How to make global meetings genuinely fair
Fair scheduling is not about finding one permanent overlap. It is about measuring who pays the social cost—and rotating that cost when no perfect time exists.
Start with local intent, not UTC offsets
Record each participant’s IANA zone, working hours, preferred hours and flexibility. This preserves the scheduling intent when daylight-saving rules change.
Separate convenience from fairness
A slot can have a good average while one person joins at an extreme hour. Compare the overall convenience score with inequality and outlier penalties.
Rotate recurring inconvenience
For London, New York and Tokyo, a permanent weekly time often favours two regions. A rotation can alternate early and late burden and publish the distribution in advance.
Recheck clock-change weeks
The US and Europe change clocks on different dates. For several weeks each year, familiar local-time relationships shift. Save the series and review its DST warnings.