NaCCRA Forum: Resident Life

Residents of our nonprofit CCRC are looking for ideas on how to support management and employees. We already donate toward cash gifts for our employees in December. What else? Do you have a group or special events that resident's sponsor during the year to show appreciation?

Linda, we have GEM (Going the Extra Mile) cards all over campus. Resident's who want to recognize an associate who went over and beyond what is required of them can fill one out and submit it to management. We have a committee that reviews the GEM submissions and if they agree send it to the associate's supervisor for inclusion in their file and as input to their performance review.

Here at Ingleside at King Farm in Rockville, Maryland, we are similar to the others reported. We have an Employee Appreciation Fund to which residents contribute so that we can show our appreciation monetarily at the end of the year. The money is distributed based on number of hours worked during the year. All employees except the Executive Director and her direct reports are included. The amount given to each employee is computed by multiplying an hourly rate obtained by dividing the amount in the Fund among the hours worked by all eligible employees by the number that employee worked. There is an appreciation celebration open to all residents.

The management also gives an ARISE (an acronym for our community's values) Award each quarter to an employee based on resident submissions on a card for that purpose. The cards are put into the employee's file whether or not they receive an Award. Dining has just instituted an Employee of the Month award based partly on comments by residents. We also have an employee scholarship fund funded by residents which awards scholarships to educational programs and preparation for citizenship interviews (about 3/4 of our employees were born in another country).

Bill Samuel