CHICAGO — Five years removed from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit seniors housing communities, owners and operators particularly hard, the industry is still processing and gleaning lessons from the public health crisis.
“The PTSD is still resonating a bit,” says Joe Jedlowski, chairman and CEO of Distinctive Living, which provides senior living management and development services. “There were days during the pandemic that we weren’t sure about survival.”
Jedlowski’s musing came at the annual InterFace Seniors Housing Midwest conference, which took place June 24-25 at the Swissotel Chicago and drew more than 200 attendees. As part of a “CEO power panel,” Jedlowski and fellow panelists addressed lessons learned from the pandemic, especially as they pertain to staffing. The shortage of qualified labor in seniors housing was already generating major scrutiny pre-pandemic but was exacerbated by the public health crisis.
Indeed, most participants agreed that staffing was the operational element that was most reformed coming out of the pandemic. Though professionals across the industry continue today to discuss the labor shortage and the inherent challenges of maintaining a staff at senior living communities, the gathered leaders seemed to concur that great strides have been made in recent years.
“It’s really been on the employee- and associate-engagement side that we took best practices from the pandemic that still exist today and hopefully can persist into the future,” attested panelist Guy Geller, CEO of CPF Living Communities and Grace Management.
Geller and Jedlowski were joined onstage by moderator Chirag Patel, CEO of Hansa Medical Group; Adam Benton, senior vice president of Stellar Senior Living; Keven Bennema, CEO and founder of Charter Senior Living; and Sevy Petras, CEO of Priority Life Care. The dialogue began with Patel asking participants to identify the positive and negative outcomes of the pandemic. Staffing quickly became a key issue within the discussion.
The “best practices” alluded to by Geller have included identifying a proper wage rate and providing more opportunities for employees to succeed and grow. The proof is in the pudding: “We’ve really stopped the turnover rolling machine and stopped using agencies,” he said.
Petras said that Priority Life Care has also taken time to rethink its training and employee engagement. “We want to attract and retain people who are going to be motivated to do the next thing and continue to be successful,” she elaborated. “My main job is to give those guys that opportunity. We’ve really been working on letting that ladder down to help them see how they can climb up and that they can advance their careers if that’s what they want to do.”
Beyond more tangible incentives like paths for advancement and higher wages, panelists pointed out that cultivating a sense of purpose with a senior living staff is paramount.
“This industry is one that it is very easy to find purpose in, but it still is something that you can strive to make even better,” argued Benton.
Break Room Over Boardroom
Seniors housing staff members are not only obviously essential to the day-to-day operation of a property; they can also offer a rich source of inspiration and ideas, panelists shared.
“We’re trying to listen to the smartest idea in the break room and not the smartest guy in the boardroom,” asserted Petras. “All of the good ideas are coming from the people at our communities, and it’s our job to really listen and then apply those. When we do that, the sky’s the limit.”
Bennema, who started out in the industry as a caregiver himself, argued that community-level employees, such as executive directors, often have the best insights because of their familiarity with residents and operations. “Sometimes the best decisions are made at the community level, not necessarily amongst us,” he ventured, using the collective “us” to refer to C-suite-level executives. “We’re not grinding it out every single day at the community.”
Educating Equity Providers
If community staffers are the best acquainted with the nature of the industry, capital partners are the furthest removed and require the most communication as owners and operators pursue scalability and growth, claimed the participating CEOs.
“We have capital partners that are looking at data that don’t really understand the seniors housing sector,” Benton pointed out. “Part of the job as operators is getting our message out to our capital about what’s real and what’s really happening in the market.”
Honesty and transparency with these capital partners, including admitting when mistakes have been made, is also crucial, argued Petras. “If we can be honest and have difficult conversations, that is what makes a strong operating company,” she shared. “Those are things that are going to help you in the long run to continue to grow, scale and do it with integrity.”
“We’ve got lots of new equity coming into the space,” added Geller. “They will need some education, but at the end of the day, we’re all on board with having new equity.”
Ultimately, this value of integrity permeates every aspect of the seniors housing industry, whether you’re a caregiver or CEO.
At the end of the day, it is about maintaining the best intentions and doing the right things for residents and staff alike, concluded Petras. “We’re representing all of the people’s families who live in our communities, and all of the people who work in our buildings and trust us to deliver what’s right and hopefully lead them into a version of the future of senior living where amazing care is given.”
— Hayden Spiess