Senior housing operators are starting to see staffing stabilize and are pursuing a variety of strategies to win and retain quality hires.

In particular, operators are still tweaking their methodologies in order to fill their hardest to hire roles such as registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and dining room staff.

At LCS, said there have been improvements in the time it takes to fill roles, Chief Human Resources Officer Monica Friedman said during a webinar at the recent Senior Housing News Virtual Staffing Summit.

Registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) take an average of 42 days to fill, below the industry average of 59 days, but Friedman noted it’s still above the company’s goal of 30 days. Through its Life Care Services arm, Des Moines, Iowa-based LCS is one of the largest senior living providers in the United States, with about 120 properties nationwide.

Turnover across the industry is starting to decrease as well, which can be attributed in part to enhanced training and benefits, according to Amanda Birch, vice president of human resources at Westminster Communities of Florida. The organization serves more than 7,000 residents in 22 communities throughout the Sunshine State.

However, despite the positive momentum the industry is seeing, there is also the realization of simply how much competition is out there these days, in part due to the rise of gig work that sprang up during the Covid pandemic.

Looking ahead, operators are looking into new ways to utilize technology and focusing on hiring higher quality employees to continue to improve the industry’s staffing outlook.

Improving staff quality

Over the past year, Westminster Communities of Florida saw an uptick in the overall quality of applicants compared to the decrease it had seen in the years of the pandemic, according to Birch. Of the 6,000 applicants the organization sees every month, only around 2% get hired.

Samantha Victor-Alvarado, vice president of human resources at Presbyterian Homes, said the quality of employees coming into the job market now is also dependent on generational differences. Presbyterian Homes operates three life plan communities and one rental community in the Chicago area.

Gen X, Victor-Alvarado noted, has a more “understood language of what it means to have workplace ethics.”

The younger generations, particularly millennials and Gen Z, need more managerial investment and a better understanding of the people-centered care the industry requires.

“I understand it’s a lot more work from an employer’s perspective, to invest and kind of right-size what those expectations are, but I think we’re going to have to shift our minds as we see this new generation coming into the workforce,” Victor-Alvarado said.

LCS has been adapting its hiring and recruitment strategies in order to find higher quality employees, including open house events and targeted advertising. The company has seen success through Indeed job fairs, according to Friedman. The targeted advertising also goes beyond just the job description for an open position.

“We ask people to RSVP and make a concerted effort ahead of time to tell us that [they’re] coming. We can do some screening that way,” Friedman said.

The approach has led to a few side benefits as well, including reducing the cost per hire. Emphasizing efforts on training and onboarding leads to lowering turnover within communities, as well, by giving new employees what they need to be set up for success. Friedman noted employees have access to apprenticeship programs, grants and career pathing to promote workforce development.

LCS uses a “high touch” training approach to ensure new hires are engaged throughout the process , and listening sessions are used to garner feedback from employees on what can be done better.

“It’s just always being laser focused on the things that make up that value proposition for people to want to stay,” Friedman said.

Presbyterian Homes has taken this a step further to continue educating managers through a partnership with Magnet Culture, an organization dedicated to building sustainable retention, to understand what is of value to the varying generations within the workforce.

Technology in recruitment

While the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing within senior housing, human resource departments are looking into ways the tools can be used to streamline processes.

Utilizing AI is no longer a choice, given current technology trends, Victor-Alvarado said.

In this matter, Presbyterian Homes is building out a human resource information system (HRIS) for a uniform platform for managers, which could be enhanced by having an AI chat feature to offload operational functions from the HR team.

Westminster Communities of Florida is also considering how to make technology easier to use for its aging workforce. According to Birch, the average employee age at the organization is around 50 and their preferences and habits have to be balanced with a younger workforce that is expecting new technology features as soon as possible.

“We spend a lot of time doing hand holding and continuous training just to make sure people understand that, and providing quick reference guides for people on how to get on to digital tools that we have, how to utilize those digital tools and then continue to support them,” Birch said.

Birch added her organization is also changing its outlook on AI usage for systems. Initially, the nonprofit was cautious. Now, however, it is moving in the direction of implementation.

LCS is also starting to use AI for helping streamline how applications are created and advertised, according to Friedman. The goal, however, is to have AI improve hiring, not completely automate the process and replace the human element.

“I can get a jump start by talking about the job duties and having AI start that [application], and then certainly the expertise and the knowledge comes in to refine it and finalize it. But why not use [AI] if we can?” Friedman said.