Research shows that when team members feel that they can grow within an organization, residents will also feel more fulfilled.
Holleran, the nation’s premier research and consulting firm serving aging service providers, is pleased to share a new piece of research that further demonstrates the synergies between resident and employee engagement. Recent analysis demonstrates that when employees feel there is an opportunity for professional advancement, resident fulfillment increases as a similar rate.
Specifically, a 25 percentage point increase in an employee’s opportunity for advancement predicted a 24 percentage point increase in resident fulfillment. Meaning that if employees felt they had the opportunity to advance, the residents felt that they were more fulfilled.
Similarly, for every 25 percentage point increase in employee’s opportunity to learn and grow, there is a 7 percentage point increase in resident fulfillment. Thus, if an organization facilitates a culture of fulfillment for their employees’ professional goals, they are also likely facilitating a culture of fulfillment for their residents’ life goals.
A great example of this kind of culture in action can be found at the Masonic Village of Pennsylvania. “At Masonic Village we foster an environment of fulfilling educational opportunities for our staff,” says Lori Seiders, Corporate Director of Organization Development and Training. “This can be through our own class offerings from our training catalog, collegiate partnerships and educational assistance, to our mentoring program. We have many employees who have taken advantage of our in-house classes, educational assistance and employee mentoring to further their career within Masonic Village. We are grateful for our employees and are excited to offer them this assistance.”
“At the most basic level, this finding is all about empowerment” notes Samuel Addey, a research analyst with Holleran. “When team members have a clear understanding of how they can build a career with a provider, they are more likely to be engaged in their day to day work, thereby better serving the residents.”
“This finding also speaks to the culture that communities are trying to build” says Adam Kurtz, one of Holleran’s research analysts and project managers. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that these two concepts are so highly correlated. When residents see team members succeeding, they feel a sense of pride themselves in seeing their community grow and thrive.”
This discovery was made possible thanks to Holleran’s proprietary benchmark, which includes the opinions and views of more than 102,000 Independent Living residents, all surveyed within the last 24 months. By analyzing this data, Holleran’s researchers are able to find correlations that both reinforce commonly held beliefs and shatter preconceived notions about living and working in a retirement community.