How to keep teams on-task and collaborative across different locations and time zones? As hybrid work becomes a new norm, it's crucial to have a solid structure for team schedules and task assignments. Our Team Scheduling presentation provides templates to get everyone on the same page and avoid redundant back-and-forth communications. Utilize these slides to foster a more productive work environment, even in the absence of in-person face time.
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Even before the recent rise of nomad work, it was common for companies with multiple office locations to put some extra thought into team coordination, especially when different time zones are involved. A clear visualization that shows which team members are available at what office locations can take the trouble of mental math away. (Slide 6)
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This slide shows the working hours across different team's time zones. Here's how it can be interpreted: Let's say Bruce's office is located in the state of Illinois, which observes Central Daylight Time, and office hour starts at 9 am. He might want to hold off on calling his coworker Alice in California first thing in the morning, because it's still 7 in the morning for her and she's off-duty. On the other hand, Lynne would welcome the call as her day in New York already puts her at 10 am. To change the perspective of this slide to, for example, Lynne's, simply move the vertical bar to when the New York office starts the day. Then edit the times for the other office locations.
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Speaking of time zones, this slide helps to visualize team members who belong in the same time zones. With just a glance, it's clear that David has closer office hours to Amy, as opposed to Marina. Essentially, the gestalt rule of proximity allows team members to quickly compute whom they can realistically communicate with in time. This chart can also be edited to reflect entire teams or departments instead of individual employees. (Slide 24) For a simpler visualization if your organization only needs to consider two or three time zones, use this slide to highlight each team's office hours on the timeline. (Slide 25)
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We've all experienced the endless emails and messages just to settle on a meeting time that works for everyone, everywhere, all at once. A chart that clearly lists inter-office meeting compatibility can greatly ease that process and save time on those menial exchanges. Let's assume that the chart is read from the perspective of office branch 2. While a meeting planned for 5pm their time falls in a happy place, the Main Branch employees might be less thrilled about the decision, as it would be almost 7pm their time. (Slides 11-13)
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For operations that demand real-time responses or customer-facing tasks around the clock, a shift schedule is essential as the source of truth for all team members. Shift patterns are often different based on the nature and demands of the business, but their goals are the same: to outline who's responsible for which shift during which shift period, and to ensure that all shifts scheduled fulfill the hour requirements.
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This example visualizes a shift pattern that changes every six days across a monthly duration. In this case, team 1 is tasked with the first shift for the first shift period that spans from day 1 to day 6. From day 7 to day 10, it gets a break, which is then followed by third shift on days 11 and 12. Each dot can be filled in or un-filled as scheduling needs change. (Slide 22)
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As the possibility of hybrid work can be an attractive perk for employees, it's a win-win for companies to be transparent about their hybrid work policy and how it may evolve over time. This slide is broken down into three rows that shows the percentage of workforce that are fully remote, partly remote and partly on-site, and fully on-site. (Slide 30)
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The columns illustrates changes in those numbers over time. And finally, what workers actually prefer. In this case, the possibility of a predominentantly hybrid work force seems promising as it matches the majority preference. These pie charts can be edited based on the real data generated by your organization.
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After a hybrid work schedule has been determined, don't forget to communicate the decision to the entire team. The roles can be edited to departments, or functions, or individual names. And each dot can be modified to show a remote day, an in-office day, or a day that can go either way. (Slide 26)
