Between all of the schedule setting, employees switching shifts, and adjusting the location’s hours of operation – it’s not always easy to keep communication streamlined among your staff so that everyone is on the same page! Below are 5 tips to effectively correspond with employees.

1.  Create a communication-friendly atmosphere
If you find that members of your team hardly speak to each other, or certain rental clerks have created cliques that harbor secrets and gossip, there’s an increased risk that information is not getting passed along adequately to all employees. Combat this by creating a work environment where respectful, open communication is encouraged and all voices are important and welcome. Set an example by greeting your staff every day, praising employees’ helpful ideas, and enforcing a friendly, considerate communication style.

2.  Ask your employees for feedback
Your clerks on the front line can be a valuable untapped resource for learning issues happening with customers and scenarios that you might not have known were occurring. Spend a moment talking to your staff, both one-on-one and in a group, about any improvements that could be made pertaining to management style or operational procedures. Be sure to thank them for their feedback, and try to implement their suggestions when warranted.

3.  Avoid over-communicating
After being overloaded with ads, emails, calls and texts over the years, our brains have become very skilled at weeding out what it considers spam. Sending an abundance of emails or calling too often commonly results in employees becoming desensitized to the urgency of you contacting them. Try to stick to two methods of correspondence and designate which one is more time sensitive – for example, let staff know that you will only call them with pressing matters, so if they see that you’re calling them they know it’s important that they answer.

4.  Be authentic and relatable
Above all you want your team to feel comfortable talking to you in casual or serious settings, and the best way to establish this is to find common ground while speaking respectfully and calmly. Connecting to staff members in laid-back situations helps create a feeling of security that you will be understanding when they bring an issue to your attention. When an employee makes a mistake, strive to remain levelheaded and remember when you’ve made similar mistakes at work; people will try to cover up problems or solve them without you finding out, if they feel you aren’t receptive.

5.  Assess your current communication strategy
Do you find that some employees reply to your texts hours later, or neglect to inform you of scheduling changes? Take a hard look at how you currently communicate with your team and see what can be improved. Emailing a team-wide weekly run-down can help employees who typically work mornings and weekdays know what’s happening on the busy weekends (and vice versa).