Senior Living Industry’s Biggest Staffing Strength Is Purpose As Pay Remains A Top Challenge

Company culture, staffing levels, wages – these factors influence how senior living workers perceive the industry and its job opportunities, according to a new report.

The 2026 Perceptions of Careers in Senior Living report by Argentum and Activated Insights highlights the important factors influencing employee sentiment in the industry and details the industry’s “critical crossroads.” Researchers based the report on responses from 200 senior living employees across a range of roles with an average age of 44.5 years.

Finding a sense of purpose in their work remains an important factor for senior living employees, but higher pay is the “most urgent structural challenge” facing providers, as 62.3% of respondents said non-competitive pay was a factor in leaving the industry. Higher pay also ranked as the second most common stress reducer, and fair pay for work was rated “extremely important” by 85.4% of respondents.

The biggest takeaway from the report for senior living providers is understanding the industry has something other sectors fail to create: a workforce that is connected to the purpose and mission of senior living, according to Argentum CEO James Balda.

“That is an enormous competitive advantage, but purpose alone cannot sustain the workforce. Operators must create employment conditions that allow that commitment to endure,” Balda said.

Feeling valued by a supervisor was rated “extremely important” to job satisfaction by 71.4% of respondents, while 48.2% said a bad relationship with a supervisor was a reason to leave the industry and 46.2% of respondents said management quality was another factor driving turnover.

When asked what would cause an employee to stay in a senior living job for more than three years, 82.9% of respondents said a positive workplace culture was the strongest retention factor, outpacing competitive pay (77.9%), a supportive supervisor (74.4%) and flexible scheduling (65.8%). Nearly 75% of respondents said they were “very likely” to stay in a role that they felt made a difference in improving the lives of older adults.

Workforce strategies must be multifaceted, and while compensation matters “enormously,” Balda added that providers must also focus on the “everyday experiences” employees have with leaders, coworkers and their schedules.

“The organizations that will be most successful are those that treat culture, supervisor development and workforce flexibility as operational priorities, not simply human resources initiatives,” Balda added.

Management issues, including poor communication, micromanagement, inconsistency and high manager turnover, were the most-cited challenges to working in senior living, the report notes. Finding a sense of accomplishment was rated “extremely important” by more than 75% of respondents, as purpose and personal accomplishment were factors in workers staying in or returning to the industry. When asked about training opportunities, 59.8% of respondents said new training was “extremely important” for overall job satisfaction.

Work-life balance concerns have also increased since the first installment of the survey, which was first conducted in 2016. Workers in the two studies ranked fair pay, flexible schedules and supportive managers as their top priorities despite the surveys being conducted a decade apart.

Being able to balance work and life responsibilities was “extremely important” to 82.9% of respondents, followed by flexible scheduling at 65.8%, and 46.7% of respondents said not being able to find that balance was a potential reason to leave the industry.

The top reasons workers chose a job or career include enjoying day-to-day work (81.9%), finding work-life balance (80.4%), feeling valued and supported by management (79.4%) and making a difference in others’ lives (77.9%).

When asked about a single factor that could reduce their stress on the job, stronger support from management was cited by 30.2% of respondents as the most common answer, followed by higher pay (28.6%) and better staffing levels (26.6%).

“That concentration is significant because it shows operators where focused investments can have the greatest impact: developing strong frontline leaders, maintaining competitive compensation and supporting teams with appropriate staffing,” Balda said.

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