When employees work across time zones, team collaboration can become difficult. Employees can work at different times based on their unique needs and schedules. This makes it highly challenging to ensure everyone has equal access to the same resources and updates—including meetings, decisions, and chances to participate in the wider company structure. If you’ve found yourself struggling with communication gaps and overall difficulties, there is hope. These strategies used by global companies can help reduce communication delays, avoid regional bias, improve asynchronous communication, and prevent employees in some time zones from feeling excluded.

1. Establish Overlap Hours

Flexibility is often one of the top benefits of remote work positions. However, having a few hours each day when team members share working hours can substantially improve communication and make meetings easier. If you’re unable to establish reasonable overlap hours, try assigning regions that have overlap hours to enhance collaboration. A world clock for remote teams can make it easier to monitor time zones across the team, ensuring everyone knows when colleagues are available. Establishing overlap hours can make team collaboration easier for everyone.

2. Use Your Asynchronous Communication Effectively

Asynchronous communication is the lifeblood of information-sharing for teams working across time zones. However, for it to work, you have to do it well. That includes:

• Setting clear, standardized expectations for reply timelines
• Clearly documenting all work and relevant information in shared locations so that employees can access important information on their own
• Using a system that identifies the urgency of communications so others can quickly determine what they need to focus on and how much time they have to respond

Clear asynchronous communication has become increasingly important in maintaining team collaboration. This applies to remote teams across time zones and companies that want to encourage deep work and focus. Being able to turn off notifications can help all team members accomplish their goals more efficiently.

3. Rotate Meeting Times

In a global company, it can be difficult to find a meeting time that is convenient for everyone. Worse, when you have a standardized meeting time, team members in a single time zone often face the greatest inconvenience. By rotating meeting times, you share the burden more evenly and show every team member they are appreciated. When setting meeting times, strive to choose times that are less likely to inconvenience the whole team. For example, avoid scheduling meetings after 5:00 on anyone’s Friday, as this can significantly increase frustration and decrease engagement.

4. Record and Archive Meetings

When you have team members scattered around the world, chances are, you will often have people absent from critical meetings. This can make team collaboration even more challenging. To help them catch up more easily, record and archive meetings so they can check back in at a time convenient for them. Recorded meetings mean that no one has to miss out. This way, everyone can go back and check the context or refresh themselves on what was actually said.

5. Choose Your Timing

While it’s impossible to announce at a time that will reach everyone on your team, pay attention to your timing. If you’ll be making a key announcement, whether it’s a company-wide announcement or pertains to a specific project, try not to do it during regional holidays or outside local work hours. Respect employees’ off hours, especially around holidays, to ensure they have adequate time to disconnect and step away from work responsibilities. 

6. Open Opportunities for Communication and Connection

When work takes place asynchronously, dissent can occur all too easily. One region or group feels unappreciated. Another feels they were disrespected during a meeting, especially one in which they did not have a representative. Behind the scenes, communication can turn sour, and although the team may work together on the surface, problems may be brewing out of sight. Research at Harvard Business School found that what happens after a meeting can be just as important for team collaboration as the meeting itself. Provide opportunities for employees to ask questions, clarify details, and share their thoughts constructively after meetings, especially if anything was potentially unclear. This simple step can go a long way toward streamlining those communications and enhancing the feeling of collaboration across a diverse group.

7. Choose the Right Communication Channels

Teams operating across time zones may not appreciate Slack or Teams notifications going off at all hours of the night. On the other hand, employees in the same region may need synchronous communication platforms to support team collaboration on current projects, review one another’s work, or clarify information. Choosing the right communication channel for each type of interaction is essential. That may mean:

• Emails and newsletters for whole-company communications
• Instant messaging platforms like Slack for synchronous chats
• Document sharing and project management tools that provide easy access and management for long-term projects

In addition, ensure your meeting software is high-quality and can handle the number of attendees, whether a handful of regional employees coming together or a large global group listening.

8. Reducing Unnecessary Meetings

Meetings are a great way to connect employees and give them a chance to work together. However, unnecessary meetings can introduce extreme frustration for teams in different time zones. If an asynchronous way exists to share the same information or achieve the same result, consider using it to improve team morale.

9. Onboard Employees Effectively

In a global remote environment, onboarding is essential for effective team collaboration. Employees must know how to access the information they need, how to reach their team members, and whom to contact if they have questions or concerns, including contacts in their time zone. Furthermore, all employees need comprehensive onboarding on emergency procedures. This way, they can quickly address issues that arise during their working hours. Effective onboarding can be the difference between a productive employee and one who struggles to keep up with their work.

Let Us Help You Grow Your Remote Team

At BrightR Limited, we provide the tools you need to onboard and maintain your global employees. Contact us to learn more about our remote solutions, including serving as an employer of record, growing your remote team, or helping you find the best people for your open roles, no matter where they are.