| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Is time zone difference an advantage or a disadvantage to you? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Is time zone difference an advantage or a disadvantage to you?".
View the poll results »
| | | | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:00
German to English
+ ...
All my regular customers are in the same time zone or one hour out. I have a couple of irregular customers who are two hours out. I wouldn't accept work from places in a completely different time zone because I don't want my phone ringing at all hours of the night!
| | | | Nelia Fahloun (X)
France
Local time: 03:00
English to French
+ ...
| Neither or both :) | Sep 25, 2012 |
It can be an advantage, when my US-based client asks for delivery at 8 am, i.e. 3 pm for me (same day), but also a disadvantage as they tend to send me translation requests at around midnight for me (5 pm for them). By the time I get to read their emails, there is generally not enough time left, so I have to decline the project.
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All my customers know what time zone I am in, what my working hours are and that from 8am till 10pm (Brussels time) I check my e-mail at least every hour. In general, prospective clients also take into account any time zone differences.
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Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 03:00
Member (2006)
German to English
Teresa Borges wrote:
All my customers know what time zone I am in, what my working hours are and that from 8am till 10pm (Brussels time) I check my e-mail at least every hour. In general, prospective clients also take into account any time zone differences.
Stuttgart time here and the only time difference I have is generally + / - 1hour
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Almost all of the urgent jobs to be completed ASAP actually turns out available within 24 hours.
| | | | Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 04:00
Turkish to English
+ ...
Most of my clients are in the UK and where I live the time is 2 hours ahead of UK time. I am not a natural early riser, so this is ideal for me!
| | | | Georgia Morg (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:00
Portuguese to English
| Disadvantage | Sep 25, 2012 |
For most of the year here in Brazil I am 5 hours behind most of my clients in Europe and I find this a disadvantage. Even though I get up early and check my e-mails, it's lunchtime over there and the job has already gone to someone in the UK or Portugal!
[Edited at 2012-09-25 11:28 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-09-25 11:29 GMT]
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Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 10:00
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
I'm 8 hours ahead of everybody in Europe so if I have inquiries from the UK, for example, I can handle them during the evening when I have no distractions, which is just fine with me since this is when I get the most work done.
Working within time differences basically boils down to
- how good an understanding your customer has of the difference in time where you are (so that they can factor that into job placement/delivery)
- how well they know your work patterns... See more I'm 8 hours ahead of everybody in Europe so if I have inquiries from the UK, for example, I can handle them during the evening when I have no distractions, which is just fine with me since this is when I get the most work done.
Working within time differences basically boils down to
- how good an understanding your customer has of the difference in time where you are (so that they can factor that into job placement/delivery)
- how well they know your work patterns, and
- how flexible you are willing to be
If they are appreciative of good work, then I am willing to bend like bamboo in the wind.  ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samantha Payn
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:00
Member (2008)
Russian to English
+ ...
| I voted disadvantage | Sep 25, 2012 |
I voted disadvantage because the bulk of my clients are 3-6 hours ahead of me, but in fact we can usually come to an accommodating agreement regarding deadlines.
Very occasionally I have to haul my sorry carcass out of bed at 6am because a small point arose after EoB the day before for the client and I need to clear it up before delivering for a SoB deadline. Today happened to be one of those days ...
| | | | Rebecca Garber
Local time: 21:00
Member (2005)
German to English
+ ...
The majority of my agencies are in Europe, so they can send me projects that they get in the afteroon, which is my morning. Our turnaround time, esp for short, time sensitive projects, is great. Press releases during the various tech conventions are great for this.
Most of the PMs take advantage of the artificially longer working days.
For long term projects, this means that the project is due in my evening before my PM's morning. We can then hash out any problems that morning... See more The majority of my agencies are in Europe, so they can send me projects that they get in the afteroon, which is my morning. Our turnaround time, esp for short, time sensitive projects, is great. Press releases during the various tech conventions are great for this.
Most of the PMs take advantage of the artificially longer working days.
For long term projects, this means that the project is due in my evening before my PM's morning. We can then hash out any problems that morning.
Since both sides know about the time difference and make use of it, it works well.
However, I did have one PM who wanted everything on his desk before he left in his evening, even though he wasn't going to review it until his morning. In that singular case, the time difference was a problem, as I would rather stay up late working on something (so it will be done by the time Europe gets to work), than get up early to get something done during European office hours. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 19:00
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Disadvantage | Sep 25, 2012 |
Almost always a disadvantage, as most of my clients are 7 (UK) or 8 (European continent) hours ahead of me. This means that if the agency wants a translation back in the morning, I have to send it in the day before. Even closer clients, in eastern Canada or the US, are still 2 hours ahead of me.
Recently I worked together with a colleague in the UK for a client in the US, proofreading each other's work. Figuring out the various deadlines was mind boggling.
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As living in a country (Turkey) which is on the east of Europe (and the USA), I have lots of time to deliver their projects, even in urgent projects I have at least +1 hour.
[Edited at 2012-09-25 17:08 GMT]
| | | | Emin Arı
Türkiye
Local time: 04:00
English to Turkish
+ ...
time lag is a disadvantage for sure. when I sleep my customers are on work.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 21:00
English to Spanish
+ ...
| It doesn't matter... | Sep 25, 2012 |
...I'm not a morning person.
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