News

Direct care staff have opinions that matter! When frontline staff know that they will be responsible for training new team members, they are often invested in the people who get hired in the first place and become more invested in the training process. Empower your team by training and including frontline staff in the interview process. 

A new report shows that over the course of a five-year period, 94% of the deficiencies cited on nursing home surveys were in the "less serious" categories defined as F or below on the scope and severity grid. However, the report also noted that 31% of nursing homes had at least one repeat deficiency during the review period.

Many companies have gotten creative with their employee benefits as a way of recruiting, rewarding and retaining staff. Tech companies, in particular, have a reputation for working some fun into the work-lives of their teams. 

A National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) study released last week projected that at least 54% of the 14.4 million middle-income older adults in 2029 in the United States will lack the financial resources to pay for senior housing and care. 

The OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training is excited to announce our expansion into North Dakota!  

Having an active social media presence is important for recruitment and community engagement. Social media is most impactful when it is shared with others - so get your staff involved! One LeadingAge Minnesota Workforce Solutions Grantee, Mother of Mercy in Albany, focused their Workforce Solutions Grant on a digital media campaign.  

What is the most feasible way in the short term to finance affordable housing plus services?  Collaboration between housing providers and Medicare managed care plans, according to a new report from the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. 

Senior housing occupancy remains flat and new construction has slowed, according to a new report released last week by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). 

Do you know about the Golden Circle? As you think about workforce recruitment and retention, explaining to potential new hires what your organization does is easy – and explaining how you do it is helpful. But great organizations are effective at explaining why they exist. Learn how great leaders inspire action by listening to this TED Talk from Simon Sinek explaining the Golden Circle and the importance of your “Why.” 

With the increasing workforce shortage in all business sectors, aging services organizations need to focus on what makes them stand out as a best place to work. Research shows that Millennials and Generation Z find the mission and meaning of organizations to be acutely important when making their employment decisions – lucky for us in older adult services!  

We’ve seen the light – and it does more than just allow us to see things better. It also plays a significant role in our physiology, or what we often call our “internal clock.” Light helps regulate many of our biological responses that impact our physical, mental and behavioral states. This daily response to changes in light is called the Circadian Rhythm, and the LeadingAge Minnesota Savings & Solutions Center is exploring solutions in this area to help you improve the lives of the residents you serve by controlling the type of light they see. 

Don’t miss the deep-dive discussions at our April ALNET meetings. The agenda topics help the Assisted Living nurse answer these questions and more:  

Breaking fee-for-service habits is hard, and not just for providers of long-term services and support. Every sector in the health or human services field has had to adapt to a new world of managed care. The latest issue of the LeadingAge national magazine, sheds light on the change and disruption happening our field related to managed care and shares insight on a path forward. 

Safety. Being around family. Having access to the outdoors. Affordability. These are just a few key findings in a new noteworthy study from LeadingAge and NORC. 

Teach students about Career Pathways in aging services using these excellent tools developed by the California Assisted Living Association:  

Do you know about all of the scholarship programs available in Minnesota? Do job applicants know about these opportunities when you are recruiting new staff? 

Have you tried recruiting through LeadingAge Minnesota’s job board AgingServicesJOBS.org? Check it out! Email Jenna Kellerman for a promo code to post your first job for FREE! 

Hosting intergenerational events are a fun way to get young people engaged with the aging services field. Invite young people (all ages! Small children to young adults) to spend time with the people you serve. Consider activities such as: 

To help provide a representative picture of the current state of senior housing, your input is needed for the annual State of Seniors Housing. All organizations that complete surveys will receive a complimentary copy of The State of Seniors Housing 2019, which compiles the survey results for comparisons to your own operations.  

Careers in Aging Week is March 3 -7. This is a great time to make people aware of the wide variety and rewarding careers in aging services. LeadingAge national has provided FREE resources our members can use to take advantage of this great opportunity. We also encourage members to visit our Workforce Center for ideas that support recruitment activities all year long!