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| Theme | Code | Illustrative quote |
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| Workplace attributes that support recruitment | Adequate compensation | “Wage compensation is important for me” |
| Unionized environment | “Unionized environment is very important” |
| Benefits | “I would like to work full-time when I get a job because of benefits” |
| Client-to-staff ratio | “We don’t have enough time because there just two of us to take care of 15 people in the morning, we have to get six people up. You don’t have enough time to do much” |
| Work flexibility (personal choice) | “You need to know what you’re going to be working on and it needs to be predictable set of shifts” |
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| Workplace attributes that support retention | Orientation | “I’m told what my job expectations are and if I have someone to guide me as to how to do my duties and teach me, those are things I look for in an orientations that can prepare me for success in my job” |
| Staffing complement | “I’ll say the issues with staffing, for example, if they have adequate staff so that there’s no burnout. I work in a long-term care, we get burnt out. We work so many hours because people don’t show up for work. So I’d like a workplace that has adequate staff” |
| Continued education, training, and skill development | “I’m looking for a place to build a career in. So for me I would like opportunities for advancement, you know if I wanted to take a specialty or move up then I want to be able to stay within the same organization” |
| Personal relationships with clients | “So in my experience, it’s just the relationships that you get to make with residents again because you’re seeing the same people, you know, daily or weekly” |
| Reliable and supportive coworkers/management | “So I agree with everybody that the main thing is respect for the employee, so respect for me as an individual, but also a group. If I feel like management cares about me, then I care about the job more” |
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| Perceived risks and fears related to work in the continuing care sector | Abuse and violence | “A risk of injury and verbally, emotionally, and trauma, I think that is very important to have security in place. You want more to minimize any kind of injury, like physically, verbally, and emotionally” |
| Ethical and moral dilemmas | “It doesn’t allow you to actually provide adequate care for a patient because, for one thing, in the back of your mind you’re concerned about getting all your meds done, but you’re not actually getting to analyze” |
| Knowledge and skill decay | “It’s really easy to forget, really simple things” |
| Burnout | “The workload in the nursing home is too much” |
| Understaffing and poor skill mix | “We don’t have enough time because they’re just two of us to take care of 15 people in the morning, we have to get six people up. You don’t have enough time to do much” |
| Physically and emotionally demanding work | “I would be most concerned about the risk of injury. I think I would try to have a job that is on the lower side of risk of injury” |
| “Because sometimes you have to think a little selfish and think of things that benefit you and if you have a family, that can benefit your family, take vacations, have time for yourself to just relax, away from work” |
| Working in public vs. private long-term care homes | “But like as soon as it came down to making a profit, a lot of standards went out the window or they try to get away with like sweeping it out of the door, really quietly” |
| Availability of resources | “My previous placements, when I asked where the suction is, and where the crash cart is they’re like “oh, we don’t have one”” |
| “…If you see someone who’s had a stroke and they clearly need way more care than they’re getting, it’s difficult to not be able to do anything” |
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