By Steve Moran

Over the last few months I have run a number of polls about timely and critical topics in senior living. You likely saw them and perhaps even voted. Mostly what happens is, once you vote, you never see it or think about it again.

Take a look at the results.

A Place for Mom

A Place for Mom is the most used and most hated vendor company in senior living. The Senate Committee on Aging recently announced an investigation of their business practices, and all of that got me wondering if A Place for Mom could be transformed into a valued and respected member of the senior living community. I polled the industry, and here is what you all had to say:

  • 67% of you felt like there was no chance for transformation.
  • 32% said you thought it could be fixed (not that it would be fixed).
  • 1% said it was perfect as it exists today. I would love to know who that is — maybe an employee?

I do think it is fixable, but I think that is unlikely to happen. It will be interesting to see what happens with the investigation. It could result in meaningful reform, or it could be a medium sized flash in the pan, which is where I would put my money. You can see the results and comments by clicking here.

The Election and Senior Living

We know the government — federal and state — plays a significant role in how senior living operates. The 2024 race is going to be one for the history book in terms of hostility and craziness. But the thing that is not at all clear is how much of an impact it will actually have on the senior living sector.

I am clearly in the minority in that I think, regardless of who wins, it won’t be much different, except perhaps in one area. I believe a Trump win would make it much easier to roll back the onerous nursing home staffing minimums (please note this is not a Trump endorsement).

You can see the results and comments here.

Best Friend at Work

There is substantial data that says when a team member has a best work friend (not the same as a lifelong best friend), they are more productive, happier. They are less likely to leave their jobs and more likely to recommend their company to a friend who is looking for work.

Leaders at some organizations don’t particularly care about workplace friendships, other than actually discourage them, and a few spend time thinking about how to empower friendships at work. I got to wondering how it is for my LinkedIn audience.

It turns out that just over half of you have a best friend at work, and the rest of you could use one. It suggests that this is low hanging fruit for senior living organizations to really improve their team retention.

You can see the poll and comments here.

AI and You

AI is rapidly moving from “Wow, a new technology!” to something that many people use on a regular basis. I ran this little poll on AI usage in senior living.

  • 47% of you are using it all the time.
  • 42% are still trying to figure it out.
  • Just 1% tried it and rejected it.
  • 10% of you have decided you won’t use it.

It is likely to take some time, but I predict it will become as ubiquitous as word processing, Google search, spreadsheets, and smartphones. Over time it will get smarter and easier to use.

You can see the poll and comments here.

Leadership and Being Human

Every time I hear a leader complain about the poor quality of workers, of team members, I grind my teeth. I am not saying there are never bad team members, but they are really rare. If a company has a bunch of bad team members, the problem is — each and every time — the leadership of that organization. Research shows that leaders with these traits have more loyal and happier team members:

  • They poke fun at themselves.
  • They admit and talk about mistakes.
  • They are genuine, which means how they talk and how they behave are consistent. And while not explicitly stated, it means they are not a genuine jerk. Which means a jerk who pretends to be nice is actually better than a jerk who is a jerk.
  • They have a practice of noticing and praising people and actions that improve the lives of others.

Here is what the poll showed:

  • 65% of you have CEOs/presidents who do this.
  • But the other 35% have leaders who really need to pay more attention this how they come across to their team members.

You can see the poll and comments here.

How Much Do You Like Your Job?

A few months ago I came across some data that says that job satisfaction in the United States is going up. It got me to wondering if this is also true in senior living. Unfortunately I don’t have a time series of polls to know what it was last year or two years ago, but I thought it would still be interesting to see what the industry would say as a snapshot at this point in time.

LinkedIn polls are very limited, with a max of four possible answers. I asked the question on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being in effect “I hate my job” and 10 being “I have my dream job.”

  • 35% of you are pretty miserable in your current job. We didn’t have a way to dig deeper. It would have been interesting to know why: pay, the company, the immediate supervisor, or something else.
  • 28% are pretty happy, but it sounds like there is opportunity for it to be better.
  • 36% said they’re really happy with their job. It would be interesting to have more detail as to why that is.

This is a simple metric, but it might be worth asking your team members even this one simple question.

You can see the poll and comments here.

Finally, I would love to hear your ideas for new polls we should be running or your thoughts on the results from these polls.