TL;DR: Good communication in the workplace avoids confusion, gives people purpose, builds a positive culture, and creates accountability. Improve it by communicating authentically, keeping a regular rhythm of one-on-ones and team meetings, offering safe ways to raise concerns, and listening. Australian employers must also consult staff about major changes, rosters, and safety risks.
Last updated 11 October 2026.
Key takeaways
- According to Gallup, global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020.
- Gallup found manager engagement dropped from 27% to 22% between 2024 and 2025, and managers carry most day-to-day communication.
- Safe Work Australia lists poor support, lack of role clarity, and poor organisational change management as psychosocial hazards, and all three are partly communication failures.
- Modern awards generally require employers to consult employees before major workplace changes or changes to regular rosters.
- Communication is two-way, so asking for feedback and acting on it matters as much as what managers say.
Why is communication in the workplace important?
Communication in the workplace is important because it lets people work efficiently, make good decisions, and feel connected to their team. Clear communication travels up, down, and across an organisation with confidence. Poor communication leaves staff unsure of priorities, doubtful about the business, and less confident in their own ability.
The same is true of every part of life. Anyone who has tried to reason with a toddler knows what happens when the message does not land: a tantrum, and nobody wins. Workplaces are calmer about it, but the cost is real.
When communication works, employees can raise problems early, managers can explain decisions, and teams can coordinate without chasing each other. Investing in communication skills and the right tools improves productivity, performance, and morale.
In summary, communication matters at work because:
- it avoids confusion
- and it provides purpose
- it builds a positive company culture
- and it creates accountability.
What does poor communication in the workplace cost?
Poor communication costs engagement, productivity, and wellbeing. People who do not know what is expected, why decisions were made, or where to raise a problem disengage, and some get stressed or leave. In Australia it can also become a safety issue, because several recognised psychosocial hazards are communication failures at heart.
Engagement is the clearest measure. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025. Gallup estimates low engagement cost the world economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity.
Managers are part of the problem and most of the solution. Gallup found manager engagement fell from 27% to 22% between 2024 and 2025. Because managers pass on most of the messages employees hear, a disengaged manager weakens communication for the whole team.
The safety side is specific. Safe Work Australia lists psychosocial hazards that businesses must manage, including poor support, lack of role clarity, poor organisational change management, and conflict or poor workplace relationships. So an employee who never learns what their job involves, or hears about a restructure from a rumour, is exposed to more than frustration.
What are the types of workplace communication?
Workplace communication flows in three directions: downward from leaders to teams, upward from employees to managers, and across between peers. It happens in real time, through meetings and calls, and asynchronously, through messages, documents, and announcements. Most organisations need all of these, matched to the message.
Downward communication explains strategy, decisions, and changes. Upward communication brings feedback, ideas, and problems to the people who can act on them. Lateral communication keeps projects moving between teams without everything going through a manager.
The channel should fit the message. A restructure deserves a conversation, whereas a policy update suits a written notice everyone can find later. Sensitive feedback needs privacy, and a quick question suits chat.
Suppose a roster change is announced only in a group chat on a Friday night. Some staff miss it, others feel ambushed, and Monday starts with an argument rather than a shift. The same change, explained in a team meeting with time for questions, lands very differently.
How can you improve communication in the workplace?
Improve workplace communication by communicating authentically, building a culture where speaking up is normal, and keeping a regular rhythm of one-on-ones and team meetings. Offer a safe way to raise concerns, make time for conversation beyond work, and listen more than you talk. Technology helps, but it is not a magic wand.
Driving change is in your hands. Here are seven pointers that work in an office, on a shop floor, or across a hybrid team.
Practise authentic communication
Workplace communications can feel rehearsed, repeated, and forced, which makes them far less effective. The simple fix is to be yourself, and to make sure what you say comes from a place of authenticity.
If you are a business owner or an HR leader, authentic communication builds comfort for everyone else. It creates an environment where employees feel safe to be authentic too, and to share their own perspectives with confidence. Once that seed is planted, everything from building relationships to having difficult conversations gets a little easier. If you want your employees to be real with you, lead by example.
Create a communication-friendly culture
Make your workplace communication-friendly every day by giving the team tools that encourage conversation, especially when people work remotely. Chat and video tools remove the barriers that email creates, and groups or channels for interests outside work help people connect. Our guide to managing a hybrid workforce covers communication when teams are split across locations.
Keep workplace communication constant
As a manager, it is your role to keep communication flowing with your team. Constant does not mean relying on annual reviews to discuss performance and goals, so no cheating. Find time for monthly one-on-ones to understand each person’s workload, how they are feeling, and what is holding them back. You will be surprised how much people say once there is a slot for it. Our article on employee feedback covers how to make those conversations useful.
Hold weekly team meetings
Alongside one-on-ones, hold the same kind of conversation with the whole team in an open forum. In busy or stressful periods, more frequent meetings keep everyone working towards the same goals and aware of any shift in strategy. Team meetings also build culture, because people can raise hot topics, passion projects, and concerns. In addition, the team does more than hear what you say, as they can respond to it.
Offer a safe way to give anonymous feedback
Anonymous feedback is crucial to effective workplace communication. Some things cannot be said without friction or embarrassment, and fear stops them being said at all. Without a safe channel, a toxic colleague, a safety shortcut, or theft of stock reaches management slowly or not at all. A whistleblower policy sets out protected channels for the most serious concerns.
Make time for non-work related discussion
Employees are more than workers. They have plans, skills, families, hobbies, and interesting stories. Effective communication includes topics beyond work, so peers and managers build positive relationships. A regular team lunch, a social channel, or a shared activity does more for trust than another all-hands meeting.
Listen, and ask for employee feedback
Listening is one of the most essential parts of communication. You have probably heard it from your mother: you have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Managers can easily fall into one-directional advice, so ask for views and give people space to answer honestly. Short, regular surveys let you ask more questions more often, and they show you care, provided you act on the answers.
When must employers consult employees in Australia?
Australian employers must consult employees in several situations. Modern awards and enterprise agreements generally require consultation before major workplace changes and before changing regular rosters or ordinary hours. Under work health and safety laws, businesses must also consult workers when identifying hazards, assessing risks, and proposing changes that might affect health and safety.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, consultation clauses generally apply when an employer has decided to introduce major changes in production, organisation, structure, or technology that are likely to significantly affect employees. The employer must notify affected employees and their representatives, and discuss the changes and their likely effects.
Roster changes have their own rule. An employer who intends to change regular rosters or ordinary hours must consult the affected employees first, share information about the change, and invite their views. Any enterprise agreement lodged without a consultation clause automatically includes a model consultation term.
Safety consultation is broader still. According to Safe Work Australia, there is no set way to consult. In a small workplace it might be regular conversations, whereas larger workplaces may need team meetings, toolbox talks, or health and safety representatives.
How does the right to disconnect affect workplace communication?
The right to disconnect lets employees refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact outside their working hours, unless refusing is unreasonable. It covers calls, emails, texts, and messaging apps, from an employer or a third party. It does not make out-of-hours contact unlawful, so the question is whether a refusal is reasonable.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the right applied from 26 August 2024 for employees of businesses with 15 or more employees, and from 26 August 2025 for small business employees.
In practice, it pushes teams towards clear expectations. Agree when urgent contact is genuinely needed, who is on call, and which messages can wait until morning. Scheduling non-urgent emails to send during working hours is a simple habit that helps. Our explainer on the right to disconnect covers the factors that decide reasonableness.
What tools support communication in the workplace?
Most workplaces combine chat and video tools for everyday conversation, an intranet or shared drive for documents, and an HR system for policies, feedback, and employee records. The right mix depends on how people work. A frontline team needs mobile access, whereas an office team may live in chat and video.
Choose tools by the job they do. Chat suits quick questions, video suits discussion, and a written record suits anything people need to find later, such as policies and decisions.
An HRIS such as Worknice can send policies for acknowledgement, run short identified surveys and onboarding check-ins, and keep the results on each employee’s record. However, Worknice surveys are linked to the person who answers, so they do not replace an anonymous survey tool where candour depends on anonymity.
Frequently asked questions
Why is communication important in the workplace?
Communication is important in the workplace because it avoids confusion, gives people purpose, builds a positive culture, and creates accountability. It lets employees raise problems early and helps managers explain decisions. Poor communication lowers engagement and productivity, and in Australia it can create psychosocial risks such as poor support and lack of role clarity.
How can communication in the workplace be improved?
Communication improves when leaders communicate authentically and managers hold regular one-on-ones and team meetings. It also helps to offer a safe way to raise concerns, make time for non-work conversation, and actively ask for feedback. Acting on what employees say matters most, because people stop speaking up when nothing changes.
What are the types of communication in the workplace?
Workplace communication flows downward from leaders, upward from employees, and laterally between peers. It can be synchronous, such as meetings and calls, or asynchronous, such as emails, chat messages, and documents. It can also be formal, such as policies and announcements, or informal, such as conversations at lunch.
What are the effects of poor communication in the workplace?
Poor communication leads to confusion about priorities, duplicated work, mistakes, conflict, and lower engagement. Employees may feel unsupported or unclear about their role, which Safe Work Australia recognises as psychosocial hazards. Over time it can increase stress, absence, and turnover, and it weakens trust in leadership.
Do employers have to consult employees about changes?
Generally, yes. Modern awards and enterprise agreements require employers to consult employees before major workplace changes and before changing regular rosters or ordinary hours. Work health and safety laws also require consultation on safety matters. Employers must consider employees’ views, although they do not usually need employees’ consent to proceed.
About the author
Graham Martin is Co-founder of Worknice, an Australian HRIS built for mid-to-large organisations. He has spent more than a decade working with Australian People and Culture teams on HR systems, compliance, and payroll integration.
Related reading
- 5 signals your workplace culture is stalling: early warning signs that communication and culture need attention.
- Worknice surveys: how to run short employee surveys people actually answer.
- How important are workplace policies and procedures?: why written policies make expectations clear to everyone.
Sources
- Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace”. 2026 report. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx
- Safe Work Australia, “Psychosocial hazards”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/mental-health/psychosocial-hazards
- Safe Work Australia, “Consultation”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/consultation
- Fair Work Ombudsman, “Consultation and cooperation in the workplace” best practice guide. Content last updated 6 May 2026. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/best-practice-guides/consultation-and-cooperation-in-the-workplace
- Fair Work Ombudsman, “Right to disconnect”. Content last updated 18 June 2026. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/hours-of-work-breaks-and-rosters/right-to-disconnect
