Career Development at Benchmark Senior Living

“During my first year as a Benchmark Associate, I had so many opportunities to learn new skills, and I attended and graduated from Benchmark University faculty training and leadership programs. I am happy to be part of a company that truly supports my growth.” -Director of Community Relations

Individual Development Plans:

As part of our annual review process, every associate is required to create an individual development plan to help them to develop professionally. The goal of these development plans is to help our associates identify personal and professional goals based on individual strengths, interests and aspirations. To help associates succeed in meeting their goals, they work closely along with a supervisor and coach. The associate’s supervisor and coach are available as resources to provide advice and guidance, and to help remove barriers to success. Benchmark does whatever it can to accommodate associates’ needs, including mentoring and extensive education. We established Benchmark University both to recognize our outstanding associates and to educate others in our communities. The educational component of our associates’ development can include Benchmark University courses, but also may entail outside vendor courses or university courses that they will receive tuition reimbursement for.

Benchmark University:

Benchmark’s professional development component is perhaps our greatest area of pride, growth, and success. Although a young company, we have built an entire corporate university that is second-to-none in the assisted living industry. Benchmark lets its associates know that it wants to see them grow, and that it has dedicated extensive time and financial resources to achieving this goal. For that reason, Benchmark University was created and is available to all associates at all times.

Benchmark University is designed in two distinct learning models: The Leadership Academy, which provides executive and management development experiences for our highest potential leaders; and The Program for Excellence, which is a skills-based series of courses, workshops, seminars, and experiential learning programs for all associates.

Management Development Program:

In 2006 we created and launched our Management Development Program (MDP) which was recognized in 2008 by The Assisted Living Federation of America as a groundbreaking new program in our industry. Via this initiative, we are educating all of our leaders to – put it simply – lead. Many of the people we hire into director-and-above levels come form outside our industry. Therefore, our MDP begins by educating our leaders on industry history and surrounding issues (legislation, governing structures, etc. that we operate within). Our MDP enables new leaders a minimum of a full month to learn this sort of information – and – to visit / tour / shadow roles at our own facilities before stepping into their own official facility / community.