How to Schedule Meetings Across Time Zones Without the Headache

You're in New York trying to schedule a call with someone in Tokyo. Your brain goes: "Okay, they're 14 hours ahead... or is it 13? And wait, is it their tomorrow or still today?"

Welcome to the nightmare of remote work.

The Math Is Never Simple

Here's why timezone scheduling breaks people's brains:

Daylight saving time. The US shifts clocks. Europe shifts clocks. But on different days. So for a few weeks each year, the time difference changes.

Half-hour offsets. India is UTC+5:30. Not 5, not 6. Five and a half. Nepal is +5:45. Fun.

Date line confusion. Schedule something for "Tuesday" and half your team shows up on Wednesday.

"Middle of the night" isn't obvious. 9 AM in San Francisco is midnight in London. Easy to forget.

Finding Overlapping Working Hours

The real challenge isn't just converting times. It's finding hours that work for everyone.

Let's say you have team members in:

• New York (EST)
• London (GMT)
• India (IST)
• Tokyo (JST)

Here's the painful reality:

| Time in NYC | London | India | Tokyo | |------------|--------|-------|-------| | 6 AM | 11 AM ✓ | 4:30 PM ✓ | 8 PM ✗ | | 7 AM | 12 PM ✓ | 5:30 PM ✓ | 9 PM ✗ | | 8 AM | 1 PM ✓ | 6:30 PM ✓ | 10 PM ✗ |

Notice how there's almost no time that's "working hours" for everyone? That's just reality with globally distributed teams.

The Best Approach

Accept that someone gets the bad time slots. Rotate who takes inconvenient calls so the same person isn't always waking up early or staying late.

Record important meetings. If key people can't make it live, at least they can watch later.

Use async by default. Most things don't need a live meeting. Document decisions, use written updates, save synchronous time for what truly requires it.

When you do meet, make it count. Have an agenda. Start on time. End on time.

Quick Mental Math Tips

Here are some time zone relationships worth memorizing:

US to Europe:

• East Coast to London: +5 hours (summer) or +5 hours (winter)
• West Coast to London: +8 hours

US to Asia:

• East Coast to India: +10.5 hours
• East Coast to Tokyo: +14 hours
• West Coast to Tokyo: +17 hours

The ATI trick: Asia is Tomorrow, In the future. If it's Monday evening in the US, it's probably Tuesday already in Asia.

Handling DST Transitions

The worst weeks are:

• Mid-March: US springs forward, Europe doesn't (yet)
• Late March: Europe springs forward
• Early November: US falls back, Europe already did

During these transitions, double-check everything. Your usual patterns are off.

Tools That Actually Help

Instead of doing mental math, just use a visual tool that shows multiple clocks at once.

I built a World Clock that does exactly this:

• Add clocks for any timezone you need
• See who's in working hours at a glance
• Find overlapping times instantly
• Plan meetings with timezone conversion

It shows day and night for each location, highlights business hours, and even helps you find the best time slots when everyone's awake.

Practical Tips

Always specify the timezone. "Let's meet at 3 PM" means nothing. "Let's meet at 3 PM EST / 8 PM GMT" is clear.

Use UTC for group communications. Especially in documentation. It's neutral territory.

Put meeting times in the calendar invite, not just an email. Calendar apps handle timezone conversion automatically.

Double-check before confirming. Especially for important meetings.

Remote work is fantastic, but timezone coordination is its biggest pain point. A little preparation goes a long way.