4 Risks to Assisted Living Facilities Without Facility Management Services
Increasing costs are becoming a major factor for businesses across the country to contend with, and the search for money-saving opportunities is becoming more important. This is especially true for assisted living facilities and retirement care centers. Many of them are struggling with challenges in the industry:
- Increasing resident numbers
- Higher costs for operating profitably
- More complex care structures
Faced with that, finding solutions is difficult. The search to bypass higher costs might lead to assisted living facilities no longer paying money to third parties for various services — for instance, facility management services.
In today’s post, Omnia360 Facility Solutions discusses the four primary risks associated with retirement homes neglecting facility management and building upkeep.
1. Risks to Health and Safety
Assisted living facilities focus heavily on patient care, safety, and quality of life. Saving money by foregoing contracting with a facility management company can be detrimental to a facility’s core values and cause.
FM companies like Omnia360 ensure the building’s specs are up to date and compliant with state regulations, bolstering the health and safety of residents and employees alike. Services range from janitorial cleaning to skilled trade maintenance on every part of a building’s infrastructure.
If the duct system is compromised, it’s not just your energy bill that you’ll have to worry about. Senior residents might be unable to get cool or warm air to their rooms, or they might experience worsening breathing problems. Conditions like these put pressure on your labor force, and resources (oxygen tanks, pain management supplies, etc.).
Even something as small as a window seal leak, if left unchecked by a professional, allows moisture to creep in and mold to develop. That spells bad news for a resident’s lungs if their bed is near the window.
Plus, you don’t want residents sweating and immobilized by the debilitating heat and humidity. Hiring an FM company to troubleshoot and maintain your building’s commercial HVAC system is critical.
2. Working Conditions and Employee Turnover
FM services take the pressure off of employees who may be asked to do more work related to facility management as a means of saving costs.
Instead of contracting out “soft” facility management services, like trash pickup and window cleaning, assisted living managers may choose to overload their current staff with janitorial and cleaning duties on top of their caregiving responsibilities. It can lead to burnout, productivity loss, lower-value patient care services, and (most of all) turnover.
The turnover rate for nursing and assisted living facilities staff is high. According to experts at Senior Housing News, it rose to 53.11% in 2020. Turnover eats into a facility’s expense budget. FM services help to ensure an easier, healthier, and more amicable working environment that helps deter turnover (and its associated costs).
Obviously, a major factor in turnover is an employee’s working conditions. Is the workplace a clean, breathable, well-lit, and temperate location? Neglecting HVAC or electrical issues can make for the opposite.
Comprehensive FM services give employees safer and more comfortable working conditions by ensuring that services like plumbing, electricity, and janitorial tasks are all completed with accuracy, timeliness and professionalism.
3. Energy Loss, Inefficiency, and Operational Costs
FM service managers work with you to strategically assess your facility and find out what services can benefit it in the long-run, in terms of functionality, energy efficiency, and profitability.
Assisted living facilities could be losing money on their utility bills alone and not know it. Having a regularly-scheduled maintenance crew with an FM company could mean identifying your building’s structural issues early and fixing them, leading to some major cost savings.
In an effort to save on expenses, “hard” FM services, like HVAC or electrical maintenance might get ignored or put on the back burner. Later on, however, a building can wind up with an unexpected issue requiring emergency repair services (often more costly than preventative).
4. Negative Resident Experience
Customer experience matters. Besides, people talk. And in the internet age, where online consumer reviews and social media shares rule and reign, it’s important to give customers a great experience from start to finish.
Facility management services can provide assisted living facilities with exterior grounds maintenance that improves the building’s curbside appeal and gives visiting families a great sense of what the place has to offer.
Skilled technicians are also available 24/7 to alleviate any emergency outages or malfunctioning equipment on site. It’s an added benefit that takes the stress off of residents and employees, uplifting their experience and simultaneously giving your building a more beautiful and functional atmosphere.
The better experience residents have, and the more satisfied their families are with the quality of care and the building’s upkeep, the better your reviews are. It’s just good for business.
Get 360 Degrees of Facility Maintenance and Upkeep Now
Our facility management service contracts ensure that your entire building stays in optimal condition and has great performance. Contact us today for more information about our service packages and a free assessment at 833.360.6642.