Dubbed The Great Resignation, 2021 was officially the year of quitting. Thanks to severe job dissatisfaction, workers in retail, hospitality, accommodation, and food services were among the top employees to lead the walkout.

And while 2022 has turned a corner with unemployment currently hovering around 3.9% — down from 2021 — all business who have frontline and deskless workers are struggling to retain existing employees and fill open positions.

Every industry has its own unique challenges in communicating with its various constituents - prospects, customers and their employees.  

Senior living communities are certainly no different.  And, their communication challenges are unique and heightened in two ways:

1. Like most industries that have a large number of frontline employees who don’t have company issued email, they struggle with how to effectively communicate with those employees; and
2. they have an added layer of complexity because they need to communicate (in real time in a lot of instances) with their “customers”, who in a lot of cases are both their residents AND the family members of those residents, and they are not tied to a desk/email during the day.

To say that we have enjoyed working with these companies is an understatement - we have LOVED working with them and seeing all of the different ways in which they’re using the goHappy platform to solve for those challenges.  Below are a few examples of those just in case it can be helpful to anyone else out there who has similar challenges - we hope it can get your wheels turning!  In all of these instances, they are using goHappy to send text messages directly through our software to their frontline employees, residents and family members.

In his book, “Built to Last”, Jim Collins talks about how highly visionary companies do not oppress themselves with what he calls the “Tyranny of OR” – the reluctance to accept two seemingly contradictory forces or ideas at the same time.  The “Tyranny of OR” pushes people to believe that things must be either A or B, but not both.  Instead of being oppressed by the “Tyranny of OR”, highly visionary companies liberate themselves with what he refers to as the “Genius of AND” – the ability to embrace both extremes of a number of dimensions at the same time.  Instead of choosing between A OR B, they figure out a way to have both A AND B.

The terms “management” and “leadership” are often interchanged. In fact, many people view them as basically the same thing.  Yet, when you look at the “what” and the “how” of managing vs. leading, there are some clear distinctions between them.   Here are a few of the notable differences: 

 It’s not surprising in this highly competitive labor market that the top concern facing CEO’s in organizations that employ large numbers of frontline employees is their ability to hire and retain staff. As a result, employee engagement has become a key strategic initiative with leaders and managers at all levels devoting more of their time and focus to create a positive and engaging experience for employees. Being more intentional about what leaders and managers need to do to drive higher engagement levels, represents a needed and critical step forward.

The pandemic put a strain on the hospitality industry, causing company cultures to change and increasing employee turnover rates. Employers not only needed a quick and easy way to communicate COVID-19 policies and procedures, but also a permanent way to communicate ongoing updates and engage with frontline team members.

Studies show frontline employees feel undervalued and disconnected from their leaders, causing a lack in commitment, engagement and contributions to the workplace. However, companies that invest in engaging frontline team members have seen positive results like higher revenues, productivity and lower turnover. HBR Analytic Services reported that 87% of nearly 500 business executives said they will be more successful when frontline workers are empowered to make important decisions in the moment.

The Supreme Court yesterday largely blocked the Biden administration’s plan for requiring business owners with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.

A federal court has lifted a stay on the Biden administration’s rule that forces business owners with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.