How to Schedule Meetings Across Three Time Zones
Short answer: Whether three cities share working hours depends on the cities, date and working-day assumptions. Calculate the overlap first. If it is empty, agree on an outside-hours compromise, rotate the inconvenience, or use async updates.
New York and Bangalore are 9 hours 30 minutes apart while New York observes EDT, and 10 hours 30 minutes apart while it observes EST. London sits between them. A 9 AM–6 PM working day has no shared window for these three cities, so a live call requires a deliberate compromise.
Step 1 — Map the working hours
Write down each region's normal working day in its own local time, then convert each to a common reference (UTC works well). Where the three windows overlap is the time everyone is inside ordinary hours. Some city combinations have several hours of overlap; others have none. State the working hours and the date before recommending a window.
Step 2 — Decide the meeting's purpose
- Decisions or unblockers: Schedule live, inside the natural overlap.
- Status updates and FYIs: Replace with async written updates.
- Working sessions: Shorter sessions, more often, inside the overlap window.
Step 3 — Anchor and rotate
Pick one region as the anchor for each recurring meeting and book in that region's local time. Rotate the anchor over time so each region absorbs the inconvenience in turn. Document the rotation so people know when their out-of-hours week is coming.
Step 4 — Buffer the DST weeks
The US and UK switch on different dates; the UK and EU currently share their transition calendar. India does not observe DST. Recheck the meeting when any participant’s city changes clocks, since some differences last for a season rather than only a mismatch week.
Step 5 — Make async the default
The honest version of three-zone scheduling is that most meetings should not be meetings. Standardise written updates, recorded video walkthroughs, and clear comment windows in shared docs. Keep live time for the things that actually need live time.
Worked examples: winter and summer
Each table converts 9 AM in the first city on the stated example date. Dates and UTC offsets are included so a next-day result or seasonal change is explicit. Use the planner for your actual meeting date.
New York / London / Bangalore
With a 9 AM–6 PM working day, these cities have no shared window. A 9 AM New York call falls in Bangalore's evening; agree on that trade-off rather than describing it as working-hour overlap.
| Example date | New York | London | Bangalore |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-15 | Jan 15, 09:00 UTC-05:00 | Jan 15, 14:00 UTC+00:00 | Jan 15, 19:30 UTC+05:30 |
| 2026-07-15 | Jul 15, 09:00 UTC-04:00 | Jul 15, 14:00 UTC+01:00 | Jul 15, 18:30 UTC+05:30 |
San Francisco / London / Tokyo
There is no shared 9 AM–6 PM window. Consider separate San Francisco–London and London–Tokyo calls with a written handoff. Tokyo's date can differ from San Francisco's.
| Example date | San Francisco | London | Tokyo |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-15 | Jan 15, 09:00 UTC-08:00 | Jan 15, 17:00 UTC+00:00 | Jan 16, 02:00 UTC+09:00 |
| 2026-07-15 | Jul 15, 09:00 UTC-07:00 | Jul 15, 17:00 UTC+01:00 | Jul 16, 01:00 UTC+09:00 |
Berlin / Dubai / Sydney
The Berlin–Sydney gap varies across the year. A Berlin morning call can fall within Sydney's working day in July but outside it in January. Dubai does not observe DST; both Berlin and Sydney do.
| Example date | Berlin | Dubai | Sydney |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-15 | Jan 15, 09:00 UTC+01:00 | Jan 15, 12:00 UTC+04:00 | Jan 15, 19:00 UTC+11:00 |
| 2026-07-15 | Jul 15, 09:00 UTC+02:00 | Jul 15, 11:00 UTC+04:00 | Jul 15, 17:00 UTC+10:00 |
Frequently asked
What is the typical overlap for the Americas, Europe, and India?
There is no universal overlap for entire continents. For New York, London and Bangalore with a 9 AM–6 PM working day, there is no shared window. For example, on July 15, 2026, 9 AM New York is 2 PM London and 6:30 PM Bangalore. Bangalore is outside those working hours.
Should one region always host the meeting?
No. A rotation is more sustainable. Anchor each meeting to one region's working hours and rotate the anchor week to week or month to month so the same team is not always working late or early.
What if no overlap exists at all?
Replace the meeting with a structured async update: written status, recorded video, or a shared document with a 24-hour comment window. Save synchronous time for decisions that genuinely need a live conversation.
How does this change with daylight saving time?
Recheck whenever any participating city changes clocks. New York and London have short mismatch periods, while their offsets to Bangalore differ throughout the standard-time and daylight-time seasons because India does not observe DST.
Is it better to split a three-zone meeting into two separate calls?
Often yes. For example, in January a 9 AM San Francisco call is 5 PM London, and an 8 AM London call is 5 PM Tokyo. These are date-specific examples: London–Tokyo differs by an hour in the UK summer. Use a written handoff between calls.