By Steve Moran

At every senior living conference I attend, leaders inevitably lament the staffing challenges, difficulty filling positions, and high turnover rates. Panel after panel discusses the same data, the same struggles, and the same hand-wringing concerns. These problems are undeniably real, but I find myself wondering, why do we keep talking about them without taking meaningful action?

Perhaps we’ve fallen in love with staffing challenges. It is perhaps like being in an unhealthy relationship. We know we should exit, but we can’t seem to make it happen. The staffing crisis has become our industry’s constant companion, offering a strange comfort in its familiarity. 

Let’s be honest about the ways this crisis serves us:

  • Running short a few shifts each week delivers immediate cost savings to the bottom line. Every unfilled position represents thousands in payroll dollars that boost quarterly financials.
  • It provides a convenient excuse for staff burnout and turnover, deflecting deeper examination of management practices, workplace toxicity, or inadequate support systems. “Everyone’s experiencing this,” we say, rather than asking why some communities retain staff better than others.
  • It lowers expectations from residents and families, who become conditioned to accept service reductions, longer response times, and diminished programming as “just the way things are now.”
  • It creates a perfect justification for postponing investments in staff development, career pathways, and the technological tools that could actually make caregiving more efficient and rewarding.
  • It fosters a perpetual crisis mentality that keeps leadership reactive rather than strategic — focusing on filling tomorrow’s shift instead of building tomorrow’s workforce.
  • It normalizes suboptimal care standards as “the best we can do under the circumstances,” gradually shifting the baseline of what’s considered acceptable service quality.
  • It reinforces the damaging narrative that caregiving roles are inherently difficult and unsustainable, rather than acknowledging that we’ve designed them to be that way through inadequate support, training, and compensation.
  • It absolves leadership from accountability for workplace culture problems. After all, how can you build culture when you’re constantly onboarding new faces and covering gaps?

Further reinforcing my belief that we’ve fallen in love with or at least grown comfortable with our staffing crisis is what I observe at senior living conferences and industry publications. Count the sessions on workplace culture, staff retention strategies, or creating meaningful career pathways compared to technology, value-based care, and other topics. Notice which keynotes receive standing ovations and which breakout sessions go underattended.

The imbalance speaks volumes about our priorities.

When staffing sessions do occur, they often focus on recruitment tactics — how to find more workers to feed into our revolving doors — rather than retention strategies that would slow the exit. We’ve become experts at replacing staff rather than keeping them.

This Doesn’t Have to Be Us

There is no question that there is a critical shortage of workers in the United States willing to take “front-line” jobs, with many sectors competing for these workers — fast food, rideshare services, Amazon, retail, and coffee shops like Starbucks.

But here’s the fundamental difference: those other industries offer jobs that will always simply be a paycheck. The transactional nature of handing someone a burger or delivering a package creates a ceiling on meaning and purpose. Even Starbucks, which once positioned itself as something special with its “partner” terminology and college benefits, has largely devolved into being just another paycheck.

Senior living stands alone as the sector where front-line workers can build world-changing, high-impact careers every single day. What we do transforms lives. A dining server in senior living isn’t just delivering food; they’re creating moments of connection for someone who might be experiencing cognitive decline. A housekeeper isn’t just cleaning rooms; they’re often the first to notice subtle changes in a resident’s well-being. A maintenance worker fixing a light fixture becomes a daily bright spot in residents’ routines.

When we inspire properly, design roles thoughtfully, treat these workers with genuine respect, and — yes — recognize and support the complicated, often chaotic lives they navigate, senior living can become the one sector that doesn’t face a staffing shortage.

Not Smoking Crack

This isn’t naive idealism. Look at organizational cultures that defy industry trends. Communities with 15% turnover in an industry averaging 80%. Organizations where staff bring their friends and family members to apply because they genuinely love their workplace. Places where CNAs speak with pride about their career choice rather than apologizing for it.

In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A have figured this out — selling hamburgers and building workforces with dramatically lower turnover and higher satisfaction than competitors — by focusing relentlessly on culture, meaning, and genuine career development. With our profound mission of caring for older people — work that inherently carries deep purpose — shouldn’t we be capable of so much more?

Perhaps it’s time to end our love affair with the staffing crisis and commit to something healthier: a genuine culture of staff appreciation, development, and belonging that makes our industry the employer of choice, not the employer of last resort.

Let those other sectors suffer from staffing shortages.