I’m now the mother of a teenager (gasp!) and wondering how we got here so darn quickly?! How did we go from swaddling and strollers, to learning to read and Safety Town, to communicating via text and eye rolling (her, not me – I swear. She’s 13, remember?!) I feel like I should get an award of some sort, but from what I’m told this is just the beginning and I need to brace myself and hold on for the ride.
Just as I was contemplating what these next few years may have in store for us, I came across an article in the New York Times about mean girls. But here’s the thing. The article is about mean girls in senior living communities – not mean girls in junior high. Are you kidding me?!
The author, Jennifer Weiner (one of my favorite novelists btw, but I’ll save that for a different blog), shares her grandmother’s story as a 99-year-old misfit in a senior living community. She’s shunned by the 80-something Queen Bee and her younger, prettier wannabees, who have no room for a 99-year-old at the lunch table or bridge game. Who would have thought that cliques and drama a la Lindsay Lohan would be around in the golden years, let alone in a retirement setting. But the more I thought about it, why wouldn’t they?
Now, I’m not saying that once a mean girl, always a mean girl, but let’s face it, people are people and they are reluctant to change.
All of this made me ponder, how prevalent are these issues in senior living? And how do employees working in senior living deal with the squabbles of residents? Even yet, do queen bees and mean girls, and the feistiness and exclusiveness that come along with them, exist among the staff themselves? I once heard a CEO of a senior care organization say that often the staff “eat their young.” Wow - there’s no wonder employee turnover is so high in this industry.
Strong recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training practices can go a long way to make sure that newbies are welcomed into your facility. Keeping staff engaged from the start will help drive cohesiveness and strengthen your team so they perform well together, without casting anyone aside. Highly engaged employees can do wonders for your community, leading to greater retention, better care, and strong relationships with residents and their families for high satisfaction. Engagement runs deep within the culture of the community and it’s up to senior care leaders to establish these practices and reinforce them day in and day out.
As for the mean girls who Jennifer’s grandmother encountered at her community? It turns out Nana was able to make some friends after all.