Scheduling Across Time Zones: Best Practices for Global Teams
Proven strategies for scheduling meetings across multiple time zones. Reduce late-night calls and improve team fairness.
The Overlap Problem
Scheduling a meeting across time zones is harder than it looks. When your team spans the US, Europe, and India, the overlap in standard 9-to-6 working hours can be razor-thin or nonexistent. A time that feels comfortable for New York puts London at the end of their day and Mumbai well into the evening.
The visual timeline below shows what this looks like for a team with members in Eastern Time (US), Central European Time (Europe), and India Standard Time. Each row represents one person's working hours, and the overlap bar at the bottom highlights where windows exist.
As you can see, the window where all three zones overlap during standard work hours is narrow. This is the fundamental challenge -- and the rest of this guide covers strategies to deal with it.
Finding Common Windows
The first step is identifying where overlap exists, even if it is limited. For the same three-zone team (ET, CET, IST), here are the top-ranked one-hour meeting slots computed at build time. Each slot is scored on availability, mid-day preference, fairness, and DST safety.
2 of 3 members within working hours. 2 in mid-day range (9 AM–5 PM). Outside work hours for ET. Note: 1 timezone(s) have a DST transition within 14 days.
2 of 3 members within working hours. 2 in mid-day range (9 AM–5 PM). Outside work hours for ET. Note: 1 timezone(s) have a DST transition within 14 days.
2 of 3 members within working hours. 2 in mid-day range (9 AM–5 PM). Outside work hours for ET. Note: 1 timezone(s) have a DST transition within 14 days.
These slots represent the best options for synchronous meetings, but "best" is relative. If none of the scores are high enough, it is a signal to reduce meeting frequency or adopt async approaches. Use the Meeting Time Finder to explore custom work hours, and the Best Meeting Time Calculator to rank slots for your specific team.
Async-First Strategies
Not every collaboration requires a synchronous meeting. When your team's overlap is limited, embracing async communication can be more productive than forcing everyone into inconvenient time slots.
Recorded Standups
Instead of a daily sync call, have each team member record a 2-3 minute video or write a brief text update at the start of their workday. Tools like Loom, Slack clips, or a shared document work well. Everyone consumes updates when their day begins, and the team stays aligned without anyone waking at 6 AM.
Written Decision Logs
Decisions made during meetings should be documented immediately so team members in other time zones are not left out. A shared document or Slack channel dedicated to decisions ensures that everyone has context when they come online. If a decision needs input from someone offline, mark it as "pending" and set a deadline.
Overlap-Respecting DMs
Tools like Slack have "schedule send" features that let you write a message now but deliver it when the recipient is online. Use this to avoid pinging someone at midnight. Respect their working hours the same way you would respect a colleague sitting across the office.
Rotating Meeting Times for Fairness
One of the most common complaints on distributed teams is that the same people always get the inconvenient time slot. If your weekly sync is at 9 AM Eastern because it works for the US, your colleagues in India are joining at 7:30 PM or later every single week. Over months, this breeds resentment.
The solution is rotation. Alternate meeting times on a weekly or biweekly basis so the inconvenience is shared. For example:
Two-Week Rotation Example
- Week A: 8:00 AM ET / 2:00 PM CET / 6:30 PM IST -- convenient for US and Europe, evening for India
- Week B: 8:30 PM ET / 2:30 AM CET (skip) / 7:00 AM IST -- convenient for India, evening for US, Europe skips this one
When a rotation slot falls in the middle of the night for one region, that region is excused. Share notes and a recording so they stay in the loop.
Rotation works best when combined with async practices. Not every meeting needs every person live. Record the session, document decisions, and let the off-hours team catch up asynchronously.
Tips by Team Configuration
The right scheduling approach depends on which time zones your team spans. Here are practical recommendations for the most common configurations.
US + Europe
This is the easiest multi-zone configuration. Morning US time (9-11 AM ET) overlaps with afternoon Europe (3-5 PM CET). You typically have a 3-5 hour overlap window depending on which US and European zones are involved. The main gotcha is the 2-3 week period each spring and autumn when US and EU DST transitions happen on different weekends, temporarily shifting the overlap by an hour.
US + India
The 10.5-13.5 hour gap between US zones and IST makes overlap tight. The only viable window for most teams is early morning US / late evening India. A meeting at 8:00 AM ET is 6:30 PM IST -- workable but not ideal for the India side. West Coast teams (PT) have it even harder: 8:00 AM PT is 9:30 PM IST. Consider rotating times or going async-first with one weekly sync.
Global (US + Europe + Asia)
When your team spans all three major regions, there is no single time that works for everyone during business hours. Accept this reality early. The best approach is a combination: one rotating sync meeting per week (alternating who takes the inconvenient slot) plus daily async updates. Some teams split into regional syncs (US-EU sync and EU-Asia sync) with shared notes, eliminating the need for a single all-hands time.
Tools That Help
ZoneCross provides free tools designed specifically for distributed team scheduling. Here is what each one solves.
Convert any time between two zones with live DST handling. Useful for one-off scheduling checks.
Meeting Time FinderInput your team members and their zones, then see overlapping work hours visually on a timeline.
Best Meeting Time CalculatorGet ranked, scored meeting slots that factor in availability, fairness, mid-day preference, and DST risk.
World ClockSee the current time across major time zones at a glance. Helpful for quick "what time is it there?" checks.