Non-Competitive Pay and Supervisor Difficulties Are Greatest Drivers of Senior Living Turnover 

Pay, management, staffing, scheduling and culture all act as primary external pressures hampering the purpose-driven workers of senior living.

That’s according to the results of a survey from Argentum and Activated Insights. The latest report acts as a follow-up to a previous Argentum study conducted in 2016 meant to capture the perceptions of the public about working in senior living, and the newest results indicate workers “are motivated by purpose rather than paychecks, and yet they want their paychecks to reflect the weight of the work they do,” according to the report’s authors.

Charter Senior Living recently completed a company-wide internal workforce survey, and landed on similar findings, according to Tommy Comer, vice president of human resources.

Among the key findings from the 2026 report is that management support is the greatest stress reducer for frontline staff, with 30.2% of respondents indicating it would help, and noncompetitive pay was the greatest factor leading people to leave the industry, according to 62.3% of the Argentum and Activated Insights study respondents.

“Pay is a part of the culture. There are tactical things around pay that I think the industry can do a little bit better,” Comer said. “I t’s still a very local challenge … it really comes down in a lot of ways to that department head or executive director and their impact on their teams.”

Todd Austin, president of Activated Insights, said while operators don’t need to pay the most compared to the relative market, they do need to aim for being within 25% of the market rates to remain competitive and have pay become a non-factor.

“Workers in the field don’t experience commission and compensation as a trade. Nobody says, ‘Pay me less, I have purpose,’” Austin said. “What they say is that the fair pay is what makes it possible to bring their full energy and compassion to work.”

Other leading factors having an impact on workers leaving include bad supervisor relationships, inadequate work-life balance, poor culture and a lack of growth opportunities.

While purposeful work is lauded as a retention factor by operators, and 64.3% of respondents noted it having an impact, there needs to be more to it than simply highlighting that, Comer said.

“Our employees are joining organizations like ours in this industry because they’re attracted to it, so we don’t have to manufacture it,” he said. “I think it’s just acknowledging that caregiver at the front line a little bit more … It’s nothing earth shattering, but make it personal and specific.”

To help with this, Comer said operators need to be upfront and transparent with pay rates when posting open positions and throughout the interview process, and there is an opportunity for the industry to be more explicit about what total compensation packages include, such as what is being paid toward benefits.

The report also reveals the importance of training up the appropriate and competent leaders that can support staff, according to Comer, as well as finding ways to improve flexible scheduling. The average age of senior living’s workforce is around 45 years old, and 52.3% of respondents range from 30 to 50 years old.

“Those are folks with kids and teenagers and they’re caregivers,” Comer said. “This is a non-negotiable. Our industry simply has to find better ways … Those are within our control right now.”