How Retirement Community Employees Enrich Residents' Lives

More and more research is coming out each year showing us how important having socialization and a sense of community is to our well-being and longevity. Living in a retirement community not only provides a social network of peers who are easy to reach, but it also provides a network of intergenerational opportunities, and this includes frequent interactions with retirement community employees.

The power of human connection

Employees of a retirement community provide an array of services to residents. These employees typically span a broad age range. For some, it may be their first high school job; others may have worked their entire career within the senior living industry. But ideally, regardless of their tenure, staff members serve in their role because they truly love what they do: interacting with, helping, and caring for residents.

For the residents of retirement communities, the employees become a part of their daily interactions and integral contributors to residents’ quality of life. Indeed, the resident-employee network is a highly interconnected group of people to learn with, to learn from, and to teach.

Because of the service-focused nature of most retirement communities, residents and employees often form affable relationships. For instance, it may be the same server who waits on a resident’s table most evenings. That server will naturally get to know those at the table- and not just whether they prefer blue cheese or vinaigrette. They’ll get to know them as people.

Yes, much like a friend or neighbor, employees of retirement communities will often learn about residents’ lives during their daily interactions, and vice versa. As a result, employees may ask about a resident’s new grandchild or a recent trip they took. They may know if a resident has been ill or had surgery. In some cases, employees may even begin to feel like family, offering heartfelt care and interpersonal connection.

Questions every prospect should ask

From a community management perspective, these frequent resident interactions and often close-knit relationships also mean that employee satisfaction is particularly critical. Whether a retirement community’s employees are happy to come to work can and will directly impact this social aspect of the community, as well as the quality of the services and support they provide to residents.

Having worked on several retirement communities’ sales teams, I know that there are a multitude of topics that almost every prospective resident asks about: questions about pricing, services, amenities, and more. Yet, there is a category of questions I wish people inquired about more often: the retirement community’s employees.

With my years of experience working within continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs or life plan communities), here are the types of questions I would ask if I were considering a community for myself or a loved one:

Are your employees happy? What are your employee satisfaction scores?
How many employees do you have, and how many have been here over 5 years? What is the average tenure?
How frequently do the senior and executive leaders of the organization visit the community and talk with the residents?
How many intergenerational programs do you have throughout the year? Can you tell me more about them and how well-attended they are?
How often do residents and employees get to bring their families for social events?

(Note: If you are specifically looking at a long-term care community [e.g., assisted living, memory care, or skilled nursing care], there may be additional questions you want to ask about employees’ training/credentials, staffing ratios, and the community’s ownership/management.)

Why retirement community employee satisfaction matters

Why are these questions important? The team at almost every community will be the most consistent presence when it comes to residents’ lifestyles. This encompasses day-to-day tasks like food preparation and service, housekeeping, maintenance, etc. It also includes organizing and supporting all planned programs and special events. And for residents in a care setting, employees will be highly involved in their day-to-day activities and care during a particularly vulnerable season of life.

With so much employee-resident interaction, residents should feel confident that retirement community employees are not only properly trained and experienced in their responsibilities, but also that they are happy in their job. After all, workplace attitude and performance often reflects an employee’s job satisfaction.

A mutually supportive bond

People who move to a retirement community may spend over a decade of their life there. This means many years of day-to-day interactions with the staff members who provide the community’s various services and amenities such as maintenance, culinary, housekeeping, nursing, fitness, and administrative employees. For some retirement community residents, they will spend more time with employees than they will their own family members during the course of a year. And in some healthcare scenarios, residents may even be entirely reliant on employees’ time and compassion.

In my own experience, one of the most common reasons employees choose to continue working at a retirement community is because of the close relationships formed with the residents. Although the relationship is a professional one, employees and residents often do become close. It is natural for them to be aware of one another’s highs and lows of life- the celebrations and the sorrows- allowing a chance to support one another during some of life’s most significant moments.

These relationships can also be mutually nurturing. Particularly in the case of intergenerational friendships, the resident and employee can learn from one another’s unique experiences and perspectives to the benefit of both.

A personal perspective on the employee-resident connection

I am fortunate to know first-hand the special bond that is often formed between retirement community employees and residents. Many residents knew my family- my spouse, my parents, and my children. I knew their families too- their grown children, grandchildren, even their siblings. Some of my fellow team members had even worked long enough at one community to know two generations of one family who chose to live there.

With my community’s residents, I’ve attended ballroom dancing classes, game nights, group trips, and concerts. During these experiences, we shared stories about our treasured memories, our grief, and even meaningful life lessons.

As with many employee-resident relationships, I was invested in my residents’ well-being and the quality of their life, just as they were in mine. Although you can’t quantify these relationships, it was clear in my experience that employees who care about the residents make a difference in the fabric of the community.

If you are exploring retirement communities for yourself or a loved one, I encourage you to ask questions about the staff during your conversations with sales and management. Additionally, I’d suggest talking with current residents and current employees of the communities to hear what they have to say about living and working there. Their first-hand experiences may be revelatory.

A retirement community is many things, but first and foremost, it is people’s home. For those considering a move to a senior living community, your long-term comfort and happiness should be among your top priorities. Ensuring the staff of the community will meet your needs, as well as your expectations- and with a smile- can make a big difference in the quality of your day-to-day life there.

Newell Bowman Dickerman is myLifeSite’s customer success representative. She has over 15 years of experience in senior living sales and marketing, including, most recently, seven years as the director of sales at the Claridge Court, a Lifespace Community located in the Kansas City metro area.

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