Working with US clients from Manila: the 2-hour overlap rule
12 to 15 hours apart, three years in, still sane. Mostly.
Contents
I have worked with US teams from Manila for three years. The first year I said "I'm flexible, I'll be available whenever" and nearly burned out by month eight. Here's what I do now.
The time maths
- Manila is UTC+8 all year. No daylight saving.
- US East in summer is UTC-4, so 12 hours apart. 9am in New York is 9pm in Manila.
- US West in summer is UTC-7, so 15 hours apart. 9am in San Francisco is midnight in Manila.
- When the US changes clocks in March and November, everything moves by an hour. Put a reminder in your calendar. Every year someone misses a meeting.
The rule: a fixed 2-hour overlap, not "available whenever"
I negotiate one fixed window. For East Coast clients it's 9pm to 11pm Manila (9 to 11am for them). Inside that window I am fully online and responsive. Outside it, I work async, roughly 1pm to 7pm Manila.
Synchronous time is only for things that need it:
- Decisions with more than two people
- Anything with conflict or tension
- Kickoffs and retros
Everything else is written.
The async standup template
Yesterday: ...
Today: ...
Blocked by: ...
Needs a decision from: (name) by (date and time, in THEIR timezone)
That last line fixes so much. "By EOD" is meaningless across 12 hours. Whose EOD?
Small tools that help
- A shared calendar showing both timezones side by side.
- Schedule-send, so your 2am-for-them message lands at 9am-for-them.
- Short screen recordings for anything visual instead of a call.
Pricing the night hours
If you're an employee of a Philippine company, night shift differential is in the Labor Code. If you're a contractor for a US client, nobody gives you that automatically, so price it in yourself. Night overlap is a cost, not a favour.
Health
Don't do the late window five nights a week forever. I ask for one or two "early for them" days so I get some normal evenings. Most clients say yes when you ask early and explain why.
What's your overlap setup? Especially curious about anyone working with US West from Asia, because that one is brutal.
Written by
Jessica Tan
Remote PM for a US SaaS, based in Manila but usually somewhere with good wifi and bad coffee ☕ Bali, Da Nang, Chiang Mai, repeat. Async evangelist. Started Remote Life.
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