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Every additional hour of time zone difference reduces real-time communication by 11%.

That's from a joint study by Harvard Business School and INFORMS. The researchers specifically recommend organizing distributed teams along a north-south axis rather than east-west, to preserve workday overlap.

Costa Rica sits on exactly that axis. Operating on Central Standard Time, Costa Rican professionals share a full workday with US teams. No early-morning standups. No decisions held overnight. No requests that sit until the other team wakes up.

That structure changes how collaboration actually works. Issues get resolved same day. Decisions don't pile up waiting for a timezone window.

The cost of getting it wrong shows up in the data. Of US companies switching away from offshore models, 30% cite time zone gaps as the primary reason collaboration broke down.

More on nearshoring to Costa Rica:

Nearshoring to Costa Rica: Key Benefits for US Companies Nearshoring to Costa Rica: full workday overlap, 30–70% cost savings, and strong English. Discover which roles transfer well and how to find the right partner.

Harvard Business School research found that each additional hour of time zone difference reduces real-time communication by 11%.

For most business functions, asynchronous work is manageable. For marketing, same-day feedback matters more. Campaign reviews, creative approvals, A/B test reads, pivot decisions: those slow down when your team is 10 hours ahead and you're working in parallel rather than together.

LatAm gives US teams 0–3 hours of difference. Colombia matches US Eastern at UTC-5. Argentina, Brazil, and Chile are one to three hours ahead. You can get a content round-trip done in a single workday.

That distinction matters more for marketing than it does for most other functions. The work is fast-moving and collaborative in ways that compound the cost of time zone gaps.

We compared 22 countries across four regions for US companies hiring remote marketing talent.

More on this:

Best Countries to Hire Remote Marketing Talent: 2026 Guide Explore our list of the 22 best countries to hire remote offshore marketing talent and give your ad campaigns a fresh perspective.

A real estate founder who hired through Near said it simply: "If I did one deal a year with this person, they'd pay for themselves."

That framing is more useful than the salary comparison. A good assistant's value isn't just in what they do. It's in what they free you to do. Scheduling, inbox management, follow-ups, operational decisions that shouldn't require your attention: when those stop landing on your plate, the time that opens up goes somewhere.

The people who make this hire and don't look back tend to be the ones who were most skeptical of it first. They assumed no one could anticipate their needs or manage their calendar the way they would. The shift happens when they realize they're not the best person for that job.

LatAm makes the financial case easier: executive assistants cost up to 78% less than US equivalents, in the same time zones, with strong English proficiency.

We covered the VA vs. EA distinction, what to look for, and where to find candidates.

Have a look at the full article:

Why US Business Owners Are Hiring Assistants in LatAm Still doing it all yourself? Here's why hiring an assistant transforms how a business runs, and why LatAm is where smart owners are finding them.