Global working trends are reaching new heights of collaboration and synergy the debate over remote and hybrid work being the future is almost settled. While RTO mandates threaten some WFH plans, they are mostly an odd spec on a uniformly even plane. In this light, understanding how companies navigate working times and differences in timezones is of significant importance.
Our app Sunrize offers automated work hours logging to users. And we collected the data from over ——– clients, aggregated it and discovered some key insights on global remote work trends. Here are some of our most significant highlights. Here they are:
5 Working Time Trends from Across the World
Saturday Are Almost Universally Off
If you think it is strange starting with Saturday, its not. The reason why we mention this first is simple- – Saturday is the only day when most people are not working. As per our time tracker software, the trend is that people will work into the early hours of Saturday and this often corresponds with mid-day Friday ion the US. This means work hours tend to extend during the middle of the week. Further, it also means that workers tend to want to finish off their work week with a good sense of momentum, which translates into them working till the early hours of Saturday from Friday.
What Does this Mean?
Working hours syncing up together is a huge factor for businesses. For managers, this translates to being able to sync up their work together. For employees, this means they can manage their work ours such that they do not need to push projects hours into overtime. Doing this requires that they organize to take the Saturday off and finish their work schedule in Friday. Most non-US and European timezone will need to accommodate for timings that conform to these timezones. This will enable them to work with the team instead of managing work hours solo.
Sundays Turn into Workdays
One of the most significant trends we’ve noticed via our time tracker over the past 2 years is that Sundays often start early for workers across all timezones. The reason? Work pressure. A lot of professionals tend to start working early Sunday or later Sunday so they have a smooth entering into the work week when they are expected to provide deliverables. These deadlines often eat into weekends particularly for hybrid and remote teams. The trends seem to suggest that professionals workers aligning with US and EU timezones are usually getting a jumpstart on the week by entering work early on their Sundays.
What does this mean?
Working hours vary by team composition, industry type, preference etc. So, there is no one-size-fits-all but managers ought to know that workers might want to jump up by pre-padding their work week. Understanding these patterns via a time tracker should allow them to reconsider compensations or recognize extra effort being made on part of the workers. For workers, showing an enthusiasm for work by entering hours on a Sunday is a good way to attract the right attention.
Some People Work Early Mondays
Following up with the trend of early working Sundays, some people also work early Monday morning, particularly in the APAC timezones. This is supposed to be Sunday afternoon for people in the US. The reasons for this might vary from industry and job type. However, like with Sunday work, the reason is mostly that people would like to make a quick start to their Monday and jump the wagon early.
What does this mean?
For the most part, early Monday working hours are a sing that there is a big project or the person is highly dedicated. In both cases, managers should use time trackers take note and understand how they can support such workers in performing their job. For employees, understanding how they can turn their early Monday hours into productive full-time equivalents for their day is the key considerations. Making an early start should also be padded with enough work hours for the remainder to make for a productive day.
Tuesday to Saturday Have the Longest Hours
Working hours from Tuesday to Saturday show one uniform pattern. They tend to extend from one to the other with many people working into the night and then into the early following day. This pattern is universal across all timezone as per our time tracker software data and implies how much these days matter for productivity and competitive value.
What does this mean?
Tuesdays to Saturday are very important for producing consistent value throughout the week. Mangers ought to, nevertheless, understand patterns of work and how they can accommodate awards and recognition to the hardest working people/ For hybrid and remote teams navigating the workweek by liaising conveniently for everyone at one common hour is an important factor too. For employees, it is important to understand how to make the most of the workdays so they can create consistent value week-on-week.
Working Later is More Popular than Working Early
Generally speaking, working early is a bit of a rarity in comparison to working late. Most people tend to work late rather than work early. With that said, certain sections to end up working early as well but very few do so on Monday. So, as per our time track app, Monday is the least likely day for anyone to work early. The reason for this is simple running trend. Once the people get started on working, they tend to extend it based on their need. This means they are much more likely to put in hours from Tuesday to Saturday rather than Monday.
What does this mean?
Managers should be aware of the working hour patterns of their employees. Most people who work late also tend to be working overtime. Alternatively, for remote and hybrid teams working late should sync up with main offices or team leader working hours. For this, both managers and employees need to be aware of how and when they work so that they can resolve timezone differences easily and collaborate more effectively.
How Will You Use Time Tracker Trends to Optimize Your Work Hours?
Understanding your work hours and how they impact productivity and performance is a direct clue into understanding what works for your business. Using a free time tracker app like Sunrize can help businesses find out how they can make the most of their work hours and also in what way they ought to organize their team activities like meetings and other events. You can download this app for free right now. Also, do consider checking ut our employee engagement, team collaboration and virtual coffee chat app, LEAD.bot as well.