For your senior living and care organization to thrive in today’s economic climate, finding and retaining talent is paramount. A revolving door of employees — the “I quit” trend — is costly.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of U.S. employees voluntarily leaving their jobs in professional and business services has gone up substantially in the last year. Approximately 20 million Americans quit their jobs in the first five months of this year alone. As most of you know by now, this “I Quit” workforce trend has been coined, “The Great Resignation” and it comes at a high cost to your senior care organization.

The financial burden of losing an employee amounts to thousands of dollars when you consider the recruiting and training required for a new employee to take their place. However, it’s important to note that the costs vary by wage and role of the employee as well as how long the position remains open.

For example. some studies estimate that on average replacing an entry-level employee is 30% to 40% of their annual salary, 100% to 150% for a salaried technical position, and anywhere from 213% to 400% of an employee’s salary for executive and C-suite positions. To help organizations calculate turnover in terms of actual dollars, Sparkbay has created an employee turnover cost calculator.

While the negative impact of high turnover comes with some immediate and obvious financial costs, there are several other costs that are more complex and longer term, including:

  • Lowers employee morale. Your employees want safety, consistency, and familiar faces. When people are coming and going, your company is viewed as a revolving door which seriously damages morale. Plus, your remaining staff must pick up the slack created by high turnover.
  • Decreases employee productivity.  High turnover decrease productivity since there are less workers to handle the workload.  Plus, since a new employee needs a period of adjustment, tasks and projects will slow down and take longer.
  • Tarnishes reputation & company culture. High turnover can seriously damage your organization’s reputation and the ability to acquire new candidates. A survey by Harvard Business Review of 1,003 full-time professionals, half of them would NOT accept an offer to work for an organization with a poor organizational culture and reputation – even if they received an attractive offer.
  • Lost knowledge. When an employee exits, they take their industry knowledge with them. That means you lose a valuable worker and resource, and your competition may benefit from it.
  • Impacts sales & bottom line. High turnover makes it difficult to achieve company revenue goals. Organizations lose out on revenue that could have been realized by an efficient workforce.

If you have a high turnover rate, you must examine the root causes. As senior living and care recruiters, we talk with senior care and long-term care candidates every day and their top reasons for wanting to jump ship are:

-Lack of career advancement

-Toxic work culture

-Don’t like or respect boss

-Lack of work/life balance (Lack of schedule flexibility, hybrid schedule or remote work)

-Pay too low

-Role was misrepresented

Once you can determine why your staff is saying “I quit,” it’s time to address the issue(s). It’s vital to reevaluate what your senior living organization is offering staff. If you aren’t competitive in the market or suffer from a toxic culture, top talent will continue to migrate to organizations that are more attractive.

Julie Rupenski is the founder and CEO of MedBest Recruiting, an executive recruitment firm for senior living and care. After opening its doors in 2001, Rupenski has grown MedBest into an award-winning, multimillion-dollar national firm, garnering impressive awards including INC 5000 2021 and Tampa Bay Fast 50 2021. Rupenski was also named as on honoree for the “Top 100 Women Leaders in Tampa 2022″ by Women We Admire.