If you were a recruiter, you probably wouldn’t enjoy working with someone whose nighttime is your business hours, and whose business hours are when you’re hoping to go to bed.
Nigeria is a global talent marketplace, being home to some of the best remote workers. Thanks to a teeming youthful population, English proficiency, competence and relative affordability, many international clients consider Nigeria as one of the best shopping spots for remote workers. But could Nigeria’s time zone be another favourable factor we usually don’t think much about?
Knowing how this time zone advantage works can help Nigerians get better jobs, work more efficiently, and stand out in the global market. This article looks at how Nigeria’s time zone can benefit remote workers.
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Having a compatible time zone is important for remote work, especially when working with clients or teammates in other countries. It makes meetings, communication, and collaboration much easier.
Nigeria uses West Africa Time (WAT), which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+1). The country does not use daylight saving time, so the time stays the same all year.
Nigeria is only one hour ahead of the UK, and sometimes in the same time zone when the UK changes its clocks. Working with people across Europe is also easy, since Europe’s time zones range from UTC+0 to UTC+4.
In the Middle East, Nigeria is just two to three hours behind. For North America, Nigeria’s late afternoon matches up with their early morning. Nigeria is 5-6 hours ahead of the US East Coast (2 pm in Nigeria is 9 am there) and 8-9 hours ahead of the West Coast (5 pm in Nigeria is 9 am there). This means you’re available when Americans start their day, so meetings and real-time chats are possible, and you still have your evenings free.
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Nigeria’s time zone is helpful for remote workers because it matches up with normal work hours in many countries. Here are some benefits:
The success of remote work largely hinges on effective communication, which often requires real-time communication. This makes time zone compatibility for recruiters and remote workers. Nigeria’s time zone is one of the best a remote worker can hope for as it falls comfortably within the favourable time zones of clients in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
Compared to remote workers in Asia or the Pacific, we don’t need to flip our sleep schedules or work late nights to stay in sync with Western clients. This encourages healthier routines, optimal productivity, and better work–life balance. You are not showing up for team calls with drooping eyelids and designer eyebags. This subsequently reduces burnout and makes Nigerian remote workers more reliable.
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Many recruiters look at time zone compatibility when hiring, even if it’s not often discussed. Companies want freelancers who can reply quickly, join calls during office hours, and finish tasks on time. Nigerians can offer this, unlike freelancers in South Asia, Southeast Asia, or Australia, where time differences are much bigger.
Time zones matter more for some jobs than others. For example, freelance writers don’t always need to talk in real time. Clients can send instructions, and writers can finish the work. Clients can review and request changes without needing constant real-time chats.
But for jobs like customer support, online tutoring, and operations, real-time communication and matching time zones are important. Nigeria’s time zone works well with European companies and partly matches North American schedules. For companies needing 24-hour support, Nigeria can cover noon to early evening, fitting in with teams in Asia and the US.
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Whether you are in tech, customer support, digital marketing, content creation, or finance, you can leverage Nigeria’s time zone, which is easily accessible and aligns with your international clients' schedules. But there might be one more advantage you need – managing international payments with ease. Many talented Nigerian freelancers have lost gigs or a chunk of their earnings because they didn’t have a reliable payment solution, despite having the choicest time zone.
Grey helps Nigerian freelancers open USD, EUR and GBP accounts in one platform and manage international payments from foreign clients with ease. Users also enjoy low, transparent fees, competitive exchange rates, and swift international transactions. And because Grey is the freelancer’s guy, you also get automated invoicing and a versatile virtual USD debit card to streamline your finances.
Sign up on Grey today to manage your earnings easily.
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