Tips for 1:1 with employees

Tip 0: Do them. Seriously, it's a relatively minimal investment in time, but it goes a long way towards eliminating unpleasant surprises and making sure employees feel valued.

Every manager I've had claims they operate under an "open door" policy, and encourages people to bring concerns to them. This sounds great on paper, because it shows a buzzwordy commitment to communication. It's also nice because it absolves management of any need to keep tabs on their employees. If someone quits out of the blue because they don't feel like they're being used, it's not management's fault for not recognizing that - it's the employee's fault for not bringing it up.

The problem is that, if I am unhappy with some important aspect of my work (pay, lack of challenging work, the fact that my manager hasn't listened before, whatever), my manager is one of the last people I want to bring this information to. If the perception is that my problems aren't important enough for management to want to learn about them, then why should I expect management will want to help me solve them (by recommending me for a raise, transfer to a different area), new manager, etc)?