Free team communication app

Run a better team.

Get your team in sync with our all-in-one, easy-to-use employee app

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Simplify your day-to-day communication

Homebase’s free mobile app has a built-in messenger tool to make it easy to stay connected.

  • Send messages to individuals, groups, or your entire team
  • Instantly create groups for quick requests, like everyone working today or everyone available tomorrow
  • New team members get added automatically — no need to share phone numbers, circulate emails, or update group chats
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Share important work information

Don’t waste time worrying. Know that your team has all the information they need.

  • Automatically send helpful reminders for shifts, clock outs, and schedule updates
  • Add company events and shift notes with specific instructions to your schedule
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Team communication with Homebase

Best employee communication tool ever!

Theresa Fouquette

Owner at Bliss Small Batch Creamery, University Place, WA

Hold your team accountable

  • Track performance by investigating on-time and no-show rates
  • Know when your team members have read your messages and viewed the schedule
  • Get alerts when employees are late for their shifts
  • Store notes and reviews within employee profiles to organize performance documentation
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Boost teamwork at your business

Homebase helps your employees work better together.

  • Introduce new hires to the whole team right in the app
  • Collect shift feedback to keep a pulse on how your team is feeling
  • Your team can give each other shout outs for a job well done
  • Employees can trade shifts and coordinate covers among themselves with minimal involvement from you
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Run a better management team

Give your whole management team real-time visibility into your business.

  • Move your manager logbook online
  • Share important information about inventory, operations, and employees
  • Respond to problems quickly to keep your business running smoothly
  • Track labor and sales in real-time
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Want to learn more about Homebase’s team communication software?

Communication is key for small businesses of all kinds. Homebase knows that, which is why we built a messaging system into our app free of charge. Our team communication software lets you send alerts and reminders, message your team members directly, and move seamlessly between our other features like scheduling, onboarding, and payroll.

Homebase’s #realtalk blog provides lots of additional resources about our team communication app, including information about all its different features, benefits, and possibilities. Here are some of our most popular articles for further reading.

Learn how Homebase’s app chat tools can make team communication more efficient.

Team communication app

Discover what features you should look for in an effective team messaging app.

Team messaging apps

Understand which communication styles suit different staff members’ personality types.

Workplace personalities

Let us show you how to create a survey to monitor employee engagement levels.

Employee survey

Find out how to choose a messaging app that can help you run your business better.

Business messaging app

See why Homebase’s messaging app is the best fit for small businesses.

Small business messaging

Use our guide to understand why team communication is so important and what you can do to improve it within your small business.

Improve team communication

Explore the benefits of instant messaging for your team.

Explore the benefits of instant messaging for your team.

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Frequently asked questions about team communication

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What is team communication?

Team communication is the exchange of information between different members of a group. In a business context, it refers to any kind of communication between two or more staff members that relates directly or indirectly to their work.

There are many forms of communication in the workplace. They include:

  • Face-to-face communication, like casual chats and check-ins
  • Group communication, like team building activities and team meetings
  • Phone calls and text messages
  • Online communication like emails and video conferencing
  • Alerts, notifications, and reminders
  • Written notes and letters
  • Instant messaging via team chat apps
  • Non-verbal communication, like body language and hand gestures

Why is effective team communication important?

Effective team communication plays a critical role in both small business day-to-day operations and long-term success. Excellent communication within a team allows you to:

  • Promote collaboration between staff members. When employees communicate with each other well, they can solve problems and complete tasks more efficiently.
  • Build trust and loyalty. Good communication means more transparency and clarity between your staff members. When employees know what’s happening in their workplace and understand why you make certain decisions, they’ll have more confidence in you as an employer.
  • Boost employee engagement levels and morale. If your team members are able to help, understand, and support each other effectively, they’ll be happier in their jobs. 
  • Set your entire team up for success. Employees who have all the information they need to do their jobs well can carry out their day-to-day tasks more efficiently. Plus, they can better handle unexpected situations when they have a clear overview of your business operations.

Effective communication is also important because poor communication has severe consequences. When misunderstandings happen, tasks end up incomplete, delayed, or maybe even missed entirely. These situations can lead to unhappy customers, demoralized staff, and reduced productivity.

How can I improve team communication?

You can improve team communication by ensuring that your staff members are readily available and accessible when required. That means everyone is well-positioned to answer questions and provide support to one another. 

It’s also essential to keep communication as simple as possible. When you have to deal with multiple phone numbers, email addresses, and social media accounts for all your employees, it’s impossible to know how to get in touch with anyone quickly. 

Homebase supports small businesses that want to improve their team communication by offering a free messaging platform (sign up here!). Employees can rely on instant messaging within our app to contact each other, so they never have to pay for another message or wonder how to contact a colleague again.

What is a team communication app?

Team communication apps also called chat apps — are tools that let people send instant messages to each other. Most of them focus on text-based messages and file sharing, but some also offer video calling and other similar features. 

Some popular platforms also offer built-in direct messaging. For example, social media channels like Facebook and Instagram have widely-used messaging services. And services like Airbnb and Uber also integrate messaging into their products to centralize user communication. Homebase’s team chat app combines messaging with a range of other HR software like hiring and onboarding, scheduling, and payroll.

Why should I use the Homebase team communication app?

You should use the Homebase team communication app because of the advantages it offers small businesses. Some of the features include:

  • Free instant messaging. Employees can chat with whoever they need to and get quick replies since everyone else is using the app, too. These messages are free, unlike SMS messages on some mobile plans, and no one needs to share their phone numbers or social media accounts to get in touch with each other. Plus, instant messaging is universal, so it’ll suit all your employees, no matter their workplace personality.
  • Integrations with Homebase’s other HR software. Homebase’s team communication app integrates with our scheduling app. That means employees can check their schedules and contact each other in the same place. Managers can also streamline their workflow by switching effortlessly between messaging, scheduling, and payroll on the same platform. You can even create and send employee surveys to gauge employee happiness and motivation.
  • Access to a manager log book. Managers can communicate with each other using our categorized, searchable manager log bookeven if they don’t have any shifts that overlap. They can make notes about maintenance issues, private parties, cleaning notes, and any other information that’s relevant to your daily small business operations.
  • Shift notes. Managers can leave shift notes for employees within their schedules. These notes are handy if team members need to know about something specific about their shifts, like if there’s an incoming delivery or a new team member starting.
  • Alerts and reminders. Employees might occasionally forget to clock in and out of their shifts or even turn up to work. Homebase has a handy alerts and reminders feature that warns team members when they have an upcoming shift or are approaching a break or overtime. That means you don’t have to spend time checking up on employees yourself.
  • Security and privacy. Our tool is a secure messaging app, so you’ll never have to worry about the safety of you or your employees’ potentially sensitive information.

Does the Homebase app fit with my business?

Homebase offers one of the best team apps for small to medium-sized businesses of all kinds. Our features suit a range of different industries and business models, too. 

For instance, if your business has multiple locations, you can use our business messaging app to keep in sync. For example, you can organize which store handles deliveries for certain areas or arrange shift covers between branches. And if you have one small team, managers can supervise their staff more effectively without necessarily having to stay on the premises. 

The Homebase app also helps small businesses run more efficiently by decreasing the need for large group meetings, reducing errors due to miscommunications, and letting team members collaborate and get to know each other better.