This article is sponsored by Activated Insights. Workforce retention in senior living has never been just a staffing problem. It is a culture problem, a leadership problem and, increasingly, a data problem. Activated Insights is helping operators better understand what employees and residents are actually experiencing so they can build stronger, more people-centered organizations. In this Voices interview, Kire Madsen, Vice President of Customer Operations at Activated Insights, shares why culture has become the top retention driver, how providers can turn purpose into a workforce strategy, and what will separate senior living operators that build resilient teams in 2026 from those that continue to struggle with turnover.
Senior Housing News: What perspective or experience has most shaped the way you think about workforce engagement in senior living today?
Kire Madsen: From my perspective, I have a seat on both sides of the table. We see the survey feedback from care professionals, and we also watch retention rates from senior living owners and operators.
When satisfaction scores drop and retention rates decrease almost simultaneously in the same quarter, it is probably not a coincidence. Because we can see both data points, we are able to help our customers piece together the full story and gain a better understanding of what is actually happening behind those trends.
Being able to see both sides of that coin has been a huge piece of what shaped the way I think about workforce engagement.
In Argentum’s “2026 Perceptions of Careers in Senior Living” report, developed in partnership with Activated Insights, culture now outranks pay as the No. 1 retention driver. What should senior living operators do with that insight?
That finding was really interesting. We have known across other industries that culture is king, but I do not think senior living has paid enough attention to that for long enough.
The report found that 82.9% of workers cited positive team culture as a top factor for staying, compared with 77.9% who cited competitive pay. That does not mean pay is not important. Families still need to pay their bills and support themselves, so wages have to be part of the conversation. But it does challenge the idea that pay is the only lever operators have.
For operators, I think the insight creates a natural bridge to talk more seriously about culture in senior living. What kind of culture are we creating? Are we listening to care professionals? Are we acting on what they are telling us? That is a big part of what we do at Activated Insights, whether through our survey products or employee engagement work. We help operators understand the voice of their care professionals and take action on it. People need pay to survive, but they really thrive on culture and purpose.
Compensation, management quality and work-life balance have been workforce challenges in senior living for more than a decade. Why do these problems persist, and what will it take to close the gap?
I think we can all agree these are not new issues. The study we did with Argentum was a follow-up to their 2016 study, and compensation, management quality and work-life balance were identified as challenges more than a decade ago. Operators have known for years that these are pressure points that drive turnover.
What is interesting is that those same factors are still dominating today. In the 2026 research, non-competitive pay is still cited by 62% of workers as a reason they leave the field. It is not always that people want to leave. In many cases, they leave because they have to. They need better pay, and that is real. But the research also shows that positive team culture and flexibility are leading retention drivers. So while pay can push people out, quality of life, culture and work-life balance can help keep them engaged. A lot of care professionals find real passion and purpose in this work. They do not necessarily want to leave the field, but operators have to create an environment where they can afford to stay and want to stay.
Management quality is another big piece of that. In senior living, people often get promoted because they are strong at the job itself, not necessarily because they have been trained to manage people. That creates a gap. We know what it takes to move the needle on these issues, but operators need the right tools, data and follow-through to act on what their teams are telling them.
One example is Nexion Health, an organization that has been in business for more than 25 years. Their challenge was not just retaining long-term employees, but also building a stronger connection with new employees as the workforce changed. We helped them adjust their survey approach, including the type of survey, distribution and frequency. Using the data from our Retain product, they reduced turnover by 19 percentage points in one year.
It is one thing for us to help measure what is happening, but the credit also goes to the operator for putting those insights into practice.
The senior living industry has a built-in retention advantage that many operators are not fully using. How can providers activate purpose as a workforce strategy?
Senior living is one of the few industries where workers show up every day and describe the work as genuinely meaningful. They talk about building relationships with residents, making a difference in someone’s final years and being that person for a resident when their family cannot be there. The research backs that up. The vast majority of workers say they would stay in a job where they feel their work makes a difference. That is a competitive advantage most industries would envy, and I think it is energizing for an industry that has gotten used to hearing bad news about workforce trends.
Senior living has this real pocket of purpose, but operators have to activate it intentionally. Purpose cannot just be something people feel on their own. It has to show up in onboarding, recognition, communication and the way leaders support their teams. That is part of what I like about our Retain product. It helps operators understand what is possible and where they can take more purposeful action. That might mean recognizing employees in a way that feels meaningful to them, helping leaders understand how workers want to be seen or making sure people feel their contributions are valued.
Not everyone wants the same kind of recognition. Some care professionals love feeling appreciated, but they may not want public recognition in the same way someone else would. Understanding those differences matters. If operators can listen to what their teams need and connect that back to the purpose that brought them into senior living, they can make purpose a much stronger workforce strategy.
Activated Insights works with hundreds of senior living organizations on employee and resident surveys. What patterns are you seeing in the data that operators often miss?
First, operators have to make data a priority. You can have all the data in the world, but if you are not looking at it, structuring it correctly and understanding how to read it, it is not going to do you much good.
One pattern we see is that what operators think employees need and what employees are actually saying are sometimes two different things. The most forward-thinking operators use that insight to make proactive decisions instead of reacting to turnover after it has already happened.
Another pattern is that operators should not choose between resident experience and employee experience. They need to double down on both. Those two data sets are closely connected, and when resident satisfaction and employee satisfaction rise together, a lot of other things start to fall into place.
One example is Dial Senior Living, which has done a great job using survey data to turn insights into actual strategy and results. They compressed onboarding time with electronic new-hire paperwork and adopted an online training platform to make training more accessible for their team. They also made it easier to track and report on compliance.
As they have made those changes, we have been able to partner with them along the way. It has been great to see the results they have achieved by taking the data seriously and acting on it.
As AI and technology become more common in senior living, what systems should operators prioritize to drive retention, support compliance and improve resident experiences?
We use our survey data and analytics not just to track satisfaction scores, but to surface actual intelligence. The goal is to help organizations make smarter, evidence-based decisions about where to invest, whether that is compensation, scheduling tools, AI documentation platforms or management development.
From my perspective, the first priority is using data to guide those decisions. Operators need to understand where the real gaps are before they decide what technology to adopt. Otherwise, it is easy to invest in tools that sound useful but do not solve the actual problem.
At Activated Insights, we are using AI to help speed up development, build documentation and answer basic Tier 1 support questions. From an operator standpoint, I think the same principle applies. Start with the low-hanging fruit. Automate repetitive tasks so you can put your most valuable assets where they are needed most, which is with your people.
It is also important for operators to have a clear game plan around AI. They need to know what they will use it for, what they will not use it for, what it can access and what it should not access. Those decisions should be made long before anyone connects a system or uploads information into AI. That is how operators can take advantage of the technology without creating problems later.
Looking ahead, what will separate senior living operators that build more resilient, people-centered workforce cultures in 2026 from those that continue to struggle with retention?
I think the overarching theme is treating resident care as a profession. Operators that track satisfaction data, respond proactively and act quickly on what they learn are going to come out ahead.
That connects to a few strategic pillars. Are care professionals given advancement opportunities and credentialing plans? Do they have adaptable workforce options, including flexibility in their schedules? Are they being recognized in ways that matter to them? Are supervisors receiving the right management development and training? Are operators using technology and automation to improve workflows and help employees stay connected to what is changing in the industry?
It is one thing to know those pillars. It is another thing to act on them. Retention has to be treated as an interdependent system, not a checklist. Successful operators will act on the whole system, not just the loudest number. It is easy to chase the squeaky wheel, but that is not always the thing that will actually improve the business.
Compensation is a good example. It is one of the top reasons people leave, so it is tempting to treat pay as the fix. But the Argentum report is clear that addressing compensation without also improving management quality only reduces one source of departure while leaving others largely intact. The same is true with culture. A great culture built on top of rigid or unpredictable scheduling is still a workplace people may not be able to sustain.
The operators that succeed will also professionalize supervisor relationships instead of treating management as a soft skill. The data is very consistent on this. Feeling valued by a supervisor matters, and a poor supervisor relationship can drive care professionals toward leaving. Better management support is also one of the most common answers when workers are asked what would reduce stress.
They will measure culture instead of assuming it. Culture is the operating environment where all of these workforce issues play out. If an organization only checks in once a year through an annual engagement survey, it is very hard to understand what is actually happening. In a lot of ways, they are flying blind.
Finally, they will make purpose visible on purpose. Nearly 95% of workers say they would stay in work they find meaningful. Compensation still matters, but when people find meaning and purpose in the work, operators have an opportunity to turn that into a real retention mechanism. They cannot assume purpose alone will carry people through. They have to build structured ways to surface it, reinforce it and connect it back to the everyday work of caring for residents.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Activated Insights® empowers long-term and post-acute care providers to optimize every interaction with employees and the individuals they serve through data-driven training, recruitment, retention, and experience management solutions. By equipping organizations with comprehensive tools to enhance care quality and improve employee engagement, Activated Insights helps providers to reduce turnover, increase satisfaction, and achieve operational excellence. For more information, visit activatedinsights.com.
Gain access to all of the new data released in the 2026 Perceptions of Careers in Senior Living Report in the upcoming webinar “New Data on What Keeps and Loses Senior Living Talent” hosted by Activated Insights and Argentum on Tuesday, August 18 from 1 – 1:40 pm ET. Register to attend now! https://www.argentum.org/senior-living-insights-webinars/#activatedinsights
The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].
