If you think you know what really matters to caregivers, think again. A new survey has some surprising results about what caregivers in senior living want:
- While pay rate is the highest ranked factor for what motivates caregivers in their employment decisions, they are more likely to leave due to feelings of disrespect from management.
- Caregivers are highly motivated to stay in senior living despite COVID, and nearly 7 in 10 agree that they will still be working in the industry five years from now.
- While employers say they think caregivers are willing to give up part of their pay if they like the company’s culture, 60% of caregivers say this isn’t true.
- Besides better pay, caregivers say they want flexible work schedules, consistent/enough work hours, and benefits. Employers overestimate the value of knowing friends who work at the facility, which caregivers ranked as unlikely to attract them to a facility or keep them working there.
Elsewhere, the authors suggest, “Employers overestimated the impact of not liking job responsibilities. It turns out, most caregivers believe this is the lowest factor in whether they would leave their job. It makes sense since most caregivers are specifically in this area to fulfill those job responsibilities.”
