ATLANTA — Staffing, particularly at the regional director level, kicked off the discussion at the “Best in Class Operators’ Blueprints for Success in a Challenging Market” panel at the 11th annual InterFace Seniors Housing Southeast conference on Wednesday, Aug. 28 in Atlanta.
Pilar Carvajal, founder and CEO of Innovation Senior Living, said her firm is focused on developing from within and rewarding those who have worked hard for the company. “We are keeping a very close focus internally. We think that’s where we will find our talent as we grow,” said Carvajal.
Examples include developing the resident care director into an executive director or the executive director into a senior executive director who oversees more than one property.
Joining Carvajal on the panel were Lindsey Hacker, executive vice president and CFO of Distinctive Living; Kristin Kutac Ward, co-CEO of AgeWell Solvere Living; Lou Maranto, senior vice president of sales for Discovery Senior Living; and Todd Filippone, president of SRI Management. Charles Mann, chief sales officer and co-founder of Accushield, a provider of security and entry management software for the industry, moderated the discussion. InterFace Conference Group, a division of France Media, hosted the event at the Westin Buckhead.
“We’re constantly looking for talent and trying to grow from within,” said Maranto. “We’re still at the point where we are blending in outside talent, but we’re more deliberate in who we hire and the profile and characteristics of the people versus their experience.”
The goal of finding a long-term hire and retention efforts were also prominent discussion points for the panel.
For instance, AgeWell created a senior director program for executive directors and resident care directors to grow into regional roles. When employees are promoted to senior director roles, they also get accolades, pay, bonuses and training involvement. Ward said these examples “incentivize employees to stay, while also grooming them to grow.”
For Hacker, empowerment and loyalty go a long way. She stated that an important question to ask during interviews with prospective candidates is what drives employees to select a certain company. Beyond proper compensation, employees seek firms that can provide them with the tools to feel empowered in their career growth.
Another example is to get more individualistic and flexible with employee benefit offerings, Hacker added.
“Somebody might be way more focused on a really great benefit plan versus a 401(k) plan,” she explained. “It’s about creating ways to be flexible and not treat everybody the same.”
Carvajal emphasized the importance of leadership, stating that the No. 1 reason employees stay or leave a company is their supervisor. “We have to focus on the leadership team to make sure they’re in good order to be able to retain the staff that is underneath them,” she said. “A lot of focus has to go into making them the reason why people stay.”
Mann asked panelists to weigh the pros and cons of hiring from outside the industry.
Filippone said his firm hired a marketing team from outside the industry to give a new perspective on the process and avoid tunnel vision. “We bet on the person as opposed to previous experience because that can be jaded on the day to day.”
Carvajal stated that for sustainability purposes, the industry is going to have to be on the lookout for new people to bring in. “Once they come in and see what we do, they fall in love like we.”
“We’ve had a few people from outside the industry, and in some cases, it was easier,” said Maranto. “They were hungry to learn the business and the industry, and they didn’t come in with a preconceived notion.”
Ward said that her firm has found success with outside hires that have aging family members or personal experiences with seniors housing in some form. “If they have that personal experience that makes them open to the idea, then it tends to be a great fit,” she explained. “But if there’s no exposure whatsoever, then it falls on deaf ears.”
Panelists also discussed technology and revenue strategies. SRI Management has focused efforts on dining, equipping servers with tablets to track resident meals as opposed to pen and paper. In effort to bring in more sales, special events are offered where residents can pay for meals that are accompanied by musicians. “The goal is to find revenue in all the departments that we have,” said Filippone.
Utilizing volunteers is one way that Innovation Senior Living has helped cut costs. “Maybe the focus isn’t on getting the revenue, but rather how we can save,” said Carvajal. “We’re relying very heavily on our partnerships.”
Distinctive Living implemented electronic lease signing, something that Hacker said has been a huge success. “Not only are we making sure we are capturing what the lease says we should be capturing, but we’re alleviating pretty much immediately the issue from a bad debt perspective and a collection perspective,” she said. “This has significantly reduced the burden on the executive director position or the administrative staff that might be in the building.”
— Kristin Harlow