It is the sixth time that Ryman, New Zealand’s largest retirement village operator, has taken the top award in the ‘Aged Care and Retirement Village’ category in the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brands awards.
Ryman previously won in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
With 32 villages in NZ, they now have 11 in the pipeline in and around Melbourne.
Ryman villages provide a continuum of care, from independent living to serviced apartments to residential care.
From now until nearly the end of the year Resident Committees play a significant role in the formation of operating expenditure budgets, providing feedback for future capital works projects and assisting with annual meeting proceedings.
This month in the DCMI Village Manager PD program we have been discussing the role of the Resident Committee and how building collegial relationship with them can in fact be extremely beneficial to the village, resident satisfaction and harmonious operations.
The role of the resident’s committee is really as the voice of the residents, a safeguard mechanism for the residents financial/lifestyle interests.
Whilst there are some variances from state to state on the specifics of the role of Resident Committees, in nearly all states Resident Committees are not the decision making bodies. Instead they are bodies that represent the residents.
One of the most important activities you can undertake with your Resident Committee is to document the agreement of roles, responsibilities, behaviours, expectations and process.
This will assist to provide clarification on who is to do what, what the expectations are of each person in the relationship and timelines for identified activities.
Some items to consider when documenting this process might include:
In my own experience when the relationship between the Resident Committee, the Village Manager and the Operator is one based on trust, respect, and honesty, then great things can be achieved in villages, and village operations tend to be more efficient.
There is a lot of concern and frustration about sales, understandably.
Limits on onsite inspections, the hit to residential home sales, the ongoing confusion (especially in the media) about aged care homes and retirement villages – and of course families asking when ‘mum’s home will be sold’. Plus operator’s are keen to receive their DMF income.
Here is a basic step we can all make, right now and at no cost. Check your processes for handling the first contact by a potential customer with your village.
In 2017 when sales were last hit (by the ABC Four Corners report), the leading advisory firm KPMG did a village Customer Experience Survey. It found that ”80% of Retirement Village operators did not answer a mystery shopper call and only 50% returned that call (from a message left on an answering machine)”.
We all know that first impression is vitally important.
To back this up, interesting results were provided by American Seniors Housing last year. Their research found:
“84% of the time the first village that has a meaningful (sales/marketing) conversation will be the prospect’s village of choice.” And further to that:
“By having a meaningful conversation within 5-minutes of a prospect’s enquiry increases the prospects likelihood to buy from you by over 400%.”
What happens at your village? What really happens to a prospect’s call when your village admin transfers them to sales – do they get a voicemail, is it picked up, are they left waiting, do they hang up without the opportunity to provide information?
Do they move on to the next village?
What about after hours if a prospective calls? What do your prospects experience then?
Do they get a message and set the expectation when their call will be answered? Are they directed to your website for further information, or do they get a voicemail beep?
And what happens if they land on your website after hours and they are seeking some basic information about your community?
Can they easily find your operating hours, inspection details, testimonials from other residents, virtual tour, guides/e-books about the many benefits of retirement living, and an opportunity to leave an enquiry?
Is there a chatbot that may be able to answer their basic questions and encourage them to fill out an enquiry form?
These are the basics, but powerful basics that we can all make sure work.
We have been fielding a number of enquiries around legislative obligations of operators during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week national law firm Minter Ellison came out with yet another great communication as a guide for retirement living operators who may have legislative or contractual obligations to call a meeting of all residents during the pandemic.
Meetings still have to be held.
Tammy Berghofer, a senior counsel at Minter Ellison shared;“The retirement villages legislation generally does not provide for any suspension of, or basis to delay, residents meetings that must occur within specified time periods”.
No state or territory has changed this in response to the COVID-19.
The Minter Ellison guide covers all this and makes recommendations. You can check it out in full here.
Can you do video meetings?
In summary, audio/video meetings are most clearly permitted in South Australia (in all cases) and Tasmania (where an exemption from the Minister is obtained).
Operators in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory can hold their meetings by audio/video means with reasonable confidence on the basis that the common law position permitting such meetings is preserved in those jurisdictions (subject to the exceptions mentioned above).
For Queensland the matter will be even clearer if the expected regulations are passed.
The position is least clear in Western Australia where the legislation may require physical meetings – regulatory guidance from the relevant authorities to put the matter beyond doubt would be ideal.
What should operators do?
Minter Ellison recommends that operators take the following approach to meetings required under the retirement villages legislation while the COVID-19 restrictions are in place:
For Western Australia, it would be ideal to wait (if possible) for the government to pass regulations specifically permitting the holding of non-physical meetings to ensure there is a clear mandate to do so, and to avoid the risk of any subsequent challenge to the validity of the meeting by residents.
In Tasmania, the safest course of action is to apply to the relevant Minister for an exemption allowing a non-physical meeting as soon as possible.
This will involve selecting an appropriate communication or technology platform that allows for full communication between participants, and which can handle a large number of participants at the same time.
Various available technology platforms allow for audio (ie telephone only) and/or video participation. They also have in-built meeting functions such as voting, sharing information or videos, asking or submitting questions, and producing a recording or transcript of the meeting.
Operators should consider which platform is best for the type of meeting planned, and any assistance residents may require to have access, such as the installation of any necessary software or hardware in their unit.
Consider inviting residents to submit questions for the meeting in writing as soon as possible so they can be efficiently answered in the meeting.
o delivering physical ballot papers and information packages to residents’ units;
o providing a locked container in the village for postal votes;
o providing clear instructions to residents on how to interact and vote; and
o checking and testing the technology before the meeting.
This may include rules about the giving of meeting notices, who may attend, quorums, voting rights and proxies, voting by former residents of vacated units, the counting of votes, and recording of minutes.
Our advice: engaging the Residents Committee is always a first move.