Moreover, it removes the sense of isolation that remote work can lead to.Īlternatively, try giving colleagues three days per week on their home time zone’s schedule and two per week on another team’s schedule. It also allows for teams who work primarily with international colleagues and clients to stay connected with their own office. When it comes to the challenges of working in different time zones, team task management promotes collaboration between teams without expecting either of them to work solely antisocial hours. This sort of team task management is known as a split schedule. This means their time is equally distributed between their own office’s time zone and another team’s time zone. Options could include one or more days per week on which employees work a half-day in the office, then remotely at night or early in the morning. Instead, experiment with different shifts to keep the conversation flowing between teams. If each of your international teams keeps a 9-to-5 schedule in their own time zone, it could be impossible to communicate directly with some of them. So make sure to clarify exactly which to use when making appointments with non-U.S. IST).” Remember, time zones can differ even between regions. Show respect for global workers by noting both your own time zone and theirs. For example, “ This needs to be submitted on Thursday by 5:30 p.m. This helps avoid confusion over when deliverables should be complete. When discussing times and dates, remember to explicitly state which time zone you’re using. Instead of giving one project deadline to suit the majority’s time zone, try to stagger deadlines to take international teams into account. Maintain an open dialogue with global colleagues to ensure that everyone’s boundaries are seen and respected and that nobody is working beyond their core work hours. Normalizing this sort of behavior can lead to remote workers struggling to manage their physical and mental health. This can become an issue when you consider that international workers may be attending these meetings outside of or on top of their regular working hours. Remote employees can feel pressure to say yes to everything they’re invited to, regardless of how busy they are.

But it’s also critical that you make time to understand what they can manage. Your employees need to understand what you expect of them on a day-to-day basis. Communicate Boundaries and Expectationsīoundaries work both ways when it comes to remote international teams.

Scheduling time different time zones