7 Ways to Improve Communication between Employees and Managers

Have you ever been frustrated at work because you didn’t “get the memo” in time? Me too. It happens to employees and their bosses everywhere, every day. There are many reasons why it happens. By default, people just aren’t very good communicators – this is why communication is often listed as a skill on resumes. It takes practice.?Lots?of practice to get good. But often, it just comes down to being extremely busy and juggling a lot of information at once.

Without a good process in place, details inevitably fall through the cracks. In today’s post, the TimeForge team shares their tips on how to improve communication between employees and managers. We hope the advice here will help you and your team get – and stay – on the same page.

Why communication between employees and managers is important

The answer to the question “why is it important” might seem like a no-brainer: employees and managers need to be able to communicate effectively to achieve the best results. But there’s more to it than that. Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings, frustration, and conflict. During a time when every employee counts and you can’t afford?more turnover, it pays to reduce frustration as much as possible. The upside is that improving communication can help both employees and managers feel more understood, supported, and productive. It’s a win-win.

Ways employees can improve communication with their manager

It’s not always a problem of poor top-down communication. Employees play a role, too. Communication is a two-way street, which is why it’s important to look at the problem from both ends. Let’s start by looking at some tips employees can use to improve communication with their manager:

1. Give advance notice about your availability

Mike Hetisimer, our Implementations guru, says good communication is often about timing. “Try to give as much advance notice as possible. Most managers I worked for in the past would adapt schedules as needed if they knew about the request far enough in advance. Separately, you might ask your manager to enable?Wants to/Doesn’t Want to work?availability options?in TimeForge. These aren’t as hard-set as the?Can’t work/Can work?options, and can give you the opportunity to put in your availability?based on what works best for you, versus just what you’re available for.”

2. Speak face-to-face when you can

Diego Gaytan, our Support Team lead, says it’s best to speak face-to-face when you can. “As scary as it might sound, speaking directly with a manager is often the most effective way to communicate with them. It’s easier to misinterpret written messages, especially ones made on the fly. When you speak to a manager in person, you can get your message across and not have to wait for a response.”

Erik van Gilder, our Chief Technology Officer, had the same advice and added, “Everyone makes mistakes. Be open to the problems you’re facing, and try not to let things fester.” Speaking directly with your manager reminds them that you’re a person with a life to balance – and so are they.

3. Ask questions and voice your concerns

Audrey, our Chief Operations Officer, suggests being straightforward about expectations. “Employees should ask specific questions when a policy rolls out so they know what to expect, and they shouldn’t be afraid to speak with their manager about their concerns and questions,” she says. “The messages feature in TimeForge is a great way to do this, if it’s available to them. Updating their requests and availability regularly can be immeasurably helpful, and notifying managers when they can’t work a shift or need more hours is greatly appreciated.?Shift swaps?can help a lot with reducing the back-and-forth.”

If shift swaps aren’t enabled, employees should ask their managers to consider enabling them in TimeForge.

Ways managers can improve communication with their employees

Next, let’s look at some things managers can do to improve communication with their staff:

4. Empower employees to do more themselves

Mike’s advice for managers is to empower employees with self-service options. “Managers can improve communication by adopting some of our employee-facing features, like the?TimeForge Employee Mobile App,” he says. “Managers can open up the application to allow employees to view their schedule online (versus driving to the store, or calling!), review their punches for the week, and even submit availability requests.?This can help a great deal with?employee retention, especially as the market gets more competitive for labor.”

If you feel like you just don’t have time to delegate, we recommend these?7 time-saving tips.

5. Hold a weekly meeting

For Diego, communication is about working together as part of a team and seeing each other as people. “I think it’s important to give employees a regular open forum to discuss any issues or questions they may have. In my experience, a weekly meeting allows employees to see that their coworkers may have the same challenges as they do. When this happens, employees and their managers can begin discussing possible solutions?and build trust?as they see that their thoughts are being heard.”

Erik had similar advice and suggested using meetings as a way to gather employee feedback and ideas. Doing so not only helps staff feel valued but increases their buy-in for any changes that managers might need to make.

6. Create a communications hub

“Managers can communicate better with employees by making sure there’s a centralized place with written information for employees to access,” suggests Audrey. “Especially when juggling multiple teams and/or multiple shifts, it’s critical to have a ‘hub’ for notifications, bulletins, and memos. TimeForge messages, staff log, end-of-shift notes, and documents can all save teams a ton of time.”

Audrey’s advice for managers sounds like the opposite of Diego’s advice for employees, but it’s not. The truth is, both written and spoken forms of communication are important; they both have their uses in the workplace. What Audrey’s suggesting is that you can get more mileage out of your announcements by posting them somewhere obvious. After all, it’s harder to forget something if you see it every day.

7. Remind employees to plan ahead when they can

It’s impossible to plan for everything that might affect a schedule, but most holidays?are?planned in advance. That’s why Erik says, “Remind your employees that these events are coming, so they can communicate their needs to you ahead of time.” In other words, help your employees so they can help you. If everyone’s thinking about things in advance, it’s much more likely that the team will be prepared when the time comes.

Need help getting your management team and staff on the same page??We’re here for you! Contact us at [email protected].