Improving Communication in Your Company

Just like any other relationship, healthy business relationships are based on effective communication. In fact, organizations with effective internal communication practices are three and a half times more likely to significantly outperform their peers, according to a Towers Watson report. Communication helps managers at these organizations understand what motivates their employees and impart the company’s vision to them. It can also increase staff engagement levels, thereby improving the quality of work customers receive.

Why Effective Communication is Important

It improves service. Communication between managers, staff, and customers leads to quality services. Not only is it the cornerstone of a positive work environment that motivates employees, it also helps clients have confidence in the company.

It builds great teams. Unlike retail stores, contractors do not always work side-by-side. Many work at scattered job sites. After a while, workers can start to feel disconnected from the rest of the company, as if they work alone. Regular communication is critical for reminding these employees that they are part of a team.

It boosts productivity. The better your communication, the less time you spend resolving conflicts and sorting out misunderstandings. You and your team can focus more of your time doing meaningful work. Furthermore, employees can start each day confident they know what they are doing and how it contributes to the company’s goals.

Why Use Contractor-Specific Communication Software?

Detailed reports. Unlike emails, texts, or phone calls, communication software maintains a trail of records for you. You can easily run reports to see all supply requests, incident write-ups, requisitions, and other communication types sorted by employee or job. You never need to fear losing an incident report or any other type of communication.

Automatic list maintenance. Need to send a message to those working at a particular location? Rather than shuffling through the schedule to find the names, try using a messaging application that finds those people for you based on your criteria. For example, you can alert everyone who works at a specific job site about new procedures that affect them by selecting that job site, instead of talking to everyone individually. This ensures that each message goes to the right people, while saving you time.

Fewer expenses. Contractor-specific communication software is often less expensive than a professional email account. On average, organizations can expect to pay at least $5/month per person for email addresses. But communication software, which is different from email, can cost just a fraction of that amount. Moreover, your employees can be automatically enrolled upon hire and removed upon termination — no pesky list management necessary!

Why not use a free email provider like Gmail, you may ask? While cost is no concern with free email accounts, they simply don’t have any of the required features contractors need for effective communication. For example, they are cumbersome to manage, they do not capture the location of the sender (to confirm the job site), and their use cannot be restricted. And since turnover is so high right now, companies could spend a lot of time maintaining accounts.

Conclusion

In today’s fast-paced world, communication plays an essential role in our personal and working lives. For contractors, the right communications platform will connect managers, employees, and administration to streamline services. When everyone in the company is engaged and connected, retention rates and customer experience improve.