Best Meeting Times for US-Europe Teams

The Atlantic Ocean sits between my team in Brno and our US colleagues. It's not as dramatic as the India-USA gap, but the 5-9 hour difference (depending on which coast) still trips people up constantly.

After years of transatlantic meetings, here's what actually works.

Time Zone Math You Need

US zones:

• Eastern (ET): New York, Boston, Miami, Atlanta
• Central (CT): Chicago, Dallas, Houston
• Mountain (MT): Denver, Phoenix
• Pacific (PT): LA, San Francisco, Seattle

European zones:

• GMT/WET: London, Dublin, Lisbon
• CET: Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Amsterdam (1 hour ahead of GMT)
• EET: Helsinki, Athens, Bucharest (2 hours ahead of GMT)

The easiest combo? New York to London (5 hours). The hardest? San Francisco to Berlin (9 hours).

When Everyone Can Actually Meet

New York + London

Five hours apart. This is the sweet spot for transatlantic teams.

Best window: 2 PM - 5 PM London / 9 AM - 12 PM New York

London's in their afternoon zone. New York is starting fresh. You get three solid hours before London logs off.

Secondary option: 5 PM - 6 PM London / 12 PM - 1 PM New York

Works for quick syncs. London stays a bit late. New York hits lunch (which some people like, others don't — ask first).

New York + Central Europe

Six hours apart. Your window shrinks a bit.

Best window: 3 PM - 5 PM CET / 9 AM - 11 AM ET

Berlin wraps up lunch, still productive. New York is in morning mode. Two hours to work with.

There's theoretically an early-morning US option (10 AM CET / 4 AM ET), but let's be real — who's doing deep thinking at 4 AM?

West Coast + Europe

This is where it gets painful.

SF + London (8 hours apart):

Best you can do: 4 PM - 6 PM London / 8 AM - 10 AM PT

London stays late. Pacific starts early. Neither is ideal. Rotate who gets the bad slot.

SF + Berlin (9 hours apart):

Limited window: 5 PM - 6 PM CET / 8 AM - 9 AM PT

One hour. That's it. If you're in this situation, embrace async communication for most things. Read about that in our async vs sync guide.

The DST Problem

Here's what catches teams off guard: the US and Europe change clocks on different dates.

• US: Second Sunday in March (forward), first Sunday in November (back)
• Europe: Last Sunday in March (forward), last Sunday in October (back)

This creates weird transition periods twice yearly where the time difference shifts.

Spring 2026:

• March 8: US springs forward, Europe hasn't yet
• March 29: Europe springs forward
• Those 3 weeks? London-NYC is 4 hours, not 5

Fall 2026:

• October 25: Europe falls back, US hasn't
• November 1: US falls back
• That week? Again, 4 hours instead of 5

Your recurring Monday 9 AM ET meeting will suddenly be an hour different for Europeans. Communication is key during these transitions.

Use Whenest to handle this automatically — it calculates future times correctly even when DST changes happen between now and then.

Different Team Structures Need Different Approaches

US HQ with European Team

If you're US-based:

Schedule recurring syncs in the overlap window. Weekly alignments at 9 AM ET / 2 PM GMT work great.

Record all-hands. If your company meeting is at 10 AM Pacific, that's 7 PM in Berlin. Record it, share immediately, make decisions accessible async.

Go async-first. Document decisions. Use Loom for updates. Save live meetings for what actually needs real-time discussion.

European HQ with US Team

If you're Europe-based:

Protect US mornings. Your end-of-day equals their morning — ideal for syncs. Don't schedule late US meetings unless you're rotating the burden.

Find early birds. Some European folks prefer starting at 7 AM. This extends your overlap window nicely.

No Clear HQ

For truly distributed teams:

Rotate meeting times. Week A: convenient for Europe (morning US). Week B: convenient for US (late afternoon Europe).

Create regional pods. European team has their own syncs. US team has their own. Cross-Atlantic meetings are strategic, not daily.

Use follow-the-sun handoffs. Europe ends with a written update. US picks up and continues. You get continuous progress without requiring everyone online simultaneously.

What to Do Before, During, and After

Before the Meeting

Send agenda 24 hours ahead. People can contribute async. You can't waste limited overlap time figuring out what to discuss.

Show both time zones in invites. "9 AM ET / 2 PM GMT" — always both, never just one.

Share materials early. Your "end of day" might be their "already went home." Plan accordingly.

During the Meeting

Start on time. End on time. Someone might be at the edge of their work hours. Your 30-minute meeting that runs to 45 could push into dinner time.

Focus ruthlessly. Use overlap for what needs discussion. Status updates? That's what Slack is for.

Document decisions live. Shared notes everyone can see. No one waits for follow-up.

After the Meeting

Post recording and notes immediately. People who couldn't attend need to catch up. Don't wait.

Enable async follow-up. Questions in Slack. No more meetings to clarify meetings.

Tools That Help

• Whenest Meeting Planner**: See all zones visually, find optimal windows
• Overlap Finder**: Shows exactly when working hours align
• Time Zone Converter**: Quick conversions

Check How It Works for walkthroughs.

Common Mistakes

Assuming Time Differences Are Constant

They're not. DST transitions happen. Mark March and October/November on your calendar.

Scheduling During Meals

1 PM London seems fine until you realize it's lunch. 8 AM NYC might conflict with school drop-offs. Ask your team about their preferences.

Back-to-Back Meetings

If someone just took a transatlantic call outside normal hours, give them breathing room. Don't stack another meeting right after.

Ignoring Holidays

Bank holidays in the UK, federal holidays in the US, various European national days — none of these align. Check before scheduling anything important.

One Approach for Everything

Different meetings need different handling:

• Daily standups: probably need regional versions
• Weekly planning: worth finding overlap
• Quarterly all-hands: record for async consumption

Building Respect Across the Atlantic

Say thank you. When someone joins outside normal hours, acknowledge it out loud.

Share the pain. Rotate meeting times. Track who's bearing the scheduling burden most.

Respect boundaries. Just because someone could take a 6 AM call doesn't mean they should regularly.

Over-communicate context. "I'll respond tomorrow morning my time, which is your afternoon" — helps set realistic expectations.

For more on this, read our time zone etiquette guide.

Bottom Line

US-Europe scheduling is manageable once you stop pretending the time difference doesn't matter. Know your windows (late morning US / afternoon Europe), plan around DST, use overlap strategically, and build async habits for everything else.

Ready to find your overlap? Try the overlap finder for US and European locations, or use the meeting planner for your next transatlantic sync.