With a workforce now dominated by millennials and Gen Z, professional development has overtaken communication as the top concern among senior living employees, according to one expert.
Monday during a LeadingAge membership call, Ericka Heid, senior vice president of people and culture with the long-term care management and consulting firm Health Dimensions Group, said over the past three years, she has noticed a desire among workers to find a path with purpose.
“Because we serve seniors, the purpose is kind of baked in,” Heid said. “We knew we needed to find and develop a program for an emerging workforce demanding to be developed and really wrapping that up into the purpose that’s already there.”
The solution for HDG was a career ladders program that visually provides infographics on potential career progression tracks. The premise allows employees to create their own paths for development.
The career ladders program includes a quarterly check-in, during which time an employee and a mentor or manager have a conversation about the career ladder plan. The chat is a way to create accountability for the employee and give the employer the opportunity to help workers update their plans or to determine whether additional costs might be required to help people continue on their career paths.
“Probably the biggest investment is that quarterly check-in — ‘How are things going? How do we need to adjust?’ ” Heid said, adding that “life happens,” and people need to be flexible, even with their own plans.
To finance such programs, Heid said, providers should look to their tuition reimbursement policies or budgets. Most states, she added, offer grant funding or reimbursement opportunities to help providers expand their workforces. Federal funding also might be available to help with the initial investment in a career ladder program to provide workforce development, she said.
The investment is worth it, Heid said, adding that HDG has seen employee engagement scores increase and turnover decrease in companies that implement career ladder programs.
“The first 90 days are the most critical for new team members, with the first 30 days being the most consequential,” Heid said, adding that it is important to communicate the availability of any formalized professional development plan. “That gets them engaged right away. They stick around longer.”
For providers looking to implement a new program, Heid said, it is a shared responsibility. Many HDG communities partner the director of health and wellness or director of nursing with an onsite human resource program manager to run career ladder programs covering the administrative and organizational perspectives.
