Understand that elder abuse is widespread and falls into many categories. Let your staff know that abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual or financial and that the signs of this abuse can be difficult to observe. Set aside a full day to train your staff on elder abuse.
Prepare materials that outline types of abuse and examples. Go to the National Center for Elderly Abuse website (see link in Resources) and create materials that list all types of abuse, their signs and symptoms and how to spot it. This website has pages of information that you can simply copy and paste into text documents and print out. Make copies and folders, enough for each person you are training to have one, and include your state's reporting information. Go over the materials as a group and lead people in a discussion on each item.
Make it very clear to your employees that anyone who is trying to get monies or cash checks from an account belonging to someone over 65 years of age needs to be thoroughly checked. Financial abuse is one of the most frequent abuses of the elderly. Teach your group to make contact with the senior and be sure they know that they do not have to authorize anyone else to cash such checks or put money into anyone's account. Suggest that they contact the senior and help him set up a bank- or bill-pay by phone and eliminate the middleman. Go over the steps on how to achieve this in the structure of your business.
Ensure that your group knows the extent of the physical and sexual abuse that elders can suffer. There is a tendency, especially among the 20- to 30-year-olds, to see the issue as not very prevalent. Sometimes it's almost too awful to imagine and people tend to push the thought away. But people can and do harm the elderly and even rape or molest them. Train your people that if they sense or see anything suspicious, do not hesitate to report it to the proper agencies. Go over what are signs of abuse, such as extreme shyness and a sense of shame, or someone wearing long clothing when it's hot outside to possibly cover bruises.
Instill in everyone the requirements of a mandated reporter, which is that no matter what the exigent circumstances, if abuse is suspected it must be reported. A mandated reported can be fined or even jailed for not reporting this abuse. You may not employ someone who is technically mandated by law to report elderly abuse (case workers, medical workers, counselors), but you can create the same requirements by establishing a rule that even suspected abuse must be reported.