Two-way communication is the basis of any good relationship. It’s no different between employees and management

For one high-tech Halifax work place, the essence of good internal communications can be found in a nifty kitchen gadget. Sandra Greer, the president and CEO of Halifax-based AMIRIX Systems Inc., recalls how a relatively new employee solved a problem facing the company that designs and manufactures underwater acoustic telemetry transmitters and receivers for fisheries biologists and marine researchers studying various fish species and marine mammals.

“There was a small piece of equipment that needed to be dried before it could be used in the next phase of production,” says Greer. “One day, one of the newer employees who had the chutzpah to speak up jokingly said, ‘I wonder if one of those lettuce dryers would work?’ Everybody kind of chuckled, then the supervisor went into the VP’s office and said, ‘You know what? That absolutely could work.’ The VP pulled out his wallet, handed him some cash, and said, ‘Go get one. Who cares if it doesn’t work. The message here is that you took the time to say something.’ ”

As it turns out, Patricia Lloyd’s salad-spinner idea cut the two-day drying time in half for the small tubes that house transmitters. “It’s simple, but it works,” says Lloyd, a technical assistant who has only been with AMIRIX for about a year. She was initially surprised that company officials took her idea seriously, but now she sees the pattern. “That’s what they're like,” she says with a laugh. “When I talk, they listen.”

Fostering good internal communications is important to the health of a company, says Kerry Atkinson, the business development manager with Wilson Insurance Ltd. in Fredericton. An intranet system keeps the company’s 48 employees apprised of what’s going on, but there’s also a much less technical scheme in place. “We do morning huddles with each division,” says Atkinson.

Teams get together for about 15 minutes so members can tell each other what their plans are for the day. That way everyone knows each other’s schedule, where people will be, and even if someone is having a tough day and might need others to pick up the slack. “We all gather together in a circle and usually we have a little mascot,” says Atkinson. “We have Happy, one of the seven dwarfs, that we pass around. Whoever has that mascot has the floor and the time to talk.”

Like most of the Best Places, Wilson Insurance conducts regular performance reviews, including 360 evaluations, where employees rate their manager’s strengths and weaknesses through a third party. “We stress what’s going well,” says Atkinson, “but they also want to hear what’s not going as well so they can make sure everything’s moving smoothly and on a forward track.” 

At VistaCare Communications in Dartmouth, N.S., company officials know that, due to the nature of their business, the pressure’s on to listen to employees. “We value what people think and we value what people say,” says Margot Day, the director of sales and marketing. “And a lot of us have actually been on the other side of the desk. We’ve been technicians out in the field or we started as low man on the totem pole. And one of everybody’s frustrations is having worked for companies in the past where you knew you could do it better, but you just weren’t given the tools.”

That line of thinking has resulted in an open-door management policy at the wireless and telephony company. “We tell everybody here that they have value, and the more value they bring to the company the more money they’ll put in their jeans’ pocket,” says company president Edward Webber. “We are always looking for people who want to aspire to greater heights. So we do listen to everybody. If they come up with a better way to do something, to make our customer happier, to make it easier, to make it safer for the people who are doing the installation or service work, we try to do what makes sense.”

About one-third of the company’s 75 employees use a BlackBerry to keep in touch with the office throughout the day—and often at night too. “Most of the people here are available 24/7,” says Day. “Even the technicians keep their cellphones on.” But the company tries not to take advantage of that situation by rotating the people who are on call during weekends, and employees are told not to take their phones with them on vacation.

While BlackBerrys, cellphones, and other wireless devices can free employees from the confines of the office, they can also act like a leash that chains people to work when they should be focusing on other pursuits. “They can find you everywhere,” says Richard Vaillancourt, the CEO of Moncton’s OMISTA Credit Union. “I try to not use mine so much after hours and on weekends because I think it sets a bad example if I’m demanding or asking things by virtue of knowing somebody has a BlackBerry.”

When it comes to recognizing employees who have done a good job, OMISTA has a policy that shows company officials really are listening. “We ask employees what they want. A lot of places I’ve worked in have just offered a plaque or a watch or some foolish thing you don’t really need,” says Vaillancourt, noting that OMISTA employees have chosen gifts ranging from swing sets and bicycles to paintings and jewelry.

Back at AMIRIX, employees are encouraged to ask questions at weekly cafeteria meetings about what’s going on with the company. “Obviously right now it’s more important than ever,” says Greer, “because everybody’s a little bit skittish about the economy and whether that’s going to impact us.”