Teamwork Process Across Different Time Zones

跨时区团队的协作过程

Today’s global business has global geography. It often means that a company has headquarters in one place and branches in different areas of the world with a time difference of several hours. Sometimes, it means one company has business partners abroad, not just in the neighboring states but several time zones away.

如今的跨国经营有着世界地理格局。这往往意味着一家公司除了总部外，分公司在有几个小时时差的世界各地。有时候，这还意味着一家公司在国外的商业伙伴，不仅有邻国的，还有几个时区之外。

The main reason behind such ‘remote’ business relations is the company structure and production process optimization. Companies are exploring the international HR market and opportunities for production localization in more beneficial conditions.

这种“远程”业务关系背后的主要原因是公司结构和生产流程的优化。公司正在探索国际人力资源市场，并在更有利的条件下进行本地化生产。

This results in a globally distributed team of employees who sleep and work at different hours, speak different languages, and have different mentalities and cultural values. This blog will help you understand how to deal with teamwork issues arising from different time zones.

这就形成了一个分布于全球的员工团队，他们在不同的时间睡觉和工作，讲不同的语言，有不同的心态和文化价值观。这篇博客将帮助你了解如何处理来自不同时区的团队合作问题。

Pros and Cons of Working in Multiple Time Zones

多时区工作的利弊

Workflow in multiple time zones can have both advantages and limitations. Let’s have a closer look at it and try to single out its strong and weak points.

多时区的工作流既有优势，也有局限性。让我们仔细观察，找出它的优缺点。

Pros:

优点：

Reduced expenses. Hiring globally is the first benefit that is clear for any headhunter. It is more ‘cost-effective’ to hire an IT specialist in India than in the Netherlands. An engineer will cost your company less in the Czech Republic than in Germany. And it is a well-known paradox that Chinese companies prefer to hire English-language teachers anywhere except in Great Britain. This is because the global HR market offers more competitive prices and opportunities than the local or regional ones.

减少开支。全球招聘是任何猎头都清楚的第一个好处。在印度雇佣It专家比在荷兰更‘划算’。在捷克，一名工程师的成本比在德国要低。众所周知，除了英国，中国公司更愿意在任何地方聘请英语教师。这是因为全球人力资源市场提供的价格和机会比当地或地区市场更具竞争力。

More creativity. It is not only the reduced expenses on salaries that matter. Due to differences in mentality, an international team of employees will have a different view on things, be more creative, and be an endless source of inspiration for the whole company. This ‘injection’ of new ideas can be converted into real profit.

更多创意。重要的不仅仅是工资支出的减少。由于想法的差异，一个国际化的员工团队会对事物有不同的看法，更有创意，成为整个公司永无止境的灵感源泉。这种新想法的“注入”可以转化为真正的利润。

Increased profits. With an international team working in multiple time zones, you can run your business non-stop. This means increased profitability, as the production process based in different time zones will go on 24/7. The number of your customers will grow, as there will always be a team of employees at their service.

利润增加。有了一个在多个时区工作的国际团队，你可以不间断地经营你的业务。这意味着盈利能力的提高，因为基于不同时区的生产流程将全天候进行。由于始终会有一个员工团队为客户服务，所以客户会增加。

Cons:

缺点：

Asynchronous communication. With a big time difference, online communication will hardly be possible. Your emails will get delayed responses, as while it is working hours for you, your partners abroad can still be sleeping.

异步通信。时差大，线上沟通几乎不可能。邮件会得到延迟回复，因为在你工作的时候，其他的团队成员可能还在睡觉。

Difficulty scheduling meetings. The time difference will inevitably impact such an important aspect of collaboration as online meetings. You will either have narrow meeting windows, as in the case of Lisbon and Istanbul (2-hour difference) or have no windows at all, as in the case of Berlin and Sacramento. Sacramento, US, is 9:00 hours behind Berlin, Germany. So, if you are in Berlin and would like to contact your colleagues in Sacramento, you will have to work extra hours. You can make an arrangement only after 6:00 pm when your working day is over. This will ensure an uninterrupted workflow. Otherwise, you will have to get used to delayed responses.

难以安排会议。时差不可避免地会影响在线会议等合作的重要方面。要么有较小的时差来开会，比如里斯本和伊斯坦布尔（相差2小时），要么完全没有机会，比如柏林和萨克拉门托。美国萨克拉门托比德国柏林晚9个小时。所以，如果你在柏林，想联系萨克拉门托的同事，就必须加班。下班后，你只能在下午6点后，在做安排。这样才能确保不间断的工作流程。否则，你将不得不习惯延迟回复。

Lack of in-person interaction is another disadvantage of remote work. Some people cannot imagine their daily routine without in-person communication. Face-to-face dialogue enhances mutual understanding and increases work efficiency. The latter often degrades due to working in different time zones.

缺乏面对面的互动是远程工作的另一个缺点。如果没有面对面的交流，有些人无法想象他们的生活。面对面对话能够增进相互的了解，提高工作效率。这些往往因在不同时区工作而缺失。

No team activities. Some employees will suffer from the lack of corporate team-building activities like karaoke nights, sports games, cooking classes, etc. These events usually help to relieve stress and boost morale among workers.

没有团队活动。一些员工会因缺乏卡拉OK之夜、运动会、烹饪课等企业团队建设活动而苦恼，因为这些活动通常有助于缓解压力、提振员工士气。

Cultural differences. An international environment means cultural differences that are often hard to overcome. For example, people from Asia and India tend to avoid giving direct answers like ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ This might become a problem for Europeans who are used to getting a definite answer.

文化差异。国际环境意味着往往难以克服的文化差异。例如，来自亚洲和印度的人往往避免直接回答‘是’或‘否’，对于习惯于得到明确答案的欧洲人来说，这是个问题。

Language barrier. A multilingual environment will inevitably bring about translation and interpreting issues. As a rule, one or two ‘working languages’ are used for everyday communication. The same concerns all project documentation. The contract usually requires all documents to be written in two languages, with one language having the prevailing force in court. This means a two-fold increase in the document workflow and extra expenses for translation services.

语言障碍。多语言环境必然带来翻译和口译问题。通常情况下，一种或两种“工作语言”用于日常交流。所有项目文件也是如此。合同通常要求所有文件以两种语言书写，其中一种语言在法庭上具有普遍效力。这也意味着文件工作流程将增加两倍，翻译服务的额外费用也将增加两倍。

Weighing these pros and cons will help you figure out whether you can or cannot afford to work in different time zones.

权衡这些利弊，将有助于清楚自己是否负担得起在不同时区工作的费用。

Best Practices for Working With Teammates in Different Time Zones

与不同时区成员合作的最佳实践

Below are some of the best tips for working across different time zones. They will help you to streamline the workflow.

以下是一些跨时区工作的最佳建议。它们将帮助您简化工作流程。

Time Zone Management Tools

时区管理工具

You can easily find lots of online resources that will facilitate workflow management. This will cost you nothing and will yield good results.

你可以很容易地找到许多有助于工作流管理的在线资源。这不会让你付出任何财力，但会产生很好的效果。

Like many similar sites, 24timezones.com is a free world time clock with a map that will visualize the time difference between you and your partners. Besides displaying the time worldwide, it has other indispensable features like setting up online conferences in different locations and a time converter, an easy way to compare time between different time zones.

像许多类似的网站一样，24timezones.com是一个免费的世界时间时钟，它有一张地图，可以直接显示你和团队成员之间的时差。除了显示全球范围内的时间，它还有其他不可缺少的功能，比如在不同地点设置在线会议和时间转换器，这是比较不同时区时间的一种简单方法。

The screenshot below shows how it works. Just type the required locations (Tokyo and Lisbon, for instance) in the search tab, and here you are:

下面的截图说明了它的操作方法。只需在搜索选项卡中键入所需的位置（例如东京和里斯本），即可获得：

As you can see, the program displays the time difference and gives recommendations on when to contact your partners. This is very convenient as, no matter what, people tend to make mistakes in calculating the right time for a call or a meeting.

如你所见，该程序显示时差，并给出何时联系合作伙伴的建议，非常方便。因为人们在计算电话或会议的正确时间时往往会出错。

If you scroll the page down, you will find a Tokyo time to Lisbon time converter. This is how it looks:

如果向下滚动页面，你会发现东京时间到里斯本时间转换器。看起来是这样的：

At the bottom of the page, you will see a form for announcing an event for an international audience.

在页面底部，你会看到一张面向全球的活动公告表。

After filling in the form, press the green button, and you will get a link to the announced event. You can easily share it with your colleagues, employees, or partners.

填写完表格后，按下绿色按钮，你会得到一个宣布活动的链接。你可以轻松地与同事、员工或合作伙伴分享这一链接。

Flexible Workhours

弹性工作时间

Another tip is to provide flexible work hours for remote employees. A bit of freedom will stimulate them and create an atmosphere of trust. It is surprising how simple things can give great results: some people will really appreciate it and become more creative in their work. And creativity means innovation and higher profits.

另一个建议是为远程员工提供灵活的工作时间。一点自由会刺激他们，创造一种信任的氛围。让人惊讶的是，简单的事情可以带来巨大的成果:有人会真正享受自由，并在他们的工作中变得更有创造力。创造力意味着创新和更高的利润。

Clear Expectations

明确的期望

Make your project information transparent enough for all stakeholders to understand their issues. Of course, it does not mean everyone should have access to everything. But those authorized should have a clear vision of your project goals and perspectives. One of the ways to ensure it is to send information in advance of meetings so that all the parties can get ready and feel confident.

让项目信息足够透明，以便所有涉众都能了解他们的问题。当然，这并不意味着每个人都应该获得一切。但授权的人应该对你的项目目标和视角有明确的期望。确保这一点的方法之一是在会议前发送信息，让各方做好准备并充满自信。

Asynchronous and Synchronous Communications

异步和同步通信

It would be best if you learned how to strike the right balance between asynchronous and synchronous communications for working in multiple time zones. Of course, the shift will be asynchronous as you will have to reduce the number of online meetings and calls. Still, you will have to save a bit of your private time to make calls outside your usual working hours.

如果你学会如何在多个时区工作的异步和同步通信之间找到正确的平衡，那就最好了。当然，这种转变是不同步的，因为你将不得不减少在线会议和电话的数量。尽管如此，你还是得省下一点私人时间在正常工作时间之外打电话。

Meeting Scheduling

会议日程安排

The first piece of advice here is to limit the number of meetings. This is reasonable as most of your counterparts will have to miss them anyway.

第一条建议是限制会议的次数。这是合理的，因为你的大多数团队成员无论如何都将错过他们。

Secondly, recording meetings for those who can’t make them is advisable. People will surely appreciate it if you send them links to the audio files as a follow-up with MoMs (minutes of meetings) and all the necessary information.

其次，为那些无法开会的人录制会议是可取的。如果将音频文件发送给他们，他们肯定会感激你，作为对MoMs(会议记录)和所有必要信息的跟进。

Teamwork in ClickHelp

ClickHelp中的团队协作

Your employees may be residents of different cities on the world map, and still, they can efficiently work on one document or a whole package. This is co-authoring, a feature offered by ClickHelp. It is just what you need for workflow optimization.

你的员工可能是居住于世界各地，但他们仍然可以高效地处理一份文件或一整套文件。联合协作是ClickHelp提供的一项功能。这正是工作流优化所需要的。

With ClickHelp, you can assign your employees the roles of authors, reviewers, and readers. They can work whenever convenient for them and still get the right amount of information. It is a cloud resource so nothing will be lost. The document will just ‘travel’ from one assignee to the other while changing its status.

通过ClickHelp，您可以为员工分配作者、审阅者和读者的角色。他们可以在任何方便的时候工作，同时仍能获得适当数量的信息。它是一个云资源，所以不会有任何损坏。当身份发生变化时，该文件将从一个受让人“转移”到另一个受让人。

Collaboration between authors and reviewers will become more efficient as they can exchange comments right on the ClickHelp platform. This is much more convenient than discussing something by e-mail and then transferring it to the document in question. With ClickHelp, you can make comments right in the doc you are working on. Just highlight the necessary word, phrase, or passage. Then choose the Insert tab on the ribbon and click the comment icon.

作者和审稿人之间的协作将变得更加有效，因为他们可以在ClickHelp平台上直接交换意见。这比通过电子邮件讨论事，然后将其传输到相关文档要方便得多。有了ClickHelp，就可以在正在处理的文档中发表意见。只需突出显示必要的单词、短语或段落。然后选择功能区上的插入选项卡，并单击注释图标。

ClickHelp offers a Translation Module that is essential for an international multilingual team. Your translators can work with documents in many formats supported by the most popular CAT (computer-assisted translation) tools (MemoQ, Smartcat, Trados, etc.). Get XLIFF files and easily transfer translation work from these portals to ClickHelp and make the work of your translation team totally in-house. And vice versa you can export files for translation in the CAT tool you like.

ClickHelp提供了一个翻译模块，对于国际多语言团队来说是必不可少的。翻译人员可以使用最流行的CAT（计算机辅助翻译）工具（MemoQ、Smartcat、Trados等）支持的多种格式的文档。获取XLIFF文件，轻松将翻译工作从这些文档转移到ClickHelp，让翻译团队的工作完全在内部完成。也可以用喜欢的CAT工具导出文件进行翻译。

There is also Machine Translation (MT) support which can be used for simple projects or everyday correspondence, thus saving 80% of your localization effort.

还支持机器翻译（MT），可用于简单项目或日常通信，从而节省80%的本地化工作。

Conclusion

总结

Regardless of all the problems, the world is expanding. This means further globalization of business in general, while for your organization, it means more geographical, cultural, and linguistic diversity. Working in different time zones is the future of every dynamic company. The advice given in this blog will help you face this future.

抛开所有问题不谈，全球化范围都在扩大。这意味着总体上业务要进一步全球化，而对团队来说，这意味着更多的地域、文化和语言多样性。在不同的时区工作是每个充满活力的公司的未来。本博客给出的建议将有助于面对未来。

Good luck with your technical writing!

祝你的技术写作好运！

ClickHelp Team

ClickHelp团队

Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices

跨平台和设备编写、托管和交付文档