Pharmacy technician overtime

[maria1oh]

How often do you end up paying techs overtime to cover shifts? Do you seek approval from supervisor every time or use your judgement and explain later if asked. Example of tech calling off at last minute and finding tech to cover but having to pay OT. Write up tech who called off as excuse why you paid OT in case questioned by supervisor.
Just late last night tech called off. I found a tech to cover but she said only if she hears from supervisor that it's ok. She said last time she was warned by the supervisor not to work OT unless supervisor tells her directly that it's ok. Apparently too many floaters would convince the techs to stay late/work OT and the supervisor came down on the techs for it instead of the pharmacists. (Techs get paid OT for working over 8 hour shifts or 40 hr/week)
since it was so late at night I said forget it we will be fine short staffed today.

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[Sine Cura]

Do sups really have time to micromanage this?

 

[jsmith84]

I recently discussed this with my supervisor. I work in a store where the techs are unionized, so everything like this can turn into a big headache. She explained that the district/region/company goes through phases of caring about payroll and not caring. A few months ago I guess it was a problem in our district so they began seriously micromanaging it, to the point where we had to fax our payroll usage report 3 times a week to prove we weren't going over on hours and there was a weekly email sent with a list of stores who used overtime demanding that each store reply with a reason why. during that time we just had to email our sup to let her know we if we were anticipating using overtime to get approval and explain the situation. Then it all blew over and we haven't heard a word about it. So, if your district hasn't communicated with you much about it, I would assume it isn't that important to them right now and just use your best judgement. In your situation I think I would have had that tech come in and emailed the sup first thing that morning to let them know you were using OT that day so they weren't surprised when they saw the report the following week. If you know ahead of time I would seek approval from them just out of courtesy.

 

[RPh Who]

If you are the manager and you know where you stand in terms of your forecast and P&L, you know whether it is defensible or not. Objective information is your greatest negotiating weapon against a DM.

::grammar edit::

 

[txpharmguy]

It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Given a call out situation, a last minute OT shift would be warranted. You'd lose more business (much longer wait times) than the money you'd pay out in OT. The chains will pay OT for a pharmacist to keep the pharmacy open

 

[ldiot]

If your sup is throwing a fit over it I'd just call them on the spot and ask. They are the one nitpicking so they should have no reason to get upset at you for calling.

Under any other circumstance I'd use the tech, it's common sense, but at the end of the day you have to do what your sup wants.