good option for short videos.
- Document complex information: Confluence, Notion, and even Google Docs can help to share lengthy content.
- Explore live collaboration: depending on your field of work, collaborative tools such as Miro and Figma, where many people can work, edit, suggest in one unique document can be helpful (we use it a lot in our design team).
- Schedule messages: all of us should turn our professional tools off when we finish our work shift, but in reality, this is not the case. Scheduling messages (see how to do it on Slack) is a good idea to not forget sending any message in your time zone and during any colleague’s sleep time.
In the end, the key to healthy remote work with an international team is respect. I know, it is not so easy to get this balance. But, let’s try to take our own time and take care of each other.
In this survey published by Slack, we can find this information:
Among our paid customers, users spend more than 9 hours per workday connected to our service, including about 90 minutes per workday actively using Slack.
The question is: are we being connected, productive and healthy?
Let me know how you are handling remote work, different time zones, planning, time management, and async communication.
