Staffing challenges appear to be easing, according to senior living operators responding to the latest National Investment for Seniors Housing & Care executive survey, the results of which were released Thursday.
In June, 20% of participating senior living community and nursing facility operators collectively reported the lowest range of full-time staff openings — a four-fold increase since April, when only 5% of respondents to NIC’s executive survey reported having up to 5% of vacancies.
In surveys over the past 18 months, 90% to 99% of responding organizations consistently reported staffing shortages. But that figure was down to 82% for June, a figure NIC Senior Principal Ryan Brooks said was “noteworthy” in a blog on the latest survey.
Among organizations experiencing staffing shortages, 33% reported shortages in up to 25% of their properties, with 44% experiencing shortages in 26% to 50% of their properties. Another 11% each of respondents reported staffing shortages in more than half or all of their properties.
Among the factors driving existing staffing shortages were the inability to hire nurses (48%), the inability to hire nursing aide positions (42%), wage competition (35%), staff turnover rates (29%), individuals market conditions (26%), competition from staffing agencies (13%) and competition from other industries (3%).
But operators expressed optimism that staffing challenges will improve: 44% said they anticipate improvement by the end of the year, 15% anticipate improvement in the first half of 2023, 26% anticipate improvement in the second half of 2024, and 16% said they expect improvements in staffing challenges to take until 2025 or later.
For the second consecutive month, increasing operator expenses (72%) have overtaken attracting community and caregiving staff (64%) and staff turnover (59%) as the biggest challenge for senior living and care providers.
Easing of staffing challenges affects occupancy
“As staffing challenges can limit the number of new residents a community can intake, the anticipated occupancy recovery time frames of respondent organizations are noteworthy,” NIC Senior Principal Ryan Brooks wrote in a blog on the latest survey results.
Forty-seven percent of respondents indicated that occupancy in independent living had returned to pre-pandemic levels, followed by memory care (37%) and assisted living (30%). For nursing care operators, it was 44%.
Another 20% to 30% of owners and operators across all care segments said they expect occupancy recovery to take place before the end of the year, with assisted living the most optimistic, followed by independent living and memory care. A smaller portion of respondents — 6% to 11% — said they do not anticipate occupancy recovery until 2025 or beyond. Roughly 10% of respondents with memory care segments expect delayed occupancy recovery, followed by just over 5% of independent living and less than 5% of assisted living segments.
The survey results reflect responses received June 1 to July 5 from owners and executives at 39 senior living communities and skilled nursing facilities. They come on the heels of another survey with hopeful signs related to industry staffing challenges.
Approximately 46% of respondents to a recent Ziegler survey said that they are using staffing from agencies less than they were a year ago.
“While we acknowledge that the staffing crisis is not even close from being over, we can share that we are seeing signs of healing,” Ziegler Director of Senior Living Research and Development Lisa McCracken wrote in an issue of the specialty investment bank’s newsletter.
Respondents to the Ziegler survey were more heavily weighted toward not-for-profit continuing care retirement / life plan communities.
