What Senior Care Stands to Gain From Millennials

When it comes to senior care staffing, many long-term care and senior living providers are scrambling to figure out how to best manage the millennial generation. A lot of the talk is focused on what millennials want and need from their jobs and workplace environments. There’s another factor of the equation many employers fail to consider: what can the senior care industry can learn from millennials? 

The millennial generation is our pool of up-and-comers! I have had countless experiences with millennials in the workplace that have led to innovative ideas, new ways to solve challenges, and fresh approaches to teamwork. Recognizing what millennials bring to the table should be a focus for senior care management.

Sure, there’s plenty that providers can do to better accommodate millennials and make the senior care space an attractive place to work. Many have been told to combat millennial job-hopping by altering career ladders and engaging millennials early and often. Others have been advised to better deploy technology to retain millennials, and received different tips and tricks to attracting this cohort of potential employees.

But the fact of the matter is, your company can benefit from hiring millennials as much as millennials benefit from working for your company. That means by taking on millennial employees, you’re not only bolstering your staff and tapping the largest talent pool in the United States, but you’re also opening up your business to significant growth and opportunities for innovation.

Consider these traits that characterize the millennial generation, and how they can positively influence your organization.

1. Tech-savviness: Millennials have been deemed “digital natives,” and as such, they’re quick on the uptake when it comes to implementing new systems or generating ideas and approaches to different tasks. With millennials on board, senior care stands to become more efficient and innovative through technology. Millennials can help to lead the charge.

To-do: Lean on millennials to help identify and vet new technology. Rely on their help to train veteran staff members on it.

2. Social media prowess: Millennials are known for their extensive social media use, and while some senior care companies have feared this exposure is a threat to patient privacy, they actually stand to gain from positive employee experiences shared across social channels. Your social presence can boost brand recognition. Better yet, millennials can open up your company to the advantages social media may have to broaden your reach and communication strategy, both internally and externally.

To-do: Include millennials in marketing meetings to get their take on your social media efforts. Learn the most modern and effective ways of using social media from expert millennials.

3. Collaborative nature: Whereas previous generations have been deemed more individualistic in how they handle their jobs, millennials are known to crave collaboration. Of course, this might denote the need for a shift in how your company approaches projects or issues. As a result, you’ll gain new ways to share ideas and come up with fresh, new solutions to different problems.

To-do: Implement a mentoring program or assign groups to tasks within the organization. Allow millennials to pair up, or partner with other members of other generations in the company. Include millennials on project-based work to break down siloes and foster collaboration.

Senior care is an ideal work environment for millennials, as interacting with seniors can be very rewarding and meaningful. While recruiting millennials prompts these sorts of considerations—what we can bring to the lives of millennials—it’s also important to take advantage of what millennials can bring to the workforce. This makes for a much more enriching experience for everyone involved.