High employee turnover in the senior living industry has well-known side effects, such as decreasing overall efficiencies, lowering morale and leading to poorer resident experiences. Poor resident experiences can have a significant impact on senior living occupancy rates. This is because unhappy residents — even if they decide to stay in the community — will share their negative experiences with family, friends, and even in online reviews. Reputation and word of mouth are key for generating positive referrals; and a lack of them, too.

A study conducted by the Barrett Values Center investigated the relationships between community culture, staff turnover and community occupancy. Overall, it found that there was a significant relationship between turnover and occupancy. Communities that had poor cultures experienced higher turnover and lower occupancy. Those with healthier cultures had the lowest turnover rates and the highest occupancy.

The good news is that you may be able to increase senior living occupancy rates by simply making culture improvements, which can be a relatively low cost endeavor. But what does a strong community culture look like, and how can you foster one at your own senior living community?

What is Community Culture, and Do You Have a Good One?

We know that poor workplace culture results in high staff turnover. In fact, 58% of workers say they have left a job for having a poor or toxic culture. According to a 2019 report by the Society for Human Resource Management, this toxic culture is costing US employers $223 billion in turnover over a five-year period. There are far better ways to invest that money.

A good way to determine if your workplace environment is poor is to examine rates of employee turnover and conduct interviews with employees throughout their tenure. A toxic work environment is one that promotes, protects, fosters or encourages negative behaviors. This could include bullying, discrimination, manipulation, harassment and rudeness or disrespect.

Placing people into leadership positions who regularly display such behaviors can create a chilling negative effect on those they work with. This can lead to excessive stress, poor teamwork, disengagement and low morale that results in high turnover — and the subsequent low occupancy rates and reduced resident satisfaction.

If your employee interviews and turnover rates indicate that employees do not feel fulfilled in their work, respected or supported, and/or that leaders’ actions do not align with core values, your culture may need a reset.

Create or Affirm Your Core Values, and Model Them

The first step to creating a strong, positive company culture is to evaluate and define your community’s core values. While you may have established these values some time ago, simply stating what a company culture is won’t be enough to create one. Agreed-upon behaviors and expectations must be encouraged and rewarded, and negative behaviors discouraged and corrected.

Most importantly, leadership should model these values and behaviors. If your organization values respect and honesty, be respectful during disagreements, and honest about challenges. Employees who feel valued and respected will stay with your organization longer, even if they may disagree with policy.  

Recognize and Reward Positive Behaviors 

Employees who live your core values should be singled out for recognition and rewards. A 2023 study found that 83.6% of employees feel that recognition affects their motivation to succeed at work. So, if someone demonstrates an upbeat attitude, resolves a challenging situation positively, or jumps in to help others, praise that behavior. Even better, do so in a group setting.

Small rewards such as certificates of recognition, gift cards, or additional PTO can also be awarded to those modeling positive behavior that you want to encourage.

Promote a Culture of Open Communication

Workplace challenges happen everywhere. What’s different about positive work environments is how those challenges are handled. Employees who don’t feel heard by their managers or leadership will find other ways to vent their frustrations. This could be by sowing dissent among fellow employees, which reduces morale. Or, they may take their anger to the internet, leaving negative reviews and comments about your community that can be read by prospective employees and residents.

Allow your employees to share their frustrations in a safe, non-judgemental way. This may mean encouraging them to talk one-on-one with a supportive manager, or creating a formal way for them to lodge an issue or grievance. Most importantly, employees should feel that leadership has heard this issue and made a good-faith effort to resolve it. This could mean working with the employee to determine appropriate solutions, or having them head up a group task force of like-minded employees to come up with a solution.

Encourage Supportive Relationships Among Staff 

Research from Gallop indicated that in 2023, 18% of workers reported being “actively disengaged.” Employees who feel disconnected from their teams are more likely to be dissatisfied and move on. Worse, these employees tend to be “loud quitters,” extremely vocal in their dissatisfaction, and they spread that resentment among others, including residents. 

Employees are more likely to go above and beyond when they feel they are part of a team effort. No one wants to let down someone they consider a friend or friendly colleague. Encourage teams to communicate and support each other. If one coworker is having a bad day, how can others help lift them up? If another is overwhelmed by work, how can others help lighten the load? Putting the group first is a great core value that can be rewarded and modeled.

Also consider creating employee retreats or training sessions that ask teams to collaborate together outside a work setting. Giving employees a company-sponsored volunteer day where they are working together to further a cause they care about is another good team building experience.

Improving Senior Living Occupancy with LCS

If your community is facing the challenge of low senior living occupancy rates, Life Care Services, An LCS Company, can help. We have over a half century of experience in connecting communities with the resources they need to enhance their company culture and boost employee retention. Contact us at 515-642-1744, or complete the contact form below.