Stop saying “remote” if you need a specific timezone (ivanca.tumblr.com)

We're a remote company, and due to issues we experienced with employees too far off from the core team timezone (US Eastern) - having no overlapping hours slowed down productivity and caused issues. We now have a guideline to be in a timezone 6 hours or less away. Obviously this can stretch if someone prefers to work other hours and does so consistently... however what we don't want to happen is we post 'these are our team hours' and someone is eager beaver to interview for the job, and claims they can work those hours, but never has before, and doesn't stick to it after being hired.

So per your example, I can't actually specify Europe-Remote, because I don't care if you're in Colombia, Brazil, US, UK.. just works two hours overlap with US Eastern 9-5.

I understand your frustration. I just wanted to share an employer perspective. I don't have a great solution besides that we're always upfront in our job postings about the 6 hour timezone from US Eastern guideline.

False dichotomy. The choice is not between in-office and anywhere-in-the-world; there are many possibilities in between:

- Remote with occasional long-distance trips to the office (i.e., plane travel)

- Remote where one lives within driving distance of the office

- Remote with no office visits

Employers and teams can choose to work synchronously which means timezones are important. Remote doesn't necessarily mean anywhere, anytime, anyhow.