By Steve Moran
With senior living turnover rates hovering around 50% pre-pandemic and spiking even higher during COVID, our industry has long faced workforce challenges that threaten both operational stability and resident care. Life for senior living employees has never been good. COVID made it worse, except many front-line workers got big pay bumps.
Today:
- C-suite leaders feel constant pressure to improve margins … some of which is driven by investors, and some is internal motivation.
- The trickle-down effect from the C-suite drives regional leaders.
- It is toughest for executive directors. Pressure from the top to maximize margins, from residents and families to provide great living experiences, and a burning desire to make the lives of front-line workers as good as possible.
Now This
From the Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2025, this article, “Everybody’s Replaceable’: The New Ways Bosses Talk About Workers,” highlights concerning workplace trends:
“Step it up, stop complaining — and make way for AI. CEOs are no longer lauding employees as the talent.”
“Companies are demanding more from employees amid economic uncertainty and a shift in power dynamics.”
“Some CEOs are taking a tough stance, expecting more work and less complaining from their staff.”
“Not long ago, bosses routinely praised workers as their most prized asset …” no more. One CEO is telling their teams. “Work-life balance is your problem.”
“After recently cutting more than 1,000 jobs, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said remaining corporate staff needed to step it up and ‘own whether or not this place grows.'”
“‘I’ve had it with this kind of stuff,’ he said. ‘I’ve been working seven days a week since Covid, and I come in, and — where is everybody else?'”
“… many workers are seeing perks disappear and their grievances ignored.”
“Behind CEOs’ more brusque tone lies a disconnect between employees and executives …”
“The Shopify CEO … [told] employees that the company won’t make new hires unless managers can prove AI isn’t capable of doing the job.”
“‘AI is coming for your jobs.'”
Why This is Important to Senior Living
After reading these excerpts or the entire article, you may be thinking that nothing much here applies to senior living, and in a direct sense, you are likely right, but the impact is coming. When employer attitudes and practices shift in the broad world of business, they will shift in senior living too.
I worry most that, without meaning to, corporate leaders will feel less connected to team members, particularly front-line workers. What might this look like in our industry?
- Executive directors being told to “do more with less” when staffing ratios are already stretched thin
- Technology investments prioritized over wage increases for caregivers
- Corporate initiatives that track “productivity metrics” for hands-on care staff
- A widening disconnect between corporate leaders who rarely visit communities and the staff who live the day-to-day challenges
I worry that capital providers will see other companies squeezing more productivity out of their team members and demand the same from senior living operators — something that could quickly trickle down to the front line.
What Can We Do?
Unlike many industries highlighted in the WSJ article, senior living cannot fully automate or replace the human touch that residents need. Our leaders must resist the trend of treating employees as disposable resources by:
- Maintaining open communication channels between the C-suite and frontline staff
- Investing in staff development and career pathways that show a commitment to people, not just processes
- Being transparent about financial realities while still prioritizing the caregiver experience
- Remembering that quality care and financial performance are intrinsically linked to staff wellbeing
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. How do you see senior living leaders navigating these shifting workplace expectations while maintaining the human-centered care that defines our industry?
