14 Strategies for Talent Retention in Senior Living by Julie Rupenski, Founder & CEO, MedBest Recruiting

• By: Barbara Miller
• On: 09/07/2023 13:03:43
• In: Human Resources
• Comments: 0

Retaining executives and nurse leaders in the senior living and long term care industry can be a challenging task, as there are various factors that can influence their job satisfaction and commitment. However, as senior living / long term care recruiters, we'd like to suggest a number of strategies that can be employed to improve executive and nurse leader retention:

Feeling Valued
Recognize and reward your staff for their accomplishments and contributions. This can be done through formal recognition programs, awards, bonus, etc.

Clearly Defined Expectations
Clearly outline each role and their responsibilities and performance expectations. Having well-defined job descriptions helps set goals.

Professional Development
Invest in employee's professional growth. Provide opportunities for attending conferences, workshops, seminars related to our industry.

Positive Work Environment
Create an organizational environment that values employee health and well-being. Also, foster open communication and feedback.

Autonomy & Decision-Making Authority
Empower your executives and nurse leaders with the autonomy to make decisions related to quality patient care. Feeling trusted and respected enhances job satisfaction.

Flexibility
Promote a healthy work/life balance by allowing more flexibility in the schedules of staff and reasonable workloads. Overworked employees are more likely to experience dissatisfaction, burnout and ultimately leave.

Competitive Compensation & Benefits Package
Offer a competitive salary and benefits package that reflects industry standards and make sure it also commensurate with expertise and demands of the role. Add new perks to the package as well such as ample PTO, flexible schedules (if possible), retirement benefits, student loan assistance, employee wellness programs, fitness center memberships, and more.

Career Pathways
A career development path provides employees with an ongoing mechanism to enhance their skills and knowledge that can lead to mastery of their current jobs, promotions, and transfers to new or different positions.

Mentorship and Coaching
Connect your rising stars with experienced mentors or provide coaching to enhance their skills including problem solving and decision making. They also need to learn how to achieve their goals, both personal and professional.

Stable Leadership
Maintain consistent and stable leadership at the executive level. Frequent changes in upper management can lead to instability and affect staff morale.

Employee Engagement
Implement employee engagement programs that involve all staff members in continuous improvement efforts. Engagement can provide a competitive edge for assisted living and long-term care providers when your employees feel connected to a higher mission, understand the impact of their work, and realize how it helps them grow.

Address Burnout
Senior living must address well-being. Leadership in senior living has to play a critical role in providing care and support for vulnerable individuals.

Stay Current with Technology & AI
Knowledge of the latest technology and AI capabilities can empower employees to take on new responsibilities while increasing their job satisfaction and create higher levels of productivity.

Conduct Stay Interviews
We're accustomed to hearing about exit interviews but “stay interviews” are just as important. It helps an organization to understand why a current employees want to stay and what would make them leave.

ABOUT MEDBEST
MedBest is an award-winning national Executive Search Firm exclusive to the Senior Living / Long Term Care Industry. For more than two decades, we have connected senior living / long term care organizations with exceptional senior living executive talent for both permanent and interim roles. MedBest was named as a Top 10 Interim Services Provider 2023! In addition, we were one of American's top companies by Inc.5000 and a Tampa Fast 50 Company in 2021!