What Is Time Zone Prejudice, And How Does It Discriminate Against Remote Workers?

Remote work holds the power to tackle inequality in the workplace, but it has also caused new biases to emerge. 

In the last few years, new remote workers have flocked from expensive cities for wide open spaces and cheaper cost of living. While this doesn’t seem like a problem on the surface, the time zones in which these regions are located have caused turmoil for professionals.   

Referred to as “time-zone prejudice,” those working on the East Coast for a company headquartered in California may be expected to join meetings late into the evenings, and vice versa. 

As a result, long sunup-to-sundown work days have become the norm for many distributed workers.  

Not only does this defeat some of the top benefits of a remote workforce, such as diversity and productivity, but the lack of time-zone awareness can create tension between employees as well. 

“Meetings were scheduled on and without regard to U.S. holidays (even though we have automatic calendars that inform us of these details),” said R. Karl Hebenstreit, who worked at a U.S. company that was purchased by a European-based firm.   

“And due to Europe’s more generous vacation, part-time schedule, and holiday schedules, the U.S. employees were expected to pick up the slack for their European counterparts by taking on their clients as well.”   

Those who have experienced time-zone prejudice also stated feeling slighted during the hiring process, with many saying that recruiters promised to accommodate their timezone limitations. 

The negligence of accommodating these workers can also lead to less job opportunities. For instance, a marketer named Julie said the tech firm she works for often held team-building gatherings during her evening hours, keeping her from attending as they bled into her personal life.   

In Julie and many other workers’ cases, proximity bias can become a problem and alter how leaders perceive their employees. They might be more inclined to offer a promotion to someone who can attend 4 p.m. happy hours on the West Coast, rather than someone who is already logged off for the day. 

In order to combat time-zone prejudice, leaders must be transparent and open about their expectations. If an employee is expected to be available at certain hours, then that should be made clear during the interview process. 

On the other hand, if asynchronicity is encouraged, managers must make their own adjustments to ensure that this model is running efficiently. That means having an understanding of when employees are available, and not penalizing them simply for living in a different place.