This week our DCM Editor Lauren Broomham penned a very important edition of SATURDAY, focusing on Burnout across the Age Services sectors.
Of particular interest was the article on Burnout in Village Professionals. If you aren’t a subscriber to SATURDAY you can read the full article here.
At DCMI stories of burnout, and worries about staff burnout, is something that is shared with members of our team on a regular basis.
It is something I have spent considerable time pondering the solution. I know it would be naïve to think there is a one size fits all solution. The solutions are many, and will vary from village to village, operator to operator.
Below I have shared just a few for consideration:
- Opportunity for frequent uninterrupted breaks from village responsibilities
- Additional resource support for establishment of new process, regulation, accreditation compliance etc
- Providing clear policy and procedure guidelines
- Solutions for ageing residents and resident behaviour management
- Extra customer relations/administration support in larger villages
- Technology solutions for communications and operations
- Regular senior executive visits to villages
- Reasonable pay for effort
- Clear authorisation/delegation guidelines, and
- Of course, my passion – ensuring Village professionals participate regularly in professional development and industry networking opportunities
However, I do believe there is something as a sector we can unite on: “ACKNOWLEDGING THE VALUE & IMPORTANCE of VILLAGE PROFESSIONALS” not only to the village, the team, the residents, our sector and importantly society!
“You can always tell a good Village Manager by the way the village smiles at you as you enter”.
After all they are responsible for the first impressions at the village gate!