Senior living operators are transforming their staffing strategies in 2026, moving from emergency hiring to deliberate retention as they adapt to rising resident care needs and ongoing labor shortages. This change marks a break from previous reactive approaches, with providers now combining recruitment, scheduling, and workforce analytics into cohesive systems designed to align labor costs with actual care requirements.
Three leading operators—The Aspenwood Company, Kendal Corporation, and Viva Senior Living—detailed their adjustments during a recent industry webinar. All three confront the same core issue: residents arriving at communities today require more clinical support than before the pandemic, while the younger workforce remains scarce. This creates a tight labor market where turnover threatens to exceed hiring capacity.
Aspenwood’s strategy shifts from speed to careful selection in hiring. Heather Tussing, the company’s president, explained that the focus now is on finding candidates likely to remain long-term rather than filling positions quickly. To improve retention, Aspenwood invests in leadership development, career growth opportunities, and engagement initiatives that extend beyond standard benefits. These efforts go further than typical perks to create meaningful connections with staff.
The company also tailors recruitment methods. Aspenwood produces personalized video messages for potential hires, highlighting community life, and collaborates with universities to attract younger workers. New employees receive a “blue carpet” welcome, consistent with the company’s branding, and complete structured onboarding with check-ins during their first 90 days. Small but intentional gestures, like handwritten birthday cards, strengthen relationships without increasing costs.
Precision Staffing Cuts Overtime and Boosts Promotions
At Viva Senior Living, CEO Chris Metternich describes the challenge as one of precision rather than sheer volume. The provider uses resident acuity data to determine daily staffing needs across departments, avoiding overstaffing. This approach has kept overtime under 5% and eliminated reliance on temporary agency workers. Viva’s expansion since 2024 has been supported by internal promotions, all eight regional leaders were promoted from within the company.
Career advancement serves as a key recruitment tool. Viva tracks employees’ career paths, similar to how senior living communities nurture prospective residents. The goal is to demonstrate that long-term careers in the industry are achievable. Metternich noted that the complexity lies in staffing accurately rather than flooding roles with excessive employees.
For frontline workers, retention depends on meaningful connections. Deb McCardell, Kendal Corporation’s senior director of human resources, observed that while competitive pay is essential, it is rarely the sole reason employees stay. Strong relationships between staff and leadership are far more influential. Kendal addresses this by offering on-the-job training for future leaders, with community managers identifying growth opportunities for employees.
Flexible scheduling has become a critical factor in 2026. Without it, providers risk burnout and slower integration of new hires. Kendal uses workforce data to identify turnover patterns, such as when and where staff depart most frequently, and intervenes before issues worsen. McCardell emphasized that it’s making better decisions that help employees succeed and feel supported in their work using the data that we currently have.
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Data-Driven Scheduling Turns Staffing Into a Science
Employee culture is the first aspect of a community to derail and the last to recover. Proactive measures, like Aspenwood’s weekly labor reviews or Viva’s data-driven scheduling, help prevent disruptions before they occur. Viva is developing a system to recommend staffing hours based on resident health data, converting scheduling from an intuitive process into a data-driven one.
Proactive monitoring is already in place. Aspenwood holds weekly calls with communities exceeding budgeted hours, while Kendal’s data analysis pinpoints training gaps before they lead to widespread turnover. The focus remains on prevention rather than reaction.
Viva’s system will further refine this approach. By integrating resident health metrics with operational needs, the system aims to eliminate scheduling guesswork. Metternich described it as intended to turn the “art of scheduling” into “more of a science,” while shortening the time needed to assess a new community.
The industry’s focus on precision staffing also targets a persistent bottleneck: licensed care positions, where shortages remain severe. With residents entering senior living later in their care journeys, often with multiple chronic conditions, demand for skilled nurses, therapists, and certified nursing assistants has outstripped supply. Operators report that older adults now face longer waits for services, forcing providers to distribute limited staff across higher acuity levels. Metternich highlighted that clinical roles require distinct retention strategies compared to frontline care positions, given their specialized training and higher burnout risk.
Tailored Benefits and Flexibility Redefine Retention
Flexibility in benefits and scheduling has become an expectation rather than a competitive advantage. McCardell noted that employees now compare benefit packages across industries, not just within senior living. Kendal has expanded offerings to include student loan assistance, mental health stipends, and tuition reimbursement for healthcare certifications. Aspenwood has launched a program enabling workers to trade hours with colleagues across nearby communities, which reduces last-minute scheduling conflicts. Both companies analyze which benefits resonate most with different age groups, younger hires prioritize student debt relief, while mid-career staff value professional development funding. These adjustments reflect a broader shift: benefits are no longer standardized but tailored to employees’ financial and career stages.
Technology and workplace trust are central to Viva’s upcoming staffing tool. The system will use resident health data to adjust staffing levels dynamically, flagging communities where acuity rises unexpectedly. This allows operators to reallocate staff before care quality declines. Metternich stressed that the tool’s success depends on staff acceptance, particularly among frontline workers who may view data-driven scheduling as impersonal. To address resistance, Viva is testing a “staffing council” in select communities, where nurses and caregivers review recommendations alongside leadership before finalizing schedules. The goal is to demonstrate transparency, showing how algorithms incorporate resident needs without overriding clinical judgment.
Kendal’s approach focuses on predicting turnover before it occurs. The company’s workforce analytics team combines employee engagement survey results with scheduling patterns, absenteeism rates, and training completion data. For instance, if a community’s night-shift turnover exceeds 20% annually, Kendal’s system automatically reviews supervisor training, shift differentials, and peer support structures. McCardell noted that the most effective solutions often come from employee suggestions, such as adding a second break for overnight staff or pairing new hires with mentors. Career development at Kendal starts with community leadership engaging with frontline employees to understand where they want to grow and identifying practical training and development steps needed to move up the organizational chart.
