Daylight Savings and Startups: How Does the Clock Change Affect Daily Operations?

For most people, the daylight savings clock change is just about remembering to reset your watch and get used to an extra hour of light or darkness every day. It may affect your sleep pattern a little bit and the amount of time you have to spend outdoors.

For startups, however, there are a whole lot more challenges to consider. That is, since startups tend to have smaller and more dynamic teams than bigger businesses, dealing with the time change can be a little more complicated.

The day after the clocks are changed can have a significant impact on productivity, focus and even customer engagement due to people adjusting to waking up at a different time or having different commuting conditions, for instance.

 

How Does the Clock Change Affect Team Focus and Productivity? 

 

While it’s not always the case, most startups are made up of teams that are small and work together closely, relying on maximum productivity. Thus, the time change has the potential to really affect team dynamics and efficiency, with employees feeling unfocused, tired and sometimes even a bit agitated due to having to deal with the change (and the influence it has on their sleep).

For some people, this will last about a day, but for those more sensitive to changes in their sleep, this lowered productivity may last a few days. However, even if this is the case, it’s normally most noticeable the day after the time change.

Of course, startups should be trying to counter the negative effects of the changing of the clocks, and one way to do that is to allow employees to start a little bit later to compensate for the time change. This can help people settle into the new normal in a way that’s not such a shock to their systems. It could also be a good idea to give your daily morning meeting a miss while people settle in a bit.

 

The Influence of the Time Change on Customer Behaviour

 

It’s not only employees that are affected by the shift – of course, customers feel it too, and it’s not uncommon for customer behaviour to change a little the day after the clock change. You may find that people are slower at responding to emails or are just a little bit slower with daily activities.

Of course, this will also be affected by businesses working across timelines where clients and partners may be operating with the clock change happening at different times.

Now, there’s nothing you can do to completely stop these things from happening, but being aware of it can help you manage the situation as best as possible in terms of handling customers, employees and more.

The more you know, the better you can deal with things, so monitor things like customer service response times, email open rates and other engagement rates so that you can get a good idea of how and when customers are active so you can adjust your outreach schedules accordingly.

 

 

Coordinating Tech and Other Scheduling Issues

 

Most startups depend on real-time collaboration tools, communication platforms and tech stacks, and most of them work with scheduling that’s programmed according to specific time settings. Daylight savings tends to make this complicated, especially when dealing with automated processes or scheduled meetings that work across time zones.

In the most basic sense, scheduling can just get confusing and it’s not unlikely that automation errors may slip in if the systems are probably dealt with in order to account for the new time.

The best way to do this is to be prepared and ready for the change. That means having a look before the change actually happens and doing the math so that you’re prepared. Most scheduling services do this for you, but it’s always a good idea to just double-check, especially when it comes to really important meetings, processes or schedules. It’s also always a good idea to send out reminders to others just in case.

 

Boosting Productivity

 

But, it’s not all bad! While the changing of the clocks is mostly seen as a hassle and an inconvenience, there has been research done that shows that it can actually result in positive consequences.

That is, mild disruptions in sleep can lead to unconventional thinking – you may find that your employees are suddenly more creative than normal, coming up with interesting ideas. This can be particularly helpful when you’re brainstorming new ideas.

So much so, in fact, that many businesses actually find that the day after the clock change is a great time for scheduling creative planning sessions because team members are often feeling a bit more spontaneous and open-minded.

 

Working with the Time Shift

 

While there may not be any way to stop the clocks from changing and time from shifting when daylight savings kicks in or is reversed, there are plenty of ways it can be managed – and even used to your advantage.

The first step is to acknowledge the potential challenges you may face, and from there, communicate with your team and just make the most out of the transition – after all, it’s only temporary and everyone will be back to normal within a few days.