Time Zones Trickery (Part 2) - Practicing Inconvenience For a More Equitable Workplace
Delphine Ménard
Global HR & Change Executive | Steward in Organizational Development | INSEAD EMC Graduate
You remember how in in my previous blogpost I talked about care? I want to expand on care and its twin bothersome inconvenience.
In many conversations at our organization, there’s often a reproach of “US centrism”, or even “US West Coast centrism” when it comes to time zones (other things too, but we’ll stick to time zones now).
And it’s true.?
How does West Coast Centrism manifest?
These observations are based on my experience working for an organization which had its main office in San Francisco until last March (the office is closed for now) and which has around 350 out of 500 of its employees in the United States. The center of power is definitely located on the West Coast of the United States (where most of our executives are).?
Here are concrete examples:?
This to state a few.
To adapt or not to adapt
As someone sitting in Germany, I have had to structure my work day outside of working hours (see a definition in Part 1). I have made the decision to set aside two days in the week where I will accept meetings up to 22.00 my time. Why? Because this effectively triples the available overlapping time with people on the West Coast of the United States. And while I’ve made this adaptation routine, it is still an inconvenience. It means no dinner with my kids. Or sometimes being hungry on a call and less focused.
Today, as I was speaking with one of my colleagues, I thought about this further. And I realized that it is actually easier for me to be inconvenienced, than it is to inconvenience someone. If I'm looking for the “lowest common inconvenience”, I have to think twice as much and do a lot of back and forth. I have other things to do with my time than to stalk people's calendars. In short, the inconvenience of having to battle for someone to be inconvenienced takes a bigger toll on me than my being inconvenienced in the first place. Are you still following?
On Privilege, Power and Inconvenience
A few months back, our organization took a crack at rethinking the Monthly All Staff meeting times to accommodate more time zones. We ended up rotating between the following times, which is a huge improvement from what we had before:
For the sake of illustration, however, let me translate what this means in various time zones (in bold, the convenient times).
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As you can see, some parts of the world never get to participate in that meeting during working hours, and others, well... do. Interestingly enough, the only time zone for which the times are always convenient is the West Coast of the United States. Four convenient times out of four. Our Indian colleagues never have a convenient meeting time, and Asia in general really drew the short straw.
Last week I listened to Adam Grant’s podcast Work Life. John Amaechi was a guest speaker and they discussed Building an Anti-Racist Workplace. John Amaechi put words to something I have toyed with for quite a while as I was thinking up this blog post. He talks about privilege in those terms (emphasis mine):
“Privilege is a hard concept for people to understand because normally when we talk of privilege we imagine immediate, unearned riches and tangible benefits for anyone who has it. But white privilege, and indeed all privilege, is actually more about the absence of inconvenience, the absence of an impediment or challenge. And as such, when you have it, you really don't notice it. But when it's absent, it affects everything you do.”
-- John Amaechi
And that’s exactly it. In my world of working across time zones, privilege and power often dictate whose calendar is the least inconvenienced. And because the organization’s power resides on the West Coast of the United States, people with less actual power in the organization, but who are located there also benefit from this state of affairs. Which may cause people to miss the issue entirely. A lot of people stay up late Eastward from San Francisco, I rarely see people in San Francisco staying up late, or getting up really early[1]. There is also a strange unwritten rule that it is ok to book meetings late in the evening in people’s day, rather than very early in the morning, which favors the US West Coast[2].
I talked about care before (part 1!), and how important it is to talk to people. I stand by it. Care should not make any of us forget where power lies, and how it manifests in unexpected but real ways. By refusing to be inconvenienced, we perpetuate the powers that are, and implicitly expect that other people will make the necessary arrangements. Worse, we don’t even see that they make those arrangements.?
The solution? Seek to be actively inconvenienced
Here are a few tips on how to actively seek inconvenience:
In short, practice inconvenience in how you think about your time and that of your colleagues, because it will help you to care better, and make for a more equitable workplace.
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[1] Let me hereby thank the few West Coast colleagues over the years who have woken up super early, or went to bed really late. They exist. They’re the best. <3
[2] I am not sure if it’s a general rule, or one that was shaped through organizational culture. It might well be that in other organizations with a different location of power, this trend is reversed.?
Photo credit: Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash - Pug in a blanket. / My caption: an inconvenienced pug looking at you.
Read Part 1 of this blog post at: Time Zones Trickery: Defining Working Hours.
First published on my blog at: notablog.notafish.com
Docente presso Ministero Istruzione, Universita' e Ricerca
2 年Brilliant writing, focusing not only on the issue, but also on its solution.
Policy Manager at West Yorkshire Combined Authority
3 年Really interesting. We don't have the timezones issue but we have a lot of staff in the team working flexibly, not on full time contracts, or with caring responsibilities throughout covid that meant predictable standard availability wasn't an option, and it's been quite good for us to unlearn how we organized co working. For example, we set much LONGER iterative deadlines now so people have much more notice to complete stuff on their schedules and give feedback before a final final deadline - not perfect but it helps.? Keep writing these, I like em!
I make business happen in untapped territories
3 年Delphine, I fully enjoyed reading your articles. I don't recall I've read anything on this topic before, and it's bizarre, as it matters. There's a lot that I'd like to say but I would only make one remark, and the rest can wait for our next chance to dine together :) Wikipedia demonstrated that non-remunerated people can take action, be mindful, and create value. All this without Zoom, I suppose. Why Wikipedia-company isn't doing the same internally? Can't local managers take decisions without HQ input? Why so many cross regional coordination calls are needed in the first place? Sorry for being a bit provocative, but your articles can stimulate a reflection that goes beyond late night meetings. How is power exercised today in companies? Is a centralized management of power the only way to run a company? Are there better ways? What is the value of global roles? What is expected by regional roles? ...
Board @ Wikipedia | Forbes 30 Under 30
3 年Amazing article!