How to Optimize Senior Living Labor Costs in 2025
While the senior living industry seems poised for growth in 2025, the staffing challenges of the past several years are likely to persist as well. That’s why senior living communities need to head into the new year with a clear idea of how they’re going to tackle the ongoing issue of labor costs.
One good idea: use senior living technology to keep employees happy, avoid expensive turnover, and help your team do more with less. In this post, we highlight some smart ways to manage senior living labor costs in 2025.
Cut Down on Wasted Staff Hours
Let’s face it – it takes a lot of miscellaneous daily tasks to keep a senior living community running smoothly. But if your employees spend much of their time on mundane manual tasks, you’re stuck paying for hours of inefficient busywork. And both your staff and your residents will miss out on more valuable relationship-building interactions.
Senior living technology can help. Take the burden of some of those routine tasks off your staff’s plate – and save yourself paying for them – with the help of…
- Centralized calendar software (with a mobile app) that allows employees to create and update events in a few clicks.
- Automated wellness check-ins through a community engagement portal (saving staff from unnecessary follow ups).
- Upgraded communications capabilities through smart home devices that can help residents help themselves with preset alerts and personalized schedule reminders.
Mundane tasks don’t have to be tedious with the right technology. By using software to give wasted hours back to your staff, they’ll have more quality time with residents – and you’ll be getting more for your money.
Focus on Retention
Turnover doesn’t just carry with it the cost burden of recruiting and training new employees. It can also disrupt the stability of your community and negatively impact your residents. Those are two good reasons to double down on staff retention in 2025.
Fortunately, there are several ways that senior living technology can help you get out in front of the kinds of issues that often lead to turnover and attrition – and keep those costs down. Focus on…
- Getting regular feedback from staff to quickly identify and address any areas of concern before they grow into bigger problems.
- Providing regular and ongoing recognition to demonstrate how much you value your staff and to make them feel better about working in your community.
- Building a comprehensive training program to ensure that your employees feel more comfortable and confident in their roles.
Senior living staffing is challenging enough these days. If you already have good people in your community, you have a head start – so do everything you can to hold onto them.
Let AI Give Your Staff a Hand
Every business is going to be hearing more about the potential of AI heading into 2025. And for senior living communities, that potential includes automating or accelerating tasks that might otherwise require additional time and / or staff.
For example, Go Icon’s AI-enabled Smart AgingTM tool can help your staff more quickly and easily do things like…
- Build resident profiles from interviews.
- Get insights into residents’ favorite activities, likes and dislikes, needs, etc.
- Match residents with like-minded peers to encourage more widespread involvement and engagement.
- Plan life enrichment activities with data-backed recommendations.
Some communities might be intrigued by the promise of productivity gains and increased efficiencies but worried about AI dehumanizing their care proposition. But the right AI shouldn’t have to eliminate or diminish interaction with residents. Rather, it can provide opportunities for even deeper engagement by giving your staff a better idea of who they’re caring for.
Don’t Let Staffing Costs Sink Your 2025 Plans
2025 is looking like a year of growth for senior living communities. But the staffing issues of the past several years aren’t going anywhere – and neither are the costs associated with them.
The good news is that senior living technology can help you better engage and retain your current staff. This won’t just keep labor costs down, it’ll also result in a better experience for both your staff and your residents. We can show you how – schedule a demo to get started.