The work world has experienced drastic changes over the last few years. The pandemic has influenced how businesses operate, from hybrid schedules to company policies, practices, and procedures. 

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.

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.

Despite legal challenges, employers across the United States have been preparing to adhere to OSHA’s vaccine mandate, which calls for business owners with 100 or more employees to require their workers to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. According to OSHA, companies must have a policy in place by Dec. 6 and begin implementing those plans by Jan. 4.

By now, you’ve most likely heard about the workplace vaccine mandate planned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  

According to Gallup, 70% of the variance in employees’ engagement is determined solely by their direct leader.  And, given the financial benefits of having an engaged workforce, such as increased profitability, higher sales, lower turnover, etc., you would hope that frontline leaders would have their employees’ engagement level as a top priority.