In the midst of steep workforce challenges, there is some encouraging news. According to the Holleran employee engagement benchmark, nearly half of senior living supervisors at Life Plan Communities expect to be working at their community three years from now.

Supervisors are the key to employee retention. A 2019 study revealed that 57 percent of employees quit because of their boss, and another 32 percent have seriously considered leaving because of their manager. So investing in supervisors and teaching them how to treat co-workers is the smartest retention strategy going. When supervisors are respectful, have the employees’ backs, offer opportunities to grow, communicate clearly and engender trust, chances are good workers won’t be seeking a job elsewhere.

Retention is important because (1) turnover is costly (2) turnover can negatively impact community morale and (3) a critical mass of positive and engaged workers means a healthier culture, to the benefit of employees and residents alike. Obviously, some amount of turnover can be good, especially in the case of toxic employees with low levels of engagement. However, in today’s market when our field is losing high-quality employees in droves, we must pay attention to supervisor-employee relationship-building.

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