Attention bosses: Your team members want you to let them know what's going on at the office.
Communication is the top skill managers need to improve, according to a new survey of 20,000 people from Comparably, a compensation, culture, and jobs monitoring site.
The data was collected from employees at small, mid-size and large public companies between March 2016 and June 2017.
Half of survey respondents picked "communication" as the number one issue. "Accountability," came in second, with 20 percent of survey respondents selecting it as the issue they most want to see their boss improve.
The survey also showed communication becomes increasingly important the older you get: 44 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 to 25 chose "communication" as their top priority, compared to 59 percent of survey respondents aged 56 to 60.
Best-selling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch also advises that it is important for managers to be candid with their employees.
"You have a weapon at your disposal, which you can unleash right now to take your career to the next level," she says. "I'm talking about taking the B.S. and the jargon out of your language."
Say exactly and specifically what you mean, says Welch.
"Think about the last performance review that you gave," Welch says. "Did you say really what you were thinking? Usually we don't."
Similarly, CEO coach and former Google exec Kim Scott says "radical candor" is essential for an manager to be a good leader.
The first step in establishing the relationship upon which you can be candid is caring about your employees, she says. "It's not enough to care only about people's ability to perform a job," Scott writes in her new book "Radical Candor." "It's about giving a damn," she says, and "sharing more than just your work self and encouraging everyone who reports to you to do the same."
The second step, says Scott, is be honest about both what is working and what isn't.
"Caring personally about people even as you challenge them will build the best relationships of your career," says Scott.
See also:
Former Obama speechwriter: This is the one question you have to ask to be an effective communicator
10 shocking confessions of sexism from Silicon Valley VCs Chris Sacca and Dave McClure
Billionaire LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman: 'More work is never the real answer'
Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook.