The National Investment Center has released the results of its latest Executive Survey, which follows trends in staffing, retention, occupancy and operational costs for senior housing providers. The pace of move-ins for IL, AL and SNF reportedly slowed down during this survey period, and for AL, this was the third consecutive survey that did so. Memory Support, however, demonstrated a 12% acceleration in move-ins when compared to Wave 44, attributed again to the release of pent-up demand during the pandemic. Two-thirds of respondents (67%) reported that their staffing shortages were “moderate,” and 19% reported “severe” shortages, an overall improvement over previous surveys. Most respondents (53%) anticipated that staffing challenges would improve in 2023; 16% felt that challenges will not improve until 2024, and 9% not until 2025 or beyond. Staff retention was evaluated in this survey, and compared to previous surveys, new-hire retention rates are declining. At the 12-month mark, new-hire retention in this survey was 46.7%, down from 51.8% in Wave 44 and 57.3% in Wave 39. A similar trend was seen in new-hire retention at three months; only retention after one month of employment improved this survey as compared to previous, to 67.2%. Participating providers also predominantly felt that their use of agency staff would remain the same (57%) or increase (8.5%) over the next six months, and this is a huge driver of the overall increase in operational costs for participating organizations. Other drivers of increasing costs included vendor pricing, raw food costs, overtime, utilities, and insurance, as well as industry-specific compensation increases that exceed inflation rates. Overall, 21% of respondents have seen their operating expenses increased more than 20% since the start of the pandemic, and 41% have seen expenses increase between 10-19% in that same period. Want to add your data to this important industry benchmark? You can participate by clicking here for Wave 46, and you can sign up to get regular invites by emailing Ryan Brooks at rbrooks@nic.org.
