How Summerset Strengthens Staff Communication Across Its Senior Living Villages with Vibe.fyi

Summerset is one of New Zealand's largest retirement village and senior living operators, with 85 villages across New Zealand and Australia. Across its village network, Summerset uses Vibe.fyi to help staff stay informed and aligned through more visible workplace communication.

In senior living environments, staff are often busy, mobile and focused on supporting residents. This can make it difficult for traditional internal communication channels, such as email or Teams, to consistently reach everyone.

Vibe.fyi helps Summerset bring important staff updates into the everyday work environment, making messages more visible, timely and engaging for village teams.

Supporting Communication Across a Distributed Village Network

With villages across New Zealand and Australia, Summerset needed a communication solution that could be managed centrally while also enabling local content administrators to share timely, relevant updates for their own village teams.

Head office needs a consistent way to share organisation-wide updates, while each village needs the flexibility to communicate what is happening locally. Vibe supports both.

Through Vibe, Summerset can share key messages across multiple villages while empowering local teams to create content that reflects their own community, events, people and priorities.

This helps keep staff aligned with wider organisational updates while making communication feel relevant to each village.

Key points raised

1. Head office can manage communication centrally
   Vibe gives Summerset a consistent way to share important updates across its wider village network.
2. Local teams can create relevant village content
   Each village can share updates that reflect its own community, people, events and priorities.
3. Vibe supports both consistency and local ownership
   Summerset can keep staff aligned across the organisation while still empowering local content administrators to communicate in a way that feels relevant to each village.

Building Stronger Teams Through Better Communication

Strong communication in a senior living village does not stop after a team meeting.

In this video, Kat Cleaver - Village Manager, and Briana Voykovich - Office Manager, at Summerset Ellerslie Heritage Park share how Vibe helps keep important messages visible throughout the day, embedding communication into the rhythm of their daily workflow.

The video highlights how Vibe supports communication from team meetings through to shared staff spaces such as lunchroom screens.

Key points raised

1. Vibe helps reinforce important messages
   Rather than relying on a single meeting or email, Summerset uses Vibe to keep key updates visible throughout the day, so messages continue to inform and engage staff.
2. Communication reaches staff where they already are
   By using screens in shared spaces, Summerset can make internal communication more accessible to busy village teams.
3. Better visibility supports stronger alignment
   Vibe helps village leaders keep their teams connected around shared priorities, updates and everyday communication.

Empowering Every Village to Build Community

Every Summerset village has its own people, culture and stories to share.

In this video, Jo Robinson, Receptionist at Summerset St Johns, shows how Vibe empowers local teams to create communication that feels relevant to their own village, helping celebrate people, share local moments and build a stronger sense of belonging across the village community.

Key points raised

1. Local teams can create content that reflects their village
   Vibe gives village teams the ability to share updates, moments and stories that are specific to their own community.
2. Village-level communication feels more personal and relevant
   By enabling local content administrators, Summerset can communicate in a way that reflects the unique culture and personality of each village.
3. Vibe helps strengthen community and belonging
   The platform supports more engaging communication by helping villages celebrate their people and create stronger connections across staff and community life.

A More Visible Way to Communicate Across Senior Living Villages

Summerset's use of Vibe.fyi shows how senior living operators can improve staff communication by combining central consistency with local ownership.

Head office can share important updates across the wider organisation, while local village teams can create content that reflects their own people, stories and community. This helps make communication more visible, more relevant and easier for staff to engage with throughout the working day.

How does Summerset use Vibe.fyi?

Summerset uses Vibe.fyi to improve staff communication across its senior living and retirement village network, helping head office share consistent updates while enabling local village teams to create relevant content for their own staff.

Why is staff communication important in senior living?

Staff communication is important in senior living because teams are often spread across different roles, locations and working environments. Clear, visible communication helps staff stay informed, aligned and connected.

How does Vibe.fyi support retirement village communication?

Vibe.fyi supports retirement village communication by making important messages more visible through workplace digital signage and desktop screensaver channels, while giving local teams the flexibility to share village-specific updates.