As a senior housing provider and leader you want to understand the ins and outs of your community at all times. Many believe one of the best ways to uncover hidden issues or problems is by casually surveying your staff. However, self-report internal surveys have a host of issues associated with them, no matter how convenient and hassle-free they may seem. You might think you are saving yourself time and money by implementing a quick and easy employee survey, but in reality, you are only shorting yourself on real actionable, insights that could have helped your community thrive.
We’re All Biased
As much as we like to think of ourselves as rational, objective humans, we can’t help but let ourselves fall victim to our intrinsic or learned biases. When using self-report surveys with your staff you need to understand that, whether or not they are aware, they cannot be completely objective when providing feedback about their place of employment. Whether they are loyal and entrenched in the company or culture, or they are a disgruntled employee with an ax to grind, the outcome is the same: unreliable data. The stakes get even higher (or more skewed) when feedback or performance are tied to pay increases or bonuses. This creates an incentive to alter the input and paint a rosier picture of your community's culture and environment.
Surveying Residents and Families
In addition to inadvertently misrepresenting the community, employees may often just be blissfully unaware of issues or problems. After working in a culture or company for so long they may truly not see deep issues in action. A problematic care practice or use of jargon may be so ingrained in the day-to-day actions of your employees, no member of staff (even you) may be able to recognize it as an issue. That is why it is so important to seek feedback from your residents and their families, at all stages of their stay. New family members and residents are often acutely aware of everything happening around them, and can provide fresh and valuable feedback on how your community functions. Residents and family members who have been with your community longer can better attest to the trends within the community – for good and bad – and provide insight on what changes influenced the direction of care, morale, and environmental issues.
The Result of Bad Data
Relying solely on self-reported data can have many negative ramifications and can leave your community and the financial well-being of the management company in peril. Without taking surveying seriously and drilling down to define issues, you can leave your community vulnerable when it counts the most. For example, leading your community without proper reflection can cost you considerably when getting a visit from state surveyors. Expert eyes examining your community will quickly flush out issues you failed to consider. Receiving multiple deficiencies can lead to poor staff and resident morale, family member concern, and the inability to attract new residents. Referral sources don’t tend to recommend a facility with poor regulatory reviews.
Additionally, bad data can lead to poor public reviews of your community. Visitors, residents, and families will be more than happy to speak out about issues or problems through other platforms if you don’t give them the proper channels within the community. In fact, if comments on your social media and online review sites continually conflict with your internal surveys, you probably already have a bad data problem on your hands.
How to Get the Right Data
Stop taking your employees' word for it and start asking the right people and the right questions. Companies like Senior Living Alliance can craft the specialized surveys that dive deep into your community to find and address issues. They perform surveys at intake, during residency, and on the notice of imminent “move-outs” to help you better understand the aspects of your community that affect your staff, residents, and environment; giving you actionable data that works.