Daylight Savings Time – Spring Forward

Daylight Savings: Spring Forward, Fall Backward

You wake up one morning to find the sun a bit brighter, the birds chirping a little louder. You feel very tired, but the clock reveals it’s the same time you always get up…or is it?  No, you’ve hit the mysterious phenomenon known as “Daylight Savings Time.” Clocks are adjusted to provide more sunlight during the day – a method that has been around since the early 1900’s and went through a tumultuous history before being completely accepted in the USA.

Different countries around the world view Daylight Savings Time differently along with time zones. Some have interesting methods for adjusting time and some don’t really observe time zones or shifting methods at all.

Daylight Savings is an interesting situation in general, but it does have an impact on business. Those working with virtual teams know the difficulty of lining up a conference call time from the USA to a country that is both several hours different than where you are and one that doesn’t adhere to daylight savings time.

Here are a few tips to help you when figuring out times so you don’t make a mistake –especially for something important like a meeting!

• Always double (or triple) check times before your international meetings to avoid mishaps that could potentially damage the validity and professionalism of your company. There are many solutions online that can help with checking times across border – a personal favorite here at CAI is simply called “Time and Date”
• Many email management programs, such as Outlook, will automatically adjust the time of a calendar invitation to reflect the recipient’s time zone. No fuss, no muss.
• Take note of rare situations where time isn’t rounded evenly. The primary example of this is India, which spans two time zones but adheres to one….and that time is about 30 minutes off whatever time you’re probably on.
• Utilize military time to avoid confusion regarding A.M./P.M schedules. A meeting at 5:00 requires a confirmation on morning or evening. A meeting at 17:00 does not.
• Trust the digital realm more than you wristwatch. The mechanics of local devices not connected to the internet can stutter or slowly lose correct time. Synchronized time via the World Wide Web can be a saving grace.

We hope these tips help your coming ventures! Don’t forget that Daylight Savings time starts in the USA on March 12^th bright and early at 2:00am, setting all clocks forward an hour!