Such fees include regular assessments by SRG nursing staff; at minimum, each property has a director of assisted living, which may be either an RN or a licensed practical nurse. Depending on residents’ needs and abilities, a property may have other medical staff as needed. “We tend to go by the acuity of residents,” Johnson explains. SRG also employs a company-wide director of clinical services and a director of dementia services, both of whom are RNs.
As critical as such services are, they are tricky to market to prospective residents and their families. “There’s all these subliminal messages involved in the sales process,” Grust explains. “They want to make the decision on a real estate model [as they would for renting an apartment or buying a home], but the reality is, they want to know ‘How close am I to the elevator? Is there an emergency call button?’ We let them know we’ve got it.”
Senior Insight In housing today, there is no shortage of people who can drop demographic data points into casual conversation. But that’s about all they can do.
Grust is different. As he talks about his company’s core demographic—people in their 80s who no longer can or want to live on their own—there’s a level of insight and compassion for these residents and their families that can’t be gained from any research report.
He understands senior citizens’ need to maintain at least the appearance of independence. “The joke here is that they come in with the car, it gathers dust, and nine months later, the grandkid takes it.” He wants them to have the chance to socialize with others as well as enjoy their privacy. “Residents haven’t signed on to have their dance card filled every night” either, he says.
And most of all, Grust wants them to have the chance to grow old gracefully, with independence, choice and dignity. “Ninety percent of our residents never need nursing homes,” he says. “The great demographer in the sky decides when they move on.”
Tackling Turnover Keeping quality employees is just a big a challenge for senior housing owners and managers as it is for the rest of the multifamily world perhaps even more so. “It is the biggest challenge the industry has,” says Michael Grust, president of Senior Resource Group. “End of story.”
But SRG is doing its best to rewrite that ending for its 1,100-employee company. “Our goal is to give the best care and services we can,” says COO Kayda Johnson. “We asked: What kind of system can we put in place so people feel like they are being rewarded and appreciated?”
So three years ago, the company instituted a program that gives hourly employees the opportunity to earn a $250 bonus per quarter (for $1,000 annually) for performing their duties—serving residents, arriving on time for work—to the best of their abilities. Department heads can earn $1,000 every six months, based on staff turnover, financial performance and other markers.
Senior Resource Group at a Glance
- Founded: 1988
- Headquarters: Solana Beach, Calif.
- Leadership: Martin Fenton, chairman; Michael S. Grust, president; Wick Peterson, CFO; Kayda Johnson, COO
- Units: 1,650 that are owned and managed by SRG; 960 under development; 146 that SRG handles as a third-party manager
- Markets: California, Arizona, and Oregon
- Revenue: $100 million from management and development
- Employees: 1,100
- Notable: Pursuing voluntary accreditation for its assisted living programs.
- On the Web: ww.srgseniorliving.com
- Quotable: “People can age in place in our communities. We decided early on that wheelchairs were part of the equipment [for SRG residents], just like at junior high school, where you see all the bicycles lined up in front of the building.” —Michael Grust