Time-Zoned

The thing about having business contact details online is that they are accessible world-wide - and that some folk are rather unaware of time zones..

Thus it was that I found myself taking a call still-asleep at 3 this morning from New Zealand! Earlier in the evening we'd had a call from Canada - their day was only just starting while ours was ending.

And that's how it goes with the way the world functions. Daylight hours ebb and flow - while we snooze here, others are up and at it. Sometimes we simply need to adjust to work with that.

There's been a shift over the past few decades. Working hours have become fluid as business goes global. Add in telecommuting (or teleworking as some prefer to call it), freelancing, contracting... and the old way of working at the same company, keeping the same hours until you retire flies out the window.

It makes sense that as communication worldwide improves, business practice changes too. Always-available support and 24-hour call centres are the norm.

Unfortunately if you're not outsourcing to India, that simply means you get to answer the phone in the middle of the night.