Good morning,

I spent this past week visiting a couple dozen skilled nursing and senior living communities—really solid operations, led by sharp administrators, backed by great ownership groups, and filled with residents and staff who genuinely seem happy and well cared for.

But as I walked through the buildings, introduced to leadership teams and taken on tours, something caught my eye—again and again.

On the scheduler’s door in almost every community, I saw a nearly identical sign:

“Shift swaps and time-off requests must be submitted in writing with signatures.”

After seeing this three times, I started asking about scheduling. Some communities were using technology. Others were still relying on Excel or paper. Regardless of the system, almost every community fell into at least one of these three traps—traps that quietly chip away at your efficiency and cause constant, unnecessary stress.

1. No Clear, Enforced Time-Off Request Deadline

This is one of the most common—and most damaging—mistakes I see when helping communities roll out scheduling software. Either there’s no deadline at all for submitting time-off requests, or there’s one that isn’t enforced. In some cases, it’s enforced, but it’s too close to the schedule start date to actually help.

If you’re building the schedule for December 1st, you need to collect time-off requests no later than November 1st. That gives your scheduler time to post the schedule by November 8—three weeks out—and gives you a real shot at locking in coverage from PRN and part-time staff before they pick up shifts elsewhere.

How do you get there? Simple:

• By October 22, send out a reminder: “Time-off requests for December 1–31 are due by November 1.”
• Stick to it. Enforce it. Build it into your culture.

If you’re always rushing to fill gaps at the last minute, this is likely where it starts.

2. No Recognition for Shift Swaps or Finding Shift Coverage

When employees either swap shifts or find coverage for their time off (instead of just calling out or submitting a PTO request), that’s real work—and it saves your team time and stress. We should be rewarding that kind of ownership.

Too often, it goes unnoticed. Instead, build in ways to recognize and celebrate it:

• A $10 gift card
• Monthly raffle or drawing
• Shoutouts at stand-up
• Even just a simple thank-you

If you want employees to take responsibility for their shifts, give them a reason to do it. Reward the behaviors you want to see.

3. No Look-Ahead Discipline

If today’s Thursday and you’re still figuring out this weekend’s coverage, you’re playing defense. And I get it—the number one thing I hear is, “I don’t have enough staff to work ahead.” But you can’t let that stop you. You have to fight to get proactive.

Start with visibility. Break your schedule down by week and look six weeks ahead. Then start tracking—and sharing—your open shifts. Make it part of your stand-up routine.

Here’s what it could look like:

• Week 1 (Oct 27–Nov 2): 13 open shifts
• Week 2 (Nov 3–9): 18 open shifts
• Week 3 (Nov 10–16): 10 open shifts
  …and so on.

Once you can measure it, you can plan around it. Your scheduler should be able to rattle these numbers off every morning. That’s the first step toward real control.

None of this is complicated to implement.  It does take commitment. It takes clarity, communication, and consistency. When you clean up your scheduling process, you create a more stable workplace, reduce burnout, and build trust with your staff.

The truth is, scheduling is painful.  

Do you want that pain to last for a couple of months while you set up systems that some of your team will inevitably struggle to buy into but will ultimately lead you toward your goals?

Or do you want to take the path where you keep doing what you’re doing and the pain lasts forever?

Choose your pain.

That’s the kind of leadership that moves the needle.

The NHA Stand-Up Playlist

Whether you’re bracing for survey, rebuilding next month’s schedule from scratch, or just need a mental reset — we got you.

The NHA Stand-Up Playlist is built by NHAs, for NHAs.

Tracks that lift you up, fire you up, or just let you breathe.

🎧 Listen to the full NHA Stand-Up Playlist here

Whenever you're ready, I can help you in a few ways.

1. Get 1 FREE CEU - Read our partner Viventium's "2025 Healthcare Workforce Management Report" and receive 1 NAB approved CE credit. Read here. 
2. Sign up for our FREE live NAB approved CEU and dive into a recent IJ elopement deficiency and what we can learn to keep our communities safe.  It’s scheduled for today, 10/23 at 2:00PM EST.  Sign-Up here.
3. Use our free AI-powered Chatbot trained on all 900 pages of CMS Nursing Home Regulations, proprietary processes, and information from decades of skilled nursing leadership experience.  Click here.
4. Sign up for Assisto and keep track of the regulatory environment in your state.  Know what deficiencies surveyors cite in real-time and ensure you're not at risk for the same tag.  Sign up here.
5. Take our Salary Lens survey and gain access to the largest database of senior living and SNF leadership salaries in the industry.  Check it out here.

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Thanks for reading.  Have a wonderful day.

Kevin Goedeke, Publisher and Founder