Slack is a great asynchronous communication tool used by many companies of all sizes. You can set up a collection of channels for different groups of people and topics of conversation. Settings include public and private channels so you can have some fun open group conversations and more project-specific channels. The key to successfully working across multiple time zones is good communication and setting clear expectations is the first step. Working remotely has its challenges, not the least of which is working across multiple time zones.
For employees, remote work can result in boosted productivity, a healthier work-life balance, and significant cost savings. Research firm Global Workplace Analytics estimates that workers save between $600 and $6,000 per year by working from home at least half of the time. These savings are primarily due to reduced costs for gas, parking, car maintenance, and food. A lot of people work from home – 59% of U.S. workers who say their jobs can be performed from home do so all or most of the time – and that comes with many benefits for employers and employees alike. Since your overlap time in such a situation is limited, effective communication and delegation are the key for any sort of progress to be made.
Tips For Teams Working Across Different Time Zones
For asynchronous collaboration to work, teams need clear processes and guidelines on hand at all times to get a clear direction and understanding of priorities, boundaries, and goals. With the limited opportunities for verbal communication and even virtual meetings across time zones, distributed teams need to rely on written and video records to obtain all the information. Additionally, team members can create a shared document with their work schedules highlighting no-contact hours to ensure clear boundaries are being set and respected. Finally, a successful asynchronous collaboration calls for a set of functional tools to seamlessly tie all autonomous teams and operations together.
But it’s also critical that you make time to understand what they can manage. Remote employees can feel pressure to say yes to everything they’re invited to, regardless of how busy they are. Just imagine a chatroom with all the features of texting and emailing available today and you’ll have https://remotemode.net/ Slack. It’s a great collaboration and communication tool for teams that are all over the place. The other great perk is that you can include people who are not on your internal email servers, like freelancers, contractors, or clients, to be part of certain channels and conversations.
Use async communication as much as possible
With these systems in place, teams can effectively communicate both asynchronously and synchronously, allowing for efficient collaboration and productivity across multiple time zones. Additionally, having a shared understanding of these processes can help build trust and transparency within the team, creating a stronger remote working culture. To prevent this common hurdle of working across time zones, organizations can set an official time zone for all team members to reference when scheduling meetings or setting deadlines. With a uniform time zone in place, employees can easily figure out the time difference for their location and plan accordingly. Research shows that organizations spend around 15% of their time on meetings. We can only imagine what these numbers mean for distributed teams that need to put extra effort into planning a perfect schedule that won’t disturb the regular work and sleep schedules of the people involved.
And this is particularly why we’re seeing a consistent increase in the number of companies employing globally. Let’s break down all the benefits of working across time zones to get a better understanding of the trend. When it comes to delegating assignments, managers should always clearly communicate deadlines and explicitly state both their and the employee’s time zone to eliminate any confusion. For example, a manager may ask their team member to complete a task by Friday at 9 AM EST / 8 AM CT. The most important thing to do when working remotely is to grow comfortable communicating asynchronously whenever possible. Even though your whole team may be in different major cities or different countries, with geographic and time zone differences separating you—with effective async communication, none of that matters.
Plot Out Team Members’ Locations on a Map
Whether you want to organize days when everyone is working on similar projects or just remind everyone when it’s a special birthday or anniversary, Google calendar is a good way to keep everyone on the same page. For collaboration, you can share your screen with just the click of a button and also share control of the mouse. People can make the choice to have their cameras and microphones on working remotely in a different time zone or off depending on the situation. If you’re looking for a virtual water-cooler, Slack can be used to chat about non-work-related topics like favorite TV shows and sharing pictures of your pets. You have the option to chat one-on-one with people and attach pictures, files, and more. It’s a great way to get a conversation going and have a single spot for Q&A and feedback on different ideas.
