Regis MD and CEO, Linda Mellors, is the latest CEO or board chair to be showcased in the Blenheim Partners ‘No Limitations’ podcast. It is a great session, again identifying the depth of the leadership talent in our sector.
Linda made a significant point that in her previous career leading major hospitals the average turnover of staff was 3-5%; for nurses in aged care it is 30% per annum.
This is tough, but the challenge for the retirement village sector is greater, with 51% of village managers entering and leaving the sector entirely within three years, according to a survey of close to 300 village managers in 2019 by DCM Research.
With the expanded workload and responsibility generated by COVID-19, the turnover is likely to be higher. Operators are reporting that recruiting village managers is beyond challenging.
Team culture
The challenge is village managers work independently from head office, on location, making support and culture difficult to provide by operators. Brett Robinson, CEO of RetireAustralia, has invested heavily in culture with the reward that across 28 villages they have had no village manager turnover in the 18 months he has been on board. (He credits the culture programs already in place).
Retention easier than recruitment - the VILLAGE SUMMIT
Given that it takes proximately two years for a village manager to settle into a village, it makes far more business sense to invest in retaining staff.
The VILLAGE SUMMIT is being staged over the next five weeks as a leadership, motivational and celebration event for village management. It is one day in each capital city, with 650+ village managers and head office leadership attending.
15 leading speakers, including Brett Robinson in Brisbane, will deliver inspirational and educational material across team culture, community engagement, sales and marketing, care in villages and more in each of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Check the program HERE.
Invest in your staff, invest in your business
The investment is $995 for the full day program, including networking drinks at the end of the day.
At the end of the most difficult two years the retirement village sector has experienced, now is the time to invest in your village management, which is an investment in your business.
Please join us.
As Linda Mellors says in the podcast “something is going wrong with retention if we have turnover of that rate”. It is time to invest in your culture at the VILLAGE SUMMIT.
