Many organizations are so busy looking for ways to attract new staff that they’ve overlooked an important way to address staffing shortages – making the best, most efficient use of their current team.

“Census and staffing go hand-in-hand in many ways,” said Jonathan Woodrow, Co-Founder and CEO of LivingPath, a Chicago-based company that helps people discover great senior living communities. Painting a picture of a career and work life that attracts and engages staff, in turn, can result in a portrait of a community where seniors want to live.

Thinking we know what others want or need may be well meaning; but it can lead to problems, for example, when you assume what makes your employees stay or leave. We went to an expert, Charles Turner, CEO of Kare, to find out what frontline workers in senior living and long-term care actually say and think about what makes them love – or hate – their job.

Several adjustments, some small and others more complex, can help protect your staff. For instance, the open floor plan that has been become so popular and considered by some as essential to collaboration is also conducive to disease transmission.