| | JUNE 2025MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM9What can employers do?Organizations should thoroughly and rigorously screen their candidates and ongoing employees. It's also important for employers to create a culture of transparency. Employees should have various avenues they may follow to report concerns, risks, and/or violations. Managers should establish ongoing and open lines of communication with employees and residents to stay informed about workplace culture, employee behavior, and the resident experience. For example, supervisors should conduct regular one-on-one meetings with their direct reports, allowing their employees to ask questions and identify areas of confusion or concern. Likewise, managers should conduct regular and documented performance evaluations with their employees. Managers' feedback should be honest, transparent, and timely. For example, waiting weeks to correct an employee's behavior can create liability for the organization and rarely has the intended impact on performance improvement. Immediate feedback, however, may result in positive supervisor/employee relationships and improved problem-solving and employee conduct. Employers should thoroughly screen candidates, including national and state sex offender registry searches, drug screening, and identity, employment, and education/certification verification.To better empower supervisors, these professionals should be encouraged to engage in active listening, self-management, self-reflection, and non-judgmental communication.Another important professional development strategy is coaching. This includes sharing knowledge and experience, giving feedback and observations, and using questions to stimulate thinking. Other coaching includes facilitating by listening, encouraging brainstorming, exploring options and consequences together, and allowing employees to find their own conclusions/solve their own problems when possible.Ultimately, the goal should be to increase employees' self-awareness and confidence and explore how they think, feel, and respond to people and situations.To create a structure to this process, elderly care facility leaders should build out documentation to:· Define a standard· Specify the violation/performance issue· Provide the opportunity to correct mistakes/shortcomings· Provide regular supervision in addition to the performance review· Review past actionsFurther, this feedback should be provided consistently. Supervisors should choose their words carefully when writing this documentation because others will be reading these reports. Remember to apprise an employee of performance issues, use concrete examples, describe the desired performance, and explain the consequences of continued performance issues when completing this task.To help determine when to engage in discipline, supervisors should evaluate what went wrong, whether the event/issue has happened before, and then determine if resources are available to help the employee. In addition, supervisors should ascertain a relevant policy, what the desired behavior or performance looks like, and know the consequences if the issue continues.Following these best practices can significantly decrease the risk of abuse or neglect and foster a positive, productive, and fulfilling work environment for staff and residents. Facilities must develop and implement written policies prohibiting abuse or neglect through candidate screening, employee training, and incident investigation and reporting
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