Potential employees’ perceptions of the aging services field and how best to talk to them about jobs in the sector is part of an expansion of a LeadingAge initiative.
The association said its research has found positive perceptions of the senior living and care sector among potential employees, as well as broad openness to working with older adults.
LeadingAge also created a workforce recruitment communications toolkit, Opening Doors to the Aging Services Workforce, to boost workforce recruiting offering strategies, messages and tips for writing effective employment communications.
The effort builds on LeadingAge’s “first-of-its-kind” research in 2021 that explored public perceptions of the long-term care field. The association previously developed resources, including the Keep Leading Life public service campaign, to guide members in changing the public perception of the industry and educating the public about providers’ ability to deliver the care and support many people will need to have a fulfilling life.
Opening Doors to Aging Services has been a communications and research initiative designed to introduce the public to the full continuum of quality aging services. The multi-year national-local effort is aimed at improving public perceptions of the sector.
Changing perceptions through education
The perceptions survey conducted by LeadingAge revealed that one-third of Americans were unfamiliar with the long-term care field, presenting what LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan called a “golden opportunity” to introduce the field to those who were unfamiliar with it and its services.
“To know us is to love us,” Sloan said during the 2021 annual meeting.
Of new move-ins to assisted living, according to LeadingAge, half of the individuals are aged more than 85 years, 31% are aged 75 to 84, 13% are between 65 and 74, and 6% are younger than 65.
Respondents listed independence — and the health indicators that support it — as most important when considering a senior living community — 74% cited good mental health, 71% cited good physical health, 69% listed independence, and 67% mentioned financial health and security as among important factors.
The survey also found that experience with the sector drove confidence — 68% of those who had direct experience with aging services rated it positively, and 70% would recommend it to others. LeadingAge research indicated that information can positively shift opinions of the sector.
Rather than framing communications around the needs and frailty of older adults, the LeadingAge resources encourage providers to spotlight prospective residents’ value, dignity and ongoing contributions.
“Fear and denial about aging keep people of all ages from thinking about aging services until they face an immediate need, and some are skeptical of the sector,” LeadingAge noted in its strategies for the initiative. “But knowledge and experience with aging services increases trust, and moves many — including skeptics — to view the sector more favorably.”
