MBK Senior Living puts people first

The senior living provider uses Dayforce to engage and retain top talent in a growing industry.

MBK Senior Living communities feel more like vacation destinations than what you might expect from senior living quarters. Each of MBK’s 33 properties is unique, and provides residents with amenities such as on-site salons, fitness centers, specialty dining, and activity rooms. The community in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, for example, has a pool for residents to escape the heat, and the community in Mountlake Terrace, Washington has a fireplace for residents to warm up in the winter.

“There are misperceptions about what senior living is. Many people still think back to the nursing home days – and while skilled nursing facilities are a crucial part of our health care system – senior living provides a lot more lifestyle choices,” says Jeff Fischer, President of MBK Senior Living. “I think it's important for us to educate the younger workforce about who we are, what we do, and the multifaceted operations that we provide – everything from caregiving, to dining, to management positions.”

Although their amenities are impressive, the staff that service each community are really at the heart of the experience. “The minute you walk into one of our MBK Senior Living communities you feel the difference right away. People are smiling, they're talking to you, they're welcoming you. We feel really great about providing a warm welcoming environment for whoever opens those doors and walks into our community,” says Christy Van Der Westhuizen, VP of Sales and Marketing at MBK.

MBK Senior Living is based in Irvine, California, and offers independent living, assisted living, and memory care services to seniors in Washington, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, California, and Arizona. MBK employs 2,200 caregivers, housekeepers, servers, nurses, and maintenance staff. “Our team members are so important to our success as a company, and to providing great care to our residents,” says Van Der Westhuizen.

Rising demands and competition

As the population ages, the senior care industry is having to adjust in order to keep up with the demand for services.

“Our biggest challenge from an HR perspective is keeping up with the growing demand of the number of positions that this industry needs. There will be 300,000 jobs added to this space in the coming years, and the unemployment rate in the U.S. is at record lows,” says Fischer.

“We're finding that we're competing more and more in the local market – with the hospitality industry, with restaurants, with retail. We're not just competing against other senior living communities, we're competing against everyone,” adds Christine Chang, Senior VP of HR. “It's important for us to promote the right image of our company, the right brand, the right culture, so we can attract the right type of employees to come work with us.”

Compliance is also top-of-mind for MBK. “When it comes to senior living, there's a lot of complexities and compliance issues that we have to deal with, whether it's wage and hour laws, or state regulations,” says Fischer. “We have to ensure that our HCM system is very tight and strategic, and that it helps us track our team members in their trainings, to ensure we are within the boundaries of what we're supposed to be doing day-to-day.”

MBK needed a system that would help them connect and engage with employees and ensure that the company is able to track operations at all locations. “New technology is imperative. We can't sit back and wait, we have to keep looking forward and find ways to help our employees work smarter instead of harder,” says Chang.

Visibility across the board

MBK partnered with Ceridian in 2013 to implement Dayforce Payroll, Benefits, Workforce Management, and Performance.

“Dayforce is our system of record, and it makes it convenient for us to have everything located in one place,” says Chang. “Having real-time visibility into our data is important because of the way we're structured. With so many communities across multiple states, it's very important for us to have one central location where we can access that information.”

This access to information helps MBK maintain compliance in an increasingly complex industry.

“Dayforce helps us automate our training records so that if we have to show our records to an auditor or state regulator, we can easily pull those records and show that we are in compliance,” explains Fischer. “With the fluctuations in the workforce and the high turnover that we face at times, it's critically important for us to be organized and stay on top of our compliance and our training records.”

Value through engagement

Given the competition for talent that the company is facing, MBK also leverages Dayforce to engage and retain its valued employees.

“To combat the high turnover in our industry, we need to do everything we can to retain our employees. Dayforce allows us to spend more time with our employees, developing and further engaging them,” says Chang.

Dayforce Performance has allowed managers and employees to set goals and track them together throughout the year.

“Performance reviews are absolutely imperative to the success of this organization,” says Chang. “Providing continuous feedback always assists with retention. If you're not providing feedback and not having those conversations, you're not giving employees the opportunity to understand how they fit in the organization, and what direction they should be heading.”

Dayforce Mobile has also helped to connect employees across all 33 locations. “The mobile app has streamlined our day-to-day, allowing our employees to access their schedules, payroll, and clock in or out remotely. With a workforce that is spread across six states, it's important to have streamlined mobile technology, and Dayforce has really helped us in that regard,” says Fischer.

WATCH NOW: Strategies for building a great employee experience

Taking back time

By having a single system for its HR processes, MBK has saved significant time in the elimination of manual, repetitive processes.

“When we automated time away from work requests in Dayforce, we were able to reduce the manual data entry that our office managers did by 70%,” says Chang. “Dayforce has freed up time for us to be able to do the things that we need to do. We have more time to engage our employees, and to work on the things that matter for our company.”

“Dayforce has helped us save hours of time and aggravations from manual systems. It has helped bring us into the future,” adds Fischer.

Enabling people with technology

At the end of the day, MBK is really about its people – both residents and employees.

“You can have a beautiful building and the most vibrant programming, but unless you have people with heart, none of the rest matters. We wouldn't be who we are without the people who work for us. They are the heart of our communities and keeping them extremely engaged and happy to come to work every day and work with residents – that's what keeps us going,” says Van Der Westhuizen.

MBK plans to keep on the cutting edge of technology to ensure employees are given the best experience possible.

“New technologies in the HR space are crucial to our success in the coming years,” says Fischer. “With the shortage of talent, and us trying to find new ways to make our workforce more efficient, Dayforce will help us further automate our processes, and find ways to improve the lives of our employees.”