How to Tell a Global Team About the Clock Change Week

Twice a year, distributed teams lose a meeting or two to the clocks. In autumn 2026, clocks go back in the EU and the UK on Sunday 25 October and in most of the US on Sunday 1 November. For that one week, the gap between London and New York is four hours instead of five, and every recurring meeting anchored to one side’s time zone moves for the other side.

Calendar software handles most of this correctly. People do not. Someone has a hard stop at school pickup, someone else blocks lunch manually, and the 4pm call that “always” works suddenly lands in the middle of something.

A short message the week before saves the confusion.

Know Which Way Your Meetings Move

Recurring meetings follow the time zone of the person who created them. If your weekly sync was set up by someone in New York at 11am Eastern, it stays at 11am in New York and moves one hour earlier for London attendees during the gap week, then returns on 2 November. Meetings created in London move the other way for US attendees.

Check the organizer’s time zone for every recurring cross-region meeting before you write anything. The US Department of Transportation, which oversees time zones there, has a short page on daylight saving time if anyone asks why the dates differ.

Not every region changes. Most of Asia, much of Africa, and several US states and territories do not observe daylight saving time, and the southern hemisphere moves in the opposite direction. If your team includes Sydney, São Paulo, or Phoenix, check them individually.

Send One Message, Not Ten

A single note to the team a few days before, with the affected meetings listed, is better than individual reminders.

Before:

Hey all, just a heads up that the clocks are changing soon so some meetings might be at different times. Please double check your calendars.

After:

Clock change week: Europe moves on Sunday 25 October, the US on Sunday 1 November. From 26 to 30 October, the gap between London and New York is four hours, not five. Affected meetings that week:

Monday product sync: 3pm London, 11am New York (London attendees: one hour earlier than usual).

Thursday client call: 10am New York, 2pm London (London: one hour earlier than usual).

Everything returns to normal from Monday 2 November.

The second version tells people exactly what to do. “Double check your calendars” asks everyone to do the analysis themselves, and most will not.

Decide Whether To Move Anything

Sometimes the shift makes a meeting impossible for one group: it lands before the working day starts or during a standing commitment. Decide in advance whether to move it for that week, skip it, or replace it with a written update. A week of asynchronous standup updates is often easier than finding a new slot for six people across three time zones.

If you do change something, edit the calendar event itself so it stays the single source of truth, and mention the change in the team message.

Write Times With Zones, Always

The clock change week is a good moment to fix a habit that causes trouble all year: writing times without zones. “Call at 3” is ambiguous on a distributed team. “3pm London / 10am New York” is not. If your team is spread widely, consider writing in UTC for scheduling messages and local times in parentheses.

The same discipline helps in every meeting agenda and invite you send across regions.

A Context For Scheduling Messages

A Wrivio Context for cross-timezone scheduling messages could say:

Rewrite this as a short, clear scheduling notice for a distributed team. Start with the dates of the change. List each affected meeting on its own line with the time in every time zone mentioned and who is affected. End with the date things return to normal. Keep every date, time, time zone, and meeting name exactly as written. Do not convert times or add meetings that are not in the draft.

Press Ctrl+Shift+Space, paste your notes, and check the diff carefully. A rewrite should restructure your message, not do arithmetic on it. Calculate the times yourself and verify them against a calendar.

Common Questions

When do the clocks change in autumn 2026?

In the EU and UK, clocks go back on Sunday 25 October 2026. In most of the US and Canada, they go back on Sunday 1 November 2026. Regions that do not observe daylight saving time do not change.

Why do recurring meetings shift during the clock change?

A recurring meeting stays fixed to the organizer’s time zone. When one region changes its clocks a week before another, the meeting appears an hour earlier or later for attendees in the other region until both have changed.

Should we cancel meetings during clock change week?

Usually not, but check each recurring cross-region meeting. If the shifted time lands outside working hours for one group, move it for the week or replace it with a written update.

How should I write meeting times for a global team?

Always include time zones, and ideally give the time in each attendee’s zone, such as “3pm London / 10am New York”. Some teams use UTC as the reference and add local times in parentheses.

Download Wrivio for Windows to turn a rushed heads-up into a clear schedule notice your whole team can follow.