This question is on par for my recent experience within my internship. I had a wonderful time at my
internship but there was a lack of communication between interns and staff.
My internship began a month before busy season. Due to this I had many training courses on the
technology I would be using during busy season. In addition, the company was installing a new
method of distributing missing items lists. The interns received training and were told to begin
working within the system and sending out lists of missing items before the other staff had been
made aware of the technological changes. This led to massive confusion among the staff. Multiple
staff members came to interns, assuming the interns were told the wrong information, when the
staff had not been made aware of their upcoming change. The company then convened a meeting
to discuss this new technology change and how it would affect them. This meeting was with the
entire company and had a very tense feeling. It led to many employees being upset with the
sudden changes at the busiest time of the year.
The issue with the implementation of a new technology was the method of execution. The
company should have made the staff aware of the upcoming change and how it would affect t
them during the upcoming busy season. The staff should not have been caught off guard by the
changes.
The process would need to be changed for the future. Even if the company is not able to train the
staff on the changes before, they train the interns, there should be warnings. The company should
send out emails and alerts describing that there will be a change and more information will come.
The company did not effectively communicate the change and therefore caused confusion and
frustration amongst the company.
As an intern, there was massive confusion and worry that we were doing something wrong. This
lead to insecurity and feeling like the workplace was not a safe place to discuss our work and
intentions. This was something we were told to do but were then being told was wrong. This issue
is substantial enough because it affected the company’s overall morale and made for a tense
workplace. It made disgruntled employees that showed early on an example of poor
communication to the new interns and “talent”. This is concerning because an example like this
could directly affect the new talent’s ideas of the company. Accounting firms already struggle with
retaining employees because of the competitive nature within the career. The company needs to
ensure there is an open line of communication and thorough warnings of changes to guarantee
there is no miscommunication in the future.
The company I currently am employed with has had a major hiccup with its communication process
over the last several months. When I first started a few years ago we used to have either monthly
or bi-monthly tailgates. They would relay information such as updates to policies, procedures,
health and safety goals and yearly bonus projected. This year however they stopped suddenly and
with no explanation. We have seen more inventory specialists on the floors and even members of
senior management walking through with members of banks in order to obtain loans from what we
have heard from management. Now the past several months we have been offered non pay "free
days" off during the week that will not count against us due to losing a major contract and being
ahead on previous orders. Of course, with the lack of communication rumours have started to
circulate that this is an attempt to avoid layoffs and they did something like these twenty years
back before they ultimately had to lay off thousands of employees. There have been no talks about
our annual bonus which some employees rely heavily on because it is 120 times our pay rate which
can be a significant amount. Due to the lack of communication not only have rumours spread like
wildfire, but we have started losing employees due to them seeking other employment. I think the
lack of communication has hurt the business and made employees feel uncertain about their future
and a distrust in management. It is my belief that some of this could have been avoided if they
divulged some information to the employees to at minimum help ease some of the worry.
Kerr, J. (2019). How to Stop The Rumour Mill From Sabotaging Your Business.
