The post pandemic world has helped individuals, and companies realise the potential of working beyond office doors. From lower operational costs for businesses, to more flexibility in terms of working hours for professionals, the upsides of remote working are countless. Remote working has helped accelerate the globalisation of the workforces as well. It’s allowed companies to go global without the need of physical offices across countries. Having a global team can help bring in a diverse perspective to your business, and make it easier to scale since you have a direct insight with audiences from across the world.  

But working across timezones can be tricky! How does one coordinate team calls when your designer is sitting in India, and your social media manager in Hawaii? Then there’s the whole issue of leaves! Different time zones involve different cultures, so how many holidays do you celebrate as an office? Is the constant calculation of time difference, and battle between who’s working hours should meetings be held at even worth all the hassle? To put it shortly, yes. While there are some challenges in figuring out the logistics, the benefits of having a global team work for you remotely definitely outweigh the cons.  Now before we move ahead with some tips on how you can efficiently manage your team across time zones let's pause and consider the pros and cons of making this decision.  Pros  Working with talent across the world gives both you and your business exposure to how individuals think across the globe.

This understanding can help expand your business in avenues you might not have even considered otherwise. Another major advantage is having access to the widest talent pool. When the world is your playground, you can be assured that you’ll find the best in every field. The main hidden benefit however lies in the opportunity to provide round the clock personal service. With different time zones you can assure that the work never stops without having to stretch your employees to pull off long and tiring shifts. Cons Everything has a flipside. Working with remote teams across time zones can become a constant battle for efficiency if your internal communication isn’t clear. From delayed responses, to employee isolation, there are a lot of hurdles like missing out on real-time interaction, churning out projects on a short deadline, and of course the issue of scheduling interactions across time zones.  All of these however are manageable. Continue reading to see how you can streamline your operations across the globe.  

5 Tips For Managing A Team Across Timezones

1. Consider All Timezones: When you’re working with teams that are scattered all across the globe, scheduling a meeting can get tricky. For example if you’re sitting in Europe and its 10 PM for you, your teammate in India might not be able to hop on a call since it’s almost 2:30 AM for them. Get on a call and figure out what timings suit all timezones. Also it won’t always be perfect, you will have to compromise so share the burden of having to wake up too early, or sleep a little later due to a call across time zones to make it easier for everyone to adjust to the change.  
   
2. Invest in collaboration tools: Technology has been a major saving grace in helping ease the transition into remote work. With applications like Slack, Zoho, Salesforce staying connected with what’s happening in your team is no longer an issue. Invest in these tools so you can stay updated even when a part of your time is offline, automation helps take off the burden of having to need manual interference for every decision. Leverage it everywhere you can. A successful example of this would be the popular automation company Zapier, that operates successfully with members across 24 different countries.  
   
3. Make Scheduling your superpower: Having a set routine will really help smoother the transition of dealing with members across time zones. Scheduling consistent days, and timings for meetings will allow everyone to plan and prepare work.
   
4. Try to have direct professionals in nearby timezones: Having professionals that are codependent on each other for completion of work in polar opposite time zones can become an issue. Try to assign such projects to professionals that live in the same time zones, or regions at least so they can work out their timings conveniently.
   
5. Prioritise Batch Work: Since getting on impromptu calls can be a challenge, leverage the time you do have together as a team to knock off as much work as you can. Set weekly targets, and clear out all queries in one call so you can assign a batch of work to independent professionals to work on.  
   

Managing a team across time zones can seem daunting but there’s so much to take away from the experience of working with professionals from across cultures. At an individual level every professional takes home more knowledge of working practices across the globe, and as a business you present yourself with the opportunity to go truly global without needing to physically invest in multiple places. So how do you go about getting global professionals on board? That bit is simple, simply head on over to LMON a social networking platform that connects businesses with freelancers from across the globe, and discover a whirlwind of talent and opportunities spread all over the planet just waiting for you a click away.