Innovative Time Zone Solutions

Location “Time Zone” Mismatches in Workday When setting up Location Hierarchies in Workday, everyone talks about correct addresses or tax allocations. But a little-known pitfall can emerge if the time zone assigned to a location is even slightly off,especially in companies spanning multiple regions. A wrong time zone can cause errors in shift scheduling, payroll calculations, and even compliance reporting. Why It’s a Problem ->Scheduling Chaos: Employees could see incorrect shift start/end times, leading to tardiness or overtime disputes. ->Payroll Mishaps: Misaligned timestamps can throw off hourly calculations, generating either underpayments or overpayments. ->Compliance Gaps: Some local labor laws hinge on accurate tracking of hours worked within specific time windows. Step-by-Step Solution ->Identify Time Zone “Hotspots” -Audit Existing Locations: Generate a Workday report listing each location’s assigned time zone. Double-check these assignments against an official time zone map. -Focus on Edge Cases: Regions that observe Daylight Saving Time (DST) differently or that have changed DST rules historically often present the biggest risk. ->Involve Local Teams -Local HR Verification: Ask HR reps in each region to confirm the correct time zone settings for their office or facility. -Annual DST Review: Some local governments tweak their DST schedules. -Revisit your settings at least once a year to catch any legislative changes. ->Automated Validation -Validation Rules: Configure Workday to flag location entries that lack time zone info or have a mismatch in city vs. time zone (e.g., city in PST but assigned to MST). -Alerts: Set up automated notifications to administrators if a location’s time zone changes mid-year. ->Cross-Check with Payroll & Scheduling -Hourly Employee Mapping: For each location, confirm that hourly workers’ time-tracking records reflect the correct local time zone. -Test Run: Generate sample payroll runs for a few employees in each location to ensure shift times align correctly with payroll calculations. ->Ongoing Maintenance -Quarterly Time Zone Review: Spot-check your high-traffic or high-turnover locations to ensure no accidental changes have crept in. -Employee Feedback Loop: Encourage managers to report any scheduling discrepancies immediately. -Quick detection helps you fix the root cause before payday issues stack up. Pro Tip: -Embed a “DST Transition Calendar” Directly Into Workday Reports -Create a custom report that pairs each location’s time zone with known DST transition dates (or official local legislation links). -This ensures HR and payroll teams see upcoming shifts well in advance. -You can even use calculated fields to highlight locations where the next DST switch is imminent,preventing last-minute scrambles when the clock changes. #workday #locationhierarchies #timezone #hrtech #workdayimplementation #scheduling #payroll #compliance #dataintegrity #enterpriseresourceplanning

“Let’s not just build a booking feature, let’s design it like it could be Calendly.” That was the direction I gave my team recently at Sqaleup Inc. We’re working on a new SaaS (more on that soon), and one of its key features is scheduling but I didn’t want it to feel like a basic calendar picker. I wanted something that could scale independently into its own product. That’s how we ended up deep-diving into how to architect a system like Calendly and here’s a full breakdown of what it takes to build an MVP of a modern, time zone–smart, calendar-syncing booking platform (just for web): 🧠 1. Availability Logic: The Core Engine The hardest part isn’t just picking a date. It’s syncing, checking, and managing: - Recurring availability (Mon–Fri 10am–4pm) - One-off overrides (e.g. “I’m on leave next Friday”) - Time zone awareness (so someone in Tokyo sees correct times for NYC) We use: - PostgreSQL + PostGIS for storing slot data with time zone metadata - Date-fns for frontend zone detection - Zod for schema-safe availability form validation 🔗 2. Calendar Sync: Google, Outlook, Apple People live in their calendars not your app. So for MVP, we prioritized: - Google Calendar API (OAuth + token refresh system) - Outlook Calendar API via Microsoft Graph - Two-way sync: • Show real availability • Block double bookings • Insert confirmed meetings into native calendar We used background workers (queue system via BullMQ) to handle webhook events and token expiry checks. 🌍 3. Time Zones: The Silent Killer Ever booked a 10 AM call and showed up 6 hours late? To avoid that: - All times are stored in UTC in the DB - Frontend converts based on user’s detected zone - Booked slots include createdInTZ and convertedToTZ fields for clarity We also allow manual override just in case the browser guesses wrong. ✉️ 4. Notifications: Confirmations, Reminders, Cancellations All bookings are auto-confirmed + calendar events added. But that’s not enough. We layered: - Email notifications (using Resend) - Webhook integration so users can plug into Slack/Zapier - Optional SMS reminders using Twilio (premium tier) 💳 5. Billing: Pay for Premium Scheduling We’re offering advanced features for power users: - Payment + Stripe integration for booking paid time slots - Custom branded pages, redirect after booking - Team booking logic 🚀 6. Deployment: Fast, Stable, Scalable Built with: - Next.js (App Router) frontend - tRPC for API calls - Redis for caching slot data - PlanetScale for DB - Vercel + Fly.io for web + background task workers This isn’t just a feature. It’s a product inside a product. Some would say it is over engineering but I had my reasons😑 And if you’re building anything with scheduling from coaching tools to service marketplaces it’s worth thinking long-term from Day 1.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀? 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮 𝗼𝗿 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴? 🌏 Leading or working in a global team means navigating time zone challenges daily—but it’s not just a logistical hurdle; it’s an opportunity to innovate! 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲: 💡 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: Encourage asynchronous work for tasks that don’t require immediate responses. Tools like shared project boards and recorded updates keep everyone in sync. 💡 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: Rotate meeting times to share the inconvenience fairly, and record important calls so no one misses out. 💡 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Fun virtual coffee chats or casual team-building moments keep the human touch alive across borders. I’ve recently implemented "𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗿𝘀"—team members who take ownership of ensuring cross-zone updates flow smoothly. It’s been a game-changer for maintaining engagement and equity in communication. Time zones aren’t barriers—they’re bridges to creative teamwork when approached with the right mindset. How do you tackle time zone differences in your team? Let’s share tips in the comments! #RemoteWork #GlobalTeam #AsynchronousWork

A Simple Feature Idea That Taught Me Deep Product Thinking During my first Product Management class, my professor asked: "You are a Lead PM at WhatsApp. You’ve to pitch a new feature to Mark Zuckerberg. What would you launch and why?" My answer: A timestamp feature that shows the sender's and receiver's time zones in every message. As someone with friends across the globe and experience with global stakeholders, managing time zones was a constant headache: 🕐 "Okay, my time + 2.5 hours is EST… wait, is it daylight savings now?" 😵💫 I had mental math tricks, but honestly, it was exhausting. But this "simple" feature to be implemented has to evolve through structured stages of product development: 1️⃣ Conceive (Concept Development): - Identify the pain point: Timezone confusion when messaging across regions. - Conduct user research to validate demand. - Analyze how timezone miscommunication impacts productivity, social interactions, and meeting scheduling. 2️⃣ Plan: - Define business objectives: Enhance the user experience for global users by reducing friction in communication. - Create intuitive UI mockups that integrate timezone callouts without overwhelming the chat screen. - Prioritize this feature among other roadmap items based on customer needs and potential impact. 3️⃣ Build: - Develop backend APIs to handle real-time timezone synchronization. - Implement frontend UI adjustments across iOS, Android, and Web versions. - Ensure compatibility with daylight savings and various regional time formats. 4️⃣ Launch: - Conduct beta tests with a smaller user base to identify usability issues. - Gradually roll out the feature to larger user segments, ensuring a smooth deployment. - Monitor initial user reactions through feedback and support channels. 5️⃣ Refine: - Track key metrics such as feature adoption rate, engagement, and feedback sentiment. - Iterate based on user input, addressing any design flaws or edge cases (e.g., overlapping time formats). This process taught me that product development is far more than just brainstorming ideas. It’s a structured journey—starting with pain points and leading to features, prioritization, and continuous refinement. What feature would you pitch to your favorite app? A huge shoutout to Ashank Bhandari for this challenge as a part of #ShankTank that shaped my product mindset and learn Product Management in a super cool way. 🙌 #ProductManagement #Innovation #ProductDesign #TechTrends #WhatsApp #UX #GlobalCommunication #Timezones #ProductLifecycle #DesignThinking

Handling complex date stuff in #JavaScript got easy. And powerful. No more dependency on Moment.js library. The Date API has many quirks and limitations. From unpredictable daylight saving shifts to inconsistent time zone handling, scheduling global events reliably has always been a challenge. We had to depend on external libraries like Moment for managing complex date related actions... until now. Temporal API — built for modern applications that demand accuracy, clarity, and ease in managing dates and times – no more Date headaches. 👉🏻 Why Temporal API over Date API: - No more dependency on external libraries (eg., Moment) for complex needs - Built-in support for Time Zones, and automatic DST adjustments - Temporal objects are immutable unlike Date objects - Has nanosecond accuracy, unlike Date which has millisecond accuracy - Standardized ISO-8601 format across browsers 👉🏻 What complex things can you do: - Schedule meetings, webinars across multiple time zones, ensuring accurate timing regardless of DST changes in different regions. - Calculate subscription renewals or billing cycles by adding days, months, or years to a start date, taking into account variable month lengths and leap years. - Track precise timestamps for activities like financial transactions, scientific data logging where millisecond accuracy is insufficient. - Manage project deadlines for globally distributed teams, with task due dates or timelines adjusted based on each team member's local time zone. - And lots more. Temporal is in Stage 3 Proposal implementation phase and will be released as a standard soon. I would say Temporal may remove the need of an library like Moment for many. What do you think? #frontend #softwareengineer #javascriptdeveloper #frontenddeveloper

☀️ Day 145 – Time Zone Advantage “24/7 coverage” sounds great on a sales deck. But in practice, it only works if handoffs, systems, and ownership are built into the process. Here’s how we make it real at June Zuyco Industries: ✅ Structured handoffs We don’t just pass tasks across time zones. We document context, next steps, and blockers so nothing gets lost in translation. ✅ Systems that connect Shared dashboards, aligned SOPs, and real-time visibility keep everyone working off the same truth no matter the clock. ✅ Clear ownership Coverage only works if responsibility is defined. Every task has an owner, even when multiple hands touch it. The result? Clients get a seamless experience, not a patchwork one. Instead of “waiting until tomorrow,” the work keeps moving forward day and night. The time zone advantage isn’t about cheap hours. It’s about smart continuity. Day 145 in my pursuit to: ✅ Secure major clients hiring 10 to 100 outsourced staff from the Philippines ✅ Build everything from hiring to training to operations ✅ Create pay raises globally and life changing careers in the Philippines 💡 Day 145 LinkedIn: 1️⃣Ever wondered what true 24/7 coverage looks like? It’s not just late nights and early mornings, it’s smart handoffs, aligned systems, and shared ownership.