Over the next 15 years, the meteoric rise in our senior population will drive an urgent need for many more workers in Senior Living communities. As part of its strategic vision, Argentum has committed to numerous programs to give senior living an edge in the labor market – now and in the future.
Among these is a workforce pilot program aiming to interest certain Job Corps students – such as those working to earn a credential like the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Medication Technician (MedTech), Certified Patient Care Technician/Assistant (CPCT/A) or ServSafe – to enter senior living. Working in partnership with MTC, Argentum has augmented the program’s standard curriculum with a course introducing students to senior living. The pilot program is in partnership with Management & Training Corporation (MTC), which operates training centers for Job Corps, a U.S. Department of Labor school-to-work transition program.
“The shortage of qualified workers for open positions is a national problem and cuts across many professions. We see this partnership with MTC as one avenue of many that Argentum will lead to bring our communities more job candidates and keep those who make the grade at work in senior living for years to come,” Ashante Abubakar, vice president, workforce development, Argentum.
Meeting Needs
Through a combination of job growth and attrition, Argentum anticipates that senior living communities will need to recruit, hire, onboard, and support more than 3 million new employees in less than two decades. Senior living communities are on track to add nearly 300,000 new jobs, a 32.9% rise, as total employment in the industry approaches 1.2 million by 2040. In addition to this, more than 2.7 million employees will be needed just to maintain the sizable workforce.
“Argentum is preparing and working on this pilot so that we perfect the best possible methods to connect students to our senior living communities,” says Dan Passarella, who manages Argentum’s Direct Workforce Services (DWS).
Financial Incentives
In addition to creating a qualified, diverse, and credentialed pool of candidates, Passarella says Job Corps graduates are among those that typically qualify their employers to claim financial incentives. Candidates referred by American Job Centers, another DWS partner, also qualify. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the incentives are in two forms – a tax credit tied to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program and a partial wage reimbursement under DOL’s On the Job Training (OJT) program.
Employers leave hundreds of millions of dollars on the table each year in federal and state-level tax credits and employment-related incentives. Passarella’s role with Argentum is to help senior living providers capture their fair share. DWS is in place to connect senior living operators with these credits, incentives, and grants.
Passarella estimates that the wage reimbursement benefit alone may be worth as much as $6,000 for each new eligible hire. It is available to employers that hire employees from eligible target groups with significant barriers to employment.
Communities may also receive tax credits. Passarella estimates the value to be between $5,000 and $9,000 for each new employee.
A Diverse Labor Pool
Candidates hired through Job Corps or American Job Centers may also help providers meet diversity goals. Often, these individuals represent a very diverse pool of candidates.
“Working with Job Corps or an American Job Centers can help bridge the gap between aspirational diversity goals and actual practices, bringing a sense of balance and representation,” says Passarella.
Job Corps students are from very urban and very rural areas. One thing they often have in common is an underprivileged background. They’re frequently from low-income households and, without Job Corps, have almost no prospects of education beyond high school.
Students live in a campus-like environment for one year, gaining valuable life experience. Passarella says that, after graduating from Job Corps, candidates have had “a year of high support, with instructors and mentors helping to prepare them for work, so their employability skills are very high.”
Job Corps candidates are also highly motivated and already familiar with senior living after participating in the Argentum-designed add-on course. Many, says Passarella, are enthused about the prospect of finding a position in the industry. “They are much more excited about our jobs because it’s what they have been working toward in their residential program,” he shares.
The four MTC-run training centers involved in the pilot are the Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center, Reno, Nev.; the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center in Morganfield, Ky.; and the Woodstock Job Corps Center in Woodstock, Md.; and Edison Job Corps Center in Edison, NJ.
How DWS Works
Through DWS, Argentum handles pre-screening of candidates from both Job Corps and the American Job Centers. It takes the lead with local, state and federal agencies on behalf of each community.
The DWS team works directly with American Job Centers to negotiate a contract for each new OJT-eligible employee an operator hires. It also will process the tax credit paperwork for each of these employees. The number of OJT-eligible employees that communities can hire – and claim the tax credit for hiring – is unlimited.
For the WOTC and OJT programs, DWS services are provided to Argentum member organizations on a contingency basis. There is no fee until DWS is successful.
In another option, which Passarella calls “reverse referral,” senior living operators find candidates on their own. DWS will then check for potential eligibility for grant money and other incentives before each hire.
Irrespective of the recruitment models, senior living providers always make final hiring decisions, Passarella stresses.
Proactively Looking
DWS also brings additional opportunities to senior living operators that sign up for its grant scanning or grant funding services.
The grant scanning service proactively looks for funding sources and brings these opportunities to the attention of operators. When an operator chooses to pursue one of these opportunities, DWS staff writes the grant proposal, working closely with an operator’s team to finalize it. Grants may range in value from $25,000 to $6 million.
A Successful Pilot Program
As for the Job Corps pilot program, Passarella says it will have been a success if students leaving the program “establish themselves in their communities with a job in senior living – and stay in the senior living industry over a long period of time.”
Passarella says, “I think these new employees will be retained longer as they reap the benefits of entering a career pathway while working in a loving, compassionate environment.”
“This is a unique collaboration that we see as a blueprint for matching interested Job Corps/American Job Center students to jobs serving senior living communities. There are real career-long pathways for these new candidates in caring for residents in assisted living, memory care, and other senior living settings,” says Abubakar.
Learn more about the Job Corps pilot program here.
