About
Gateway Living provides memory care units in Oregon specifically designed for those who live with dementia. These beautiful custom-built, safe and secure homes provide a sanctuary for those seeking a supportive environment where care and services are delivered with compassion.
WHY Pinnacle
“At Gateway Living, we have been highly utilizing Retain, and we’re really happy with it—especially the new hire portion. I, in particular, have been immersed in Retain and it’s been very valuable to me.
“After gathering feedback through Retain, I met with all my campuses to review the data. I looked at generation, class, site, corporate average, and so on. Most of my campuses are pretty similar, but it was interesting that communication stood out with all of them. Baby boomers said Gateway Living does a good job with communication. However, millennials and post-millennials felt there were some areas where Gateway Living could improve its communication. The company’s upper management, who are more likely to be older and part of the baby boomer generation, have access to cellphones and work emails during work hours, so they are easier to reach. Floor staff, on the other hand, who are typically younger, don’t have these things at work. I believe this is one of the main reasons they feel more out of touch when it comes to company communication. Knowing this provides our company with the feedback we need in order to resolve this concern with our younger staff.
“The feedback we receive from our staff creates opportunities for us to improve and provides us with needed details that enable us to better support them. When we follow up with an employee, we don’t say we read their survey. Instead, we talk generally about things they said and build our conversations from there. Employees are more likely to make strides to improve based on these discussions.
“The 15-, 30-, 60-, and 90-day interviews are great. Whenever I get a 100-day notification, I immediately contact the associated staff member. ‘This is Mark Kinkade,’ I tell them. ‘Just wanted to congratulate you on your first 100 days. You should be receiving a survey from Retain shortly. It’s valuable to the continued success of Gateway Living and I would appreciate if you would spend a few moments to take it.’
“I’ve gotten really good feedback from my staff after reaching out personally to congratulate them. They say they can’t believe the owner personally reached out and said congrats. Twenty-five years ago, I had one facility with 27 employees. I hired everyone myself. Now, I have 500 employees. I have less of a chance to check in with each staff member throughout their employment. Prior to Retain, I had no way of making contact with my employees. When Stan, Pinnacle’s founder, told me about Retain, it put me back in the driver’s seat for the first time in years.
“Recently, I walked around a campus and everyone kept saying, ‘Oh! You are Mark! You sent me that message!’ Having that ability to communicate directly with my staff gives me back that connection I used to have. I love it.”
Mark Kinkade, COO
Gateway Living
