As a CVS pharmacist with six years of experience I can set the record straight.
1) Time to Answer the Phone: Yes it is measured. It has a negligible effect on the pharmacist's bonus. At the present time, the main factor in your bonus is scripts vs budget. Why is it important to answer the phone or recognize the the person at the drive through, because they are the ones who pay your salary. They would like the phone answered in 20 seconds. Will you be penalized if your time is 23 or 25 seconds, no you won't But I have seen stores where the average time to answer a phone call is 60-75 seconds. How would like to call a business and wait over a minute for them to answer the phone. Time it once and see how long you would patronize a business that took that long to answer the phone. That is bad customer service, it's bad for the company and it's bad for the pharmacists bottom line as customers will go elsewhere and there goes your raise and bonus.
2) Don't believe anecdotal stories: The pharmacist is responsible for reporting his hours and the front store manager puts them in the computer. The Pharmacy Supervisor or the District Manager has no way to alter your hours and cheat you out of pay. If you have direct deposit and your stub is mailed to you it arrives on pay day or the day after pay day.
3) Manipulating Wait Time Numbers: Is this done, sure. If you are doing it on a consistent basis, the wait time on your report will be at variance with what the customers report on the SSS scorecard. CVS has designed a brilliant system that prioritizes the work flow based on when the patient expects to pick up the prescriptions. If Mrs. Smith comes in at 9AM after seeing her doctor and presents 10 prescriptions to pick up the next day at 10AM, they will be coded with date and time of pickup. A prescription phoned in at 2PM the same day will be promised for 4PM and will be completed before Mrs. Smith's order even though it was presented to the pharmacy 5 hours after Mrs. Smith's order. If you drive the QUE from top to bottom, you should have no trouble keeping up with the work flow.
4) Why does corporate rate the stores: How else will corporate oversee what happens in the stores? Do the ratings matter, YES!. The stores with lower SSS scores have slower or negative growth. Customers who rate the store higher in SSS are more loyal, spend more money and are less likely to try a competitor. So it is not meaningless. Do I have issues with the SSS, yes I do. The rate at which the slips print out should be greater to get a greater sample.
5. Numbers over Patient Safety: This is such a farce I don't even know how to respond. I have been a pharmacist for 25 years. I have been with CVS for six years. The ratio of techs to pharmacists is higher hear than at any other store I have worked at. They do not ever tell you to speed up unless you have lead in your pants. The stores are staffed adequately if all of the staff is properly trained. I have worked at stores that do 1000 per week and stores that do 4000 per week. The schedule is made in the store. The Pharmacy supervisor or DM does not have anything to do with the tech schedule. If your store is short handed, the staff is either not trained well enough to do the job or your PIC does not schedule enough people or have people in at the correct time. As long as the PIC is not a PIG you can go over hours with no punishment.
6. Competing with Walgreens: This battle is not over and will continue for the next 5-10 years. Right now, CVS is crushing Walgreens. Over the last five years, CVS stock is up about 150%. Walgreens is up about 20%. That is the case even though Walgreens has far superior technology. I was able to cash my stock options this year and they will pay for one year of college for my oldest child.
PROS of working for CVS: The pay is out of this world. I started out as a pharmacist in 1982 at $12.50 per hour. The benefits are very good. The schedule is flexible. I know stores that work 14 hour shifts and stores that split the shift 7 and 7. You have so many pharmacist hours to use and you use them as you see fit. The staffing is fair. Would I like more tech hours, yes. Your experience will only be as good as your superiors. If your DM and Pharmacy Supervisor are good your experience will be good. If they are bad, your experience will be bad.
CONS of Working for CVS: It's retail. You have to train your own tech help. Corporate is constantly rolling out new initiatives to enhance performance and this makes it seem like you are always on a roller coaster.
To those who freely admit they know nothing about business: I was taught a long time ago, Profit is your most important product. If you do not make a profit, you cannot provide professional services. The way you make a profit is to fill prescriptions and sell over the counter items. The way you get people to come back to your store is to fill their prescriptions:
- Accurately
- Quickly
- When promised
Stop whining about the gift cards. The purpose of the gift card is to get the people into your store. Then it is YOUR job to fill the prescription and provide the level of service to the patient so they will want to come back to you. The pharmacist has to OK each gift card at the register. I make it a point to introduce myself and speak to the patient when they are new to the store. It's the way you survive. When people stop coming to your store it's a problem. Corporates job is to get the bodies in and it's your job to keep them there with your service and professionalism. A gift card is not an inconvenience. It's a chance for you to get a new patient. Another opportunity to use your professional skills and improve their lives.
The doc might feel differently about it then.
