Best Time to Schedule Calls Between Toronto and London

Toronto and London sit either four or five hours apart depending on the season. During UK summer (BST, late March to late October), Toronto is on EDT and the gap is four hours. During UK winter (GMT) Toronto is on EST and the gap is five hours. That sounds like a footnote, but it shifts the practical meeting windows by a full hour twice a year and is the source of most "wait, what time was that?" exchanges between the two offices.

The good news: a 4-to-5-hour gap is one of the most workable spreads in cross-Atlantic scheduling. There are genuinely good slots, not just least-bad compromises.

The best window: midday Toronto, late afternoon London

12:00–13:00 ET / 17:00–18:00 GMT (or 16:00–17:00 BST in summer) is the strongest recurring slot for Toronto–London teams. Here's why it works:

London is just before end-of-day. The team is fully warmed up, has the context of a full day's work behind them, and is energised by the fact that this is probably their last meeting before going home.
Toronto is at lunchtime, which sounds like a problem but actually isn't. North American knowledge workers routinely take meetings over lunch — it's culturally accepted in a way that "before 9 AM" never quite is in the UK.
Both sides have actual workday remaining for follow-up. That matters more than people think: a meeting that ends a decision into action on the same day is worth two meetings that end into "we'll pick it up tomorrow."

The single-most common mistake is to push this slot later — to 14:00 ET / 19:00 GMT. Don't. London's evening hours are noticeably less productive, and 7 PM is past the polite limit for asking a London team to stay on a call.

Secondary windows that work

09:00–10:00 ET / 14:00–15:00 GMT

Favours Toronto strongly. Toronto is at peak morning productivity; London is mid-afternoon and going strong. This is the right slot for working sessions, sprint planning, and anything that needs Toronto's full focus rather than Toronto's lunch-hour attention. The cost is small — a London afternoon is good but not great.

08:00–09:00 ET / 13:00–14:00 GMT

Works for shorter, decision-oriented meetings where you want both sides fresh. Toronto is just into the day; London has finished lunch and is back at the desk. Limit to 30 minutes for best results — both sides will be hungry for a coffee inside 45 minutes.

13:00–14:00 ET / 18:00–19:00 GMT

Acceptable for occasional meetings but not a recurring slot. London is past the polite limit; many people will have already mentally clocked out. Use only when both sides have explicitly agreed.

Windows to avoid

Before 08:00 ET / 13:00 GMT. Toronto is too early; productivity is low and the call will feel forced.
After 14:00 ET / 19:00 GMT. London is at or past end of day; reply rates and engagement collapse.
Friday afternoon either side. Universal rule for cross-Atlantic scheduling: don't.

The DST trap

The UK switches DST roughly a week or two later than Canada in the spring, and switches back roughly a week earlier in the autumn. That creates two short periods each year — usually a single week each — when Toronto and London are temporarily four hours apart instead of five, or five apart instead of four. Recurring calendar invites that were set in one local time will silently shift relative to the other side's clock.

The fix is to pick the side whose clock anchors the meeting, set the recurring invite in that time zone, and let the other side absorb the one-week drift each spring and autumn. Most teams pick the side with the meeting owner. Either way, send a calendar reminder during DST-switch weeks and double-check times for any meeting more than 24 hours out.

A recurring schedule that rotates the burden

If you have weekly or twice-weekly Toronto–London standups, the fair pattern is to alternate the slot:

Week A: 09:00 ET / 14:00 GMT — favours Toronto morning, London afternoon
Week B: 12:30 ET / 17:30 GMT — favours London late afternoon, Toronto lunch

This spreads the asymmetry. Toronto pays the lunch cost half the time; London pays the late-afternoon-fatigue cost half the time. Most teams find they prefer this to a single fixed slot once they've tried it for a few weeks.

What to put in the invite

Always include both times in the meeting body, in this format: "Tuesday 12:00 ET (Toronto) / Tuesday 17:00 GMT (London)." Most calendar tools render correctly, but the friction cost of one missed meeting because someone misread the auto-converted time is high enough that the explicit double-format is worth it.

For ad-hoc cross-team calls — especially with people who don't usually work across the gap — link to the Toronto–London compare page so they can see the current difference and check the slot for themselves.

The summary

12:00–13:00 ET / 17:00–18:00 GMT is your default Toronto–London window. 09:00 ET is your secondary, Toronto-favourable slot. Rotate between them if you meet often. Watch out for DST drift in late March and late October. And avoid Friday afternoon — the rule of last resort for transatlantic scheduling — unless you genuinely cannot avoid it.

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