Remote teams span the globe. Coordinating meetings across continents requires more than just knowing local time — you need to understand timezone offsets, daylight saving rules, and overlap windows.
How timezone offsets work
A timezone offset is the difference from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC):
- 🇺🇸 New York: UTC-5 (EST) / UTC-4 (EDT during daylight saving)
- 🇬🇧 London: UTC+0 (GMT) / UTC+1 (BST)
- 🇪🇺 Paris/Berlin/Rome: UTC+1 (CET) / UTC+2 (CEST)
- 🇦🇪 Dubai: UTC+4 (no DST)
- 🇮🇳 India: UTC+5:30 (no DST, half-hour offset)
- 🇮🇩 Jakarta: UTC+7 (WIB, no DST)
- 🇨🇳 Beijing/Shanghai: UTC+8 (CST, no DST)
- 🇯🇵 Tokyo: UTC+9 (JST, no DST)
- 🇦🇺 Sydney: UTC+10 (AEST) / UTC+11 (AEDT)
Daylight saving time in 2026
Most of Europe, North America, and Australia observe DST. Most of Asia, Africa, and South America do not.
EU & UK daylight saving
- Spring forward: Last Sunday of March (March 29, 2026)
- Fall back: Last Sunday of October (October 25, 2026)
US & Canada daylight saving
- Spring forward: Second Sunday of March (March 8, 2026)
- Fall back: First Sunday of November (November 1, 2026)
⚠️ Watch out: During the 3-week window in March (US "spring forward" before EU), the New York–London offset is 4 hours instead of 5. This catches international teams off-guard.
Australia
- Spring forward: First Sunday of October (October 4, 2026)
- Fall back: First Sunday of April (April 5, 2026)
- ⚠️ Australian seasons are reversed — they spring forward in October, not March.
Working hours overlap reference
| Team 1 | Team 2 | Best meeting window |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 SF (PST) | 🇬🇧 London | 8-10 AM SF / 4-6 PM London |
| 🇺🇸 NYC (EST) | 🇮🇩 Jakarta | None during business hours — alternate |
| 🇬🇧 London | 🇮🇩 Jakarta | 10-11 AM London / 4-5 PM Jakarta |
| 🇩🇪 Berlin | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 9-10 AM Berlin / 3-4 PM Singapore |
| 🇮🇳 Bangalore | 🇺🇸 NYC | 7-9 PM Bangalore / 9-11 AM NYC |
| 🇦🇺 Sydney | 🇺🇸 SF | 7-9 AM Sydney / 1-3 PM SF previous day |
Strategies for time-distributed teams
- Rotate meeting times — alternate convenient and inconvenient slots between regions
- Async by default — record decisions, ask for replies in 24h
- Pin meeting times in UTC — avoid ambiguity in calendar invites
- One ISO date format — "YYYY-MM-DD" works globally
- Use 24-hour time — avoids AM/PM confusion
- Schedule with a tool — see our world clock for live time comparison
Half-hour and quarter-hour timezones (gotchas)
Some countries use non-integer UTC offsets:
| Country | Offset | Note |
|---|---|---|
| India | UTC+5:30 | 5.5 hours from UTC |
| Iran | UTC+3:30 | Plus DST adjustment |
| Afghanistan | UTC+4:30 | |
| Myanmar | UTC+6:30 | |
| Sri Lanka | UTC+5:30 | Same as India |
| Nepal | UTC+5:45 | Quarter-hour offset! |
| Chatham Islands (NZ) | UTC+12:45 | |
| Newfoundland (Canada) | UTC-3:30 |
See more
Time-keeping is governed by IANA tzdata. DST rules can change with national policy — verify before planning critical events more than 6 months out.