McKnight Senior Living

DALLAS — Recruiting and retaining employees has challenged senior living companies for years, and the pandemic has exacerbated the issue.

“Before COVID, employee turnover was 65% in our industry. Now, it’s north of 85%,” Jacquelyn Kung, CEO of Activated Insights, said Friday at what National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care President and CEO Brian Jurutka said was “probably the most important session” at the group’s Spring Conference. Employee turnover, Kung said, negatively affects resident and family experiences. Fixing the issue, she added, can earn operators approximately $275,000 in net operating income per building. “So it’s pretty significant,” she said.

But leaders “can’t just double down on solutions that we’ve used for the past 10, 20, 30 years,” said Myra Norton, CEO of Arena Analytics. “It takes new solutions to navigate market disruptions.” Those solutions, she added, will be anchored by an organization’s mission, vision and values and supported by everyone in the organization.

Kung, Norton and two other session speakers shared tips to aid providers in recruiting and retaining staff members and helping those employees feel a sense of purpose in their work.

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