Why Employee Engagement Matters in Senior Living

Senior living and post-acute care providers have become increasingly concerned with engagement within their labor forces. Between high turnover rates, a majority-millennial workforce and a steady stream of research indicating engagement as a key component for business success, it is understandably a pressing concern. 

Most of today’s workers are millennials, and they have been deemed a generation of job hoppers. Add to that an average staff turnover rate of 42% in senior living and the prospect that only 29% of millennials are engaged at work, according to a recent Gallup report, employee engagement proves an even more urgent priority for senior living providers. 

That’s why Sodexo listed employee engagement as one of nine quality of life trends in its 2016 Workplace Trends report. The annual report provides details on trends, including everything from healthy lifestyle initiatives in the workplace to office layout designs for facilitating teamwork and communication. 

More specifically, Sodexo noted employee engagement through recognition in the workplace has the potential to boost business performance. 

Sodexo indicated two key areas organizations should focus on to improve employee engagement and business performance—improving quality of life for workers and reaching every employee in an organization. 

• Quality of Life: A pay raise is always a nice perk at the workplace, but it hardly holds the potential to keep employees consistently engaged on the job. Instead, place more emphasis on work-life balance. Technology can help with work-life balance initiatives, for example, scheduling software that can help reduce overtime. You should also consider formal recognition programs, which have been shown to generally increase engagement scores by 20%, according to Sodexo. To maximize engagement, combine recognition programs with other company initiatives like workplace wellness. 

• Reach Every Employee: “It’s often challenging to recognize and communicate with customer-facing front-line employees,” according to the Sodexo report. “But, as the face of the enterprise—the brand’s ambassadors—these employees play a valuable role in the success of a company’s mission, vision and values.” As such, it’s very important to establish connections between employees across the board, regardless of their role in the company. That means making top management accessible to caregivers, whether that’s through technology or formal outreach in the form of meetings and training. 

When all’s said and done, fostering employee engagement is an all hands on deck mission, no matter how things might have run in the past. 

“Perhaps the persistently low employee engagement scores of the past decade or so can be attributed to the fact that employee engagement has traditionally been the responsibility of human resources, even though engagement can be impacted by every department in an organization,” the Sodexo report states. “Seen from this broad vantage point, employee engagement becomes a core business strategy, as opposed to an HR function.”

In addition to the two focus areas identified by Sodexo, consider these 5 tips for engaging senior living employees, and you’ll be well on your way to higher retention and better worker satisfaction overall.