How can technology reduce workplace stress in retirement living?

April marks Stress Awareness Month, and it is no secret that there is an increase in work-related stress happening amongst professionals who work in the retirement living industry.

Unfortunately, there is an increase in the number of retirement living workforce known to have experienced burnout. Many will unfortunately quit jobs that they still are passionate about, which makes operators struggle with staff retention rates and staff attraction. Given the challenges of recruiting people into the retirement living industry, it is therefore a priority for operators to retain their staff and keep not only their residents engaged and happy, but their valuable staff members too.

There are so many responsibilities for those working in a retirement village, for example, day-to-day maintenance & asset management and operation of the village while also creating a connected, engaged and vibrant community. Staff would also need to ensure residents’ satisfaction, organise events and activities, keep in touch with current and potential residents, monitor and review village compliance, manage budgets, the list goes on!

With so many responsibilities, the workload is often so overwhelming it would inevitably weigh staff down, especially if they are not given the right tools to succeed and do their job efficiently. This is why it is so important for retirement living operators to invest in the right technology that will support their staff, making their roles easier which would naturally alleviate their work-related stress. Ultimately it is all about business excellence and a change of mindset where realising that technology is mandatory and not optional to be able to run a successful business with happy employees and minimising stress where possible.

It is surprising that given today’s digital age, there are still only a few retirement living organisations using technology to support their operations. Even if they do use technology, it often only covers a small part of their operations and does not provide an end-to-end solution. 
In terms of accessibility to these solutions, there are a few providers in the market, however they often specialise in certain aspects only managing assets for example, rather than an end-to-end solution to manage the entirety of village operations. Centrim Life offers a complete one-stop shop for all things retirement living management. Having an all-in-one solution like Centrim Life, enabling operators to centralise all data into one platform, is proving to be the best way forward in helping staff manage their operations and therefore their work-life balance. 

A recent case study from Kalyra, a retirement living operator, details how Centrim Life has helped to reduce stress. Instead of staff spending a lot of time at their desks entering information, printing maintenance job requests, scanning forms, searching records in different locations, the digital platform has enabled staff to easily log resident requests and view maintenance jobs on-the-go. Centrim Life also has a dashboard where staff have the visibility of what is happening each day. Information is entered once and is automatically updated in multiple locations on the system and remains linked to both the resident and property views within the system.

Technology undeniably helps staff reduce their workload and save a lot of unnecessary admin time, which means they get time back to focus on more important tasks like providing better services and experiences to residents. 

Technology can be of great benefit to all retirement living operators. Automating and streamlining daily operational tasks and being able to easily view and access reports in real-time can alleviate much of the stress experienced by staff, driving efficiencies in service and in turn improving the lives of residents. The benefits of technology like Centrim Life are obvious, however, not all retirement living villages are taking complete advantage of the few technologies on offer currently. There is still some way to go to achieve mass implementation, so that these benefits can be felt by more of Australia’s retirement living workforce.

To learn more about how Centrim Life, the best retirement living management software on the market, can help your staff reduce their workload and increase efficiency, get in touch with our team here.