Should I Tell My Boss?

It’s pretty common for employees to complain about not getting along with their boss. In fact, studies have found 77% of employees who voluntarily leave their job cite their manager as the reason for leaving.

While we can’t speak to every scenario, personality, and potential conflict, we’d like to address one simple thing every employee can do with every manager that will help improve that relationship:

Keep your boss informed.

That’s it. Seriously.

Keeping your boss informed is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your working relationship. A large part of workplace conflict comes from miscommunication, so it makes sense that improving communication will improve your relationship.

This doesn’t mean you need to share every detail of your life, or even what you did over the weekend if you don’t want to. It’s always good to find common ground outside of work, but it’s not necessary to have a great working relationship.

What you do need to share are things that might affect your work or your schedule. Maybe your child is sick at home and you need to be there – let your boss know and keep them informed as to when you might be back and if that changes. Maybe you have a dentist appointment and need to arrive late one morning, but will work late to make it up – don’t just do it, let your boss know what’s going on and why!