As an employer, I crave communication with my employees. Not because I'm nosey, but I want to know if they are having problems, issues, victories, progress, etc. Their time is valuable, and if they are spending all day on something that should take 3 hours, then I want to know about it. I give them the old "cut-your-loses" speech. Sure, they need to stretch to solve problems, but when the meter is ticking, there is a time to come to the boss and get some direction.

For instance, I have a relatively new programmer working for me right now. He will spend hours trying to find a bug, but I'll walk in and spot a tiny oversight immediately. I'm glad he's not afraid to try to solve it on his own, but you need to know when to go for help.

Just today, a customer was beating up on one of my designers. I didn't know about it until much later, and after much gnashing of teeth and lost productivity. I told my designer that when something seems amiss, let me know so I can confirm it, negotiate with the customer and get things back on track.

All that to say, be communicative.