How can facilities make jobs in long-term care attractive?

Labor shortages are all over the country, but this affects the long-term care industry differently. Daily we hear stories about businesses that have cut their hours, are cutting back on services and even closing for days at a time because they are short-staffed. Long-term care operators do not have the same options to counter the staffing crisis. Residents must be cared for. Strategically, long-term care operators should tackle labor challenges from a few perspectives.

1)?????Culture

How operators attract talent can directly correlate how operators retain talent. An employee-first culture can go a long way. Just like facilities have a marketing brand to attract residents, operators need to have a brand identity that attracts new employees. Ask questions of your existing employees. Find out what is special about your facility and what you can improve on. Build your employee brand on input from your employees and make that a focus in your hiring efforts.

2)?????Creative Perks & Benefits

Benefits are another way to stay out. Facilities may be thinking, we do offer benefits. We offer health, dental and paid vacation. That’s great but so do everyone else. Today workers think of benefits outside of the traditional big 3. Here are a few:

a)??????Flexible scheduling – more workers consider flexible schedule to be the new norm. Long-term care jobs can be stressful. Flex scheduling can help reduce employee burnout and turnover.

b)?????Daily access to earned wages – easy benefit to offer because many labor solutions provide a feature that allows employees to transfer earned wages to their bank account between paychecks.

c)??????Wellness programs – these can include things like employee assistance programs, access to therapists and crisis counselors, mental health assistance and discounted gym memberships.

d)?????Tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment – employees who are less financially burdened are less likely to leave if this was offered.

e)?????Career development training – great way to show your staff you are invested in their future

f)???????Employee appreciation programs – employee appreciation goes beyond monetary compensation. This goes beyond recognizing the highest achievement. Improvements should be recognized as well and often.

g)??????Childcare assistance programs – monthly childcare costs have caused some families to consider going back to work after the pandemic. 85% of parents report they are spending 10% more of their household income on childcare.

3)?????Find Money for Higher Wages

People need a living wage. The median hourly wage in 2020 was $13.56. Many long-term care operators do not have dollars in the existing budget to keep up with the competitive wages offered in other healthcare settings. Some tips of finding the money in what you’re already spending is maximize employee resources, improve financial KPIs; decrease overspending and reduce monthly costs where you can.

Improving company culture, creative perks and increase wages will make working in long-term care attractive to today’s workers. The facility could position themselves to be a leader in the labor market with these changes.?