Working across time zones and cultures
For anyone who works with colleagues, customers or suppliers in other countries or regions: office and operations staff, service desk and customer service agents, coordinators and team leads. No prerequisites; if you manage calendars, 'Calendars: scheduling across time zones, room booking and delegates' covers the calendar settings. You'll write dates, times and deadlines nobody can misread, find the overlap in working hours and decide what needs a meeting, check holidays and working days in each location, write plain messages that readers from other language backgrounds can follow, and respond to cultural and religious differences by asking rather than assuming. Grounded in W3C internationalisation guidance, the GOV.UK style guide and bank holiday list, the US OPM federal holiday schedule, digital.gov's plain language guides, Microsoft and Google help pages, and Acas guidance on religion or belief at work (UK). It does not grant any licence or professional qualification and is not legal or HR advice; your organisation's policies come first. Ends with a supervisor-graded task.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 80 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Write dates, times and deadlines that readers in other countries can't misread, including the time zone
- Find the overlap in working hours between locations and decide what needs a meeting and what can be handed over in writing
- Check public holidays and working days in each location before setting deadlines or meetings
- Write work messages in plain language that readers from other countries and language backgrounds can follow
- Respond respectfully to cultural and religious differences at work by asking rather than assuming
Course outline
- 1.Write dates, times and deadlines that readers in other countries can't misreadLesson · 12 min
- 2.Find the overlap in working hours between locations and decide what needs a meetingLesson · 13 min
- 3.Check public holidays and working days in each location before setting deadlines or meetingsLesson · 11 min
- 4.Write work messages in plain language that readers from other countries and language backgrounds can followLesson · 12 min
- 5.Respond respectfully to cultural and religious differences at work by asking rather than assumingLesson · 12 min
- 6.Working across time zones and cultures: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 13 questions
- 7.Working across time zones and cultures: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- W3C Internationalization: Date formats
- W3C Internationalization: Time & date: Essential concepts
- GOV.UK: Style guide A to Z (dates, times, plain English)
- GOV.UK: UK bank holidays (England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland)
- US Office of Personnel Management: Federal holidays
- Microsoft Support: Delay or schedule sending email messages in Outlook
- Google Calendar Help: Set your working hours & location
- digital.gov: Plain language guide, Writing for understanding
- digital.gov: Plain language guide, Principles
- Acas: Preventing religion or belief discrimination
See it with your own jobs and topics
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