Working across different time zones can be difficult if you’ve got a small team or limited resources. However, if you export to countries outside of the UK, or frequently do business around the world, then working across time zones is necessary for small businesses looking to expand.
Ian Baxter, owner and chairman of Baxter Freight works with a network of partners across the world. He points out that some deliveries (like those in Europe) are easier than others, but there’s “no such thing as an impossible delivery purely because of time zones.” Baxter says: “The main difficulties are that when you send an email to Australia, you might not get a response until the next day, and if there are complications then it could be another day later when you get clarification.”
Richard Stone, managing director of Stone Junction, an international technology and technical PR agency, agrees with Ian Baxter: “Language and culture are important things to understand. Most Arabic countries rest on Friday and Saturday and work Sunday to Thursday. You should time your own communications to respect this. Expats in Dubai won’t be offended if you send them an email on a Friday for instance, but save your email to the CEO of a large Arabic business until Sunday, out of respect.”
Setting up in other locations
Is it essential to set up offices in other time zones? Niall McBain, CEO of Spafax has teams that collaborate regularly from London, Kuala Lumpur, Lima, and Dubai, among others. “For example, when we compile Apex Experience Magazine it’s developed and managed across three time zones, four offices and five cultures (French Canadian, English Canadian, American, British and Chilean staff all contribute to it in a coordinated fashion via our bespoke system).”
It’s important to ensure there is good communication between offices. However, arranging meetings can be a problem. Raymond Girard, president of content marketing from Spafax Toronto, says: “Trying to plan meetings can be a challenge. Be aware of local national holidays, religious holidays, different work weeks and make sure everyone updates each other’s diaries with national holidays and daylight saving hours. Finally, spell out the time in long hand on diary appointments: e.g. 7am Toronto – with a link to the world clock website. Don’t trust digital calendars to always get it right!”
Organising your day
For people working in different parts of the world and communicating with the UK, working while the UK sleeps can be really productive. Caroline Boyd, director of strategy and research at Nimbus Ninety says: “For me, technology - though fundamental to giving me the tools to communicate, share information and stay up to date with colleagues and clients thousands of miles away - is only part of the picture. It’s also as much about how you prioritise and structure your day and finding out what works for you and your situation.
“I see my day as being split into ‘modules’ of time, rather than one extended linear working day and I think this is common for workers in the digital age. I believe this is a very productive way to work because you know you only have a finite period to get the job done. My longest ‘module’ is in the morning, while the UK sleeps, a great time for copy writing and planning. When the UK gets to work, I am on the phone with Nimbus Ninety members and clients.”
Establishing offices across the world can mean that even as an SME you can have global reach. Steve Greenwood, CEO is executive director at Berkley Recruitment group and he says that thanks to office location, they can now provide a 24 hour service: “If a client was urgently looking for highly skilled expertise within the pharmaceutical sector, for example, our resourcing team in Singapore would be able to identify professionals with the relevant skills while their counterparts in Europe are asleep. We work alongside our Asian office to ensure that we have the widest possible time span to provide a valuable service to our clients.”
Using technology to link companies up
Collaborative tech company Projectplace really struggled to work across different time zones initially. Chief operating officer Tobias Andersson and his team in Stockholm found it difficult at first to work with their colleagues in Bangalore. “To overcome these issues and build a sustainable presence and access to talent in Bangalore, we decided to launch our own local office in the city. The natural first step was to start using our own collaboration platform, Projectplace.com, a cloud-based tool built on the Japanese principle of Kanban. This allowed the two geographically disparate teams to communicate and collaborate almost as if they were in the same workspace.”
Sometimes simply making different offices more welcoming can really help businesses to work across time zones. For Goldcrest, a film production company based in London and LA, allowing visitors to hot desk when they came to the office was one way of welcoming colleagues from different time zones. Additionally, Goldcrest uses unified communications to help employees collaborate, work more flexibly, be more contactable and, ultimately, be more productive and efficient. They can also use their iPhone or Android device as an extension of their desk phone regardless of where they are located – in or out of the office - for increased productivity while mobile.
However, Richard Stone suggests taking care when you send emails and messages out of respect for personal time: “We are all glued to our smartphones constantly and often answer email as a result. But, just because someone responds to your email instantly at whatever time you send it, it doesn’t mean they want to do so. They may well be taking time out of playing with their children or watching their favourite TV programme. So bear in mind office hours when you are sending emails and you will get better and more favourable responses.”
Working with partners
With advances in technology, Guy Mucklow, CEO of Postcode Anywhere says time zones should now be irrelevant for most businesses. Postcode Anywhere deals with 9,000 customers across the globe, from New Zealand to the Galapagos Islands. “In my experience, the best approach is to work with partners who thoroughly understand the local market. The costs and risks are shared, with the partner being able to provide their local market knowledge, know how and experience in their local business environment.
“Our core office hours are 9-5.30, however we’re much more fluid than that. We’ve now set up a remote support team, who can assist our customers in different time zones. Our technical support team are all equipped with smart phones so that they can respond to customers when they need us. The way we’ve grown quickly internationally is by enabling a self-service model.
“We’ve built our own internal system for measuring customer happiness that alerts us to any potential problems in customer activity. These innovations within our own systems and processes and use of automation has enabled us to be more efficient with international customers.”
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