Someone has asked for some help in spreading Walmarts new directives. Many Walmart Rphs are in the mid to high 60’s per hour pay rate. The new goal is to have pharmacy managers at 55 per hour and staff at 52 per hour. This info came from a market manager that was at meeting in Arkansas last week. They are not terminating people for the usual business metrics like the three letter chain or for immunization metrics, but rather policy and procedures. The biggest area for terminations is coming from pharmacists using the restroom. Most Walmarts have a restroom within the gated area, however according to the policy and procedures below this leaves the pharmacy unattended and out of sight.The policy and procedures trump state laws that require a RPh to be in the building….according to Walmart they need to have the pharmacy in sight. One such Pharmacist was more than 3 feet out of the OTC section while helping a patient and was fired. Bathroom breaks are only at lunch when the pharmacy is closed. If you can help in any way it would be greatly appreciated. Many have been terminated for the bathroom thing and of course were replaced with someone will to take much less pay. Just like at CVS I’m sure most don’t review these policies to often. 
click on above graphic to pull up new policies and procedures
Filed under: General Problems
So they can use the bathroom once during a 12 hour shift? Lunch break? Most pharmacists who work in the huge retail chains don’t even get a lunch break because they’d have to shut the entire pharmacy down. This is just another reason I refuse to use retail chains as my pharmacy – they treat their employees like crap. (I know there are some who don’t have the choice of using an independent over retail. I’m fortunate that I can).
Crappy working conditions, particularly 12 hour shifts with no lunch or bathroom breaks, is not just mistreating employees, but it is also putting customers receiving medications at risk. I want my pharmacist to be well-rested and have the ability to eat and take bathroom breaks since mistakes tend to happen when the pharmacist is tired and hungry.