These are also useful when your teammates don’t all speak the same language. During onboarding, make sure your communication policies and collaboration tools are properly defined and communicated. These rules can be reviewed and referred to by employees, so they know what to do and what is expected of them.
Working with a distributed team can be challenging at first because it’s difficult to build the kind of rapport that comes naturally when working in an office setting. It takes extra effort for remote teams to stay on task without face-to-face communication. The lack of physical working remotely in a different time zone presence makes it easier for remote workers to lose connection with their team. This can be especially challenging when working with a distributed team in different time zones. Managing a global team is more complicated than managing one that works from the same office.
Greenwich Mean Time
When we meet someone new, we frequently think they are in the same time zone as ourselves. When scheduling a conference or call with remote team members, ask them what time zone they are in so that you can account for any time difference with their local time. Therefore, it’s reasonable to switch meeting schedules every month or quarter.
A remote team’s culture is conveyed in what you think (your values) and demonstrated in how you behave every day (your actions). Maintaining culture is a vital component of every company’s business success, but it is especially critical for totally remote teams. Understanding the distinctions between creating and maintaining a dynamic culture in a remote work setting vs an office-based environment is of utmost importance and companies can not ignore it. Asynchronous communication should be the norm for remote teams, especially those with personnel in multiple time zones. We often assume when we’re talking to someone new that they’re in the same time zone as us. When you meet frequently with the same people, take time to understand when they work remotely.
UTC Time
While this may not be possible, it is the mindset you need to adopt to organize your time and responsibilities. If so, then you know the challenges in staying on the same page that come with working remotely. An inside look at the meeting ground rules used internally by Fellow.app, the top-rated meeting productivity software company.
- When you meet frequently with the same people, take time to understand when they work remotely.
- Examples of sync vs. async at work, and when to use either way of communicating.
- Managers should instead give their workers some leeway when it comes to setting work schedules or deadlines, as long as they deliver high-quality results.
- For example, writing an email, sending a Loom video, or leaving a voice message for someone so they can respond to it whenever works best with their schedule (and yours).
- We often assume when we’re talking to someone new that they’re in the same time zone as us.
- For example, Iceland, Russia, Turkey, China, Japan, and India don’t follow such trends.
When working with a distributed team, it’s important to understand the differences between sync and async communication, and the extreme importance of asynchronous communication. The main project management tools include Trello, Basecamp, and Asana, which keep track of what everyone is working on as it progresses through the pipeline. Teams can use Slack for better communication, which will also assist you overcome the disadvantages of a remote working team. In your remote developer job, you can use the tools and practices that are the best fit and make working remotely a pleasurable experience for everybody. When compared against the benefits, the downsides of working across several time zones are minor inconveniences. This is proven by the fact that an increasing number of businesses are electing to work remotely, with Blueface research estimating that remote work would rival office labour by 2025.