Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Effective Communication in the Workplace

Effective communication in the workplace is hard to accomplish, especially since you have to communicate a message to more than 500 employees, as it happens at PwC. Although a company may rely on e-mail messages sent to all the employees extensively, this is not always the most effective way to communicate as not everybody reads the e-mail at the same time.

Here are some tips in order to improve communication in the workplace, no matter what company you are in.

  1. Listen to the problems an employee may have. Whether you are the manager or just hold a non-managerial position, you have to listen to the issues an employee may have and take steps to help him or her.
  2. Respect differences between employees. Since a multinational company is likely to have employees coming from different countries, a high degree of attention is required when communicating with people of different nationalities as they may interpret your message in a completely different way as you initially intended.
  3. Transparency is another factor which leads to better communication in the workplace. If you are straightforward, the issues will be solved easier and with less effort.
  4. No negative emotions in the office! Try to handle conflicts carefully and manage the stress when communicating with your colleagues or boss. At PwC, for example, they are offering massages to the employees in order to help them alleviate stress.
  5. And last, but not least, treat everybody as you would like to be treated in return!