By Jacquelyn Kung
Here are 3 things we can do to help Gen Z want to work in senior living:
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Cohort onboarding -- Most communities need to hire lots of people. Could we consider hiring groups and onboarding Generation Z in cohorts? It gives instant camaraderie and when we ask employees to relocate for career advancement (which Generation Z, and Millennials even for that matter, would love to do), it gives Generation Z instant peer group friends.
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Career picturing -- During new hire orientation for dining servers, we could add in talks by different directors of departments . . . or even corporate officers. The idea is to give the story of “how I got here” and to give a cohort of young employees a mentor and champion for their career advancement (heck, they might even need advice about what major to pick in college).
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Assistance getting training and certificates -- If we want to alleviate the LPN/RN and AIT/ED shortage, we can gift teams of Generation Z the advice and toolset of step-by-step training and what courses they should study in school. Millennials and Gen Xers are already some of our industry’s most excellent EDs. Generation Z could soon be too!
And… this might even work for your Millennials as well.
Please leave your ideas and comments below.
Author’s note: Tony Mullen passed away recently. He was a big believer in inculcating the next generations with a love of our industry like he had. Here’s to Tony’s legacy.
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Jacquelyn Kung
Dr. Jacquelyn Kung is an advisor to investors and providers in U.S. seniors housing and care. Previously, she managed a large $70M CCRC and seniors healthcare provider in Virginia. She is also a reformed McKinsey consultant and health entrepreneur, having cofounded the largest technology network of long term care providers in the U.S. Harvard BA, Harvard MBA, and Johns Hopkins PhD. Jacquelyn now lives in SF with her husband and daughter and enjoys trying new coffee shops on weekends.