Wal mart cuts next week? you too?

[BMBiology]

Small city/rural PNW. But somehow the odds turned in my favor. A staff rph position opened up near me and there might be a PIC position soon. The staff position is at a SC doing 3k/wk and the PIC is at a NHM doing wk.

If it comes around that PIC position sounds good. My only worry is WM will eventually shut all the NHM pharmacies.

I’m thankful to have something and my apps are out there so if something better than WM comes along I’ll dip.

Do you get to keep your current pharmacist salary and benefits? Or will it be like applying as a new employee?

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[ABCPharmD]

Do you get to keep your current pharmacist salary and benefits? Or will it be like applying as a new employee?

Get to keep my benefits but my pay decreases $2/hr.

 

[sozetone]

I’ve been hearing that they want to drive down pharmacist salaries to $30/hr, hear any rumblings about that?

I have not heard 30/hr but thats not to say by 2025 we will not be there the way things are going. We did absolutely cut staffs to 50 or less/hr in BFE CO. And as per usual they are "flexi staff", so they get a lower base (28-32/week) and get shoved all over when needed...they also get less PTO, although i dont know how much. When i signed on as manager in 2017 I got a nice salary 70/hr , and like 168 hours pto, which has now grown to over 180....yeah that aint happenin' anymore! lol.

 

[sozetone]

Here is what i wanna know, many of us are pics right? and we signed on a while ago. We enjoy 70+/hr and nice PTO time.....They can definitely hire for less money and PTO. How and when are they going to get US out? standard performance setups? i dunno. It seems WM is pushing hard into this "high performance culture" in collaboration with Disney and their crack team.....lol. And they have created a newer model for accountability. So it would seem like they are literally gearing up to wipe their current inventory of people out and start over little by little.

 

[8turkeys]

How and when are they going to get you out... they will just lay you off. You are a work at will employee, they dont need an excuse.

 

[8turkeys]

Can an employer legally replace highly paid employees with lower wage workers? | FreeAdvice

employment-law.freeadvice.com

 

[sozetone]

How and when are they going to get you out... they will just lay you off. You are a work at will employee, they dont need an excuse.

Nah nah, you cant just lay off a well performing PIC man, we are required there by BOP laws ya know? it;s NOT that simple....

 

[8turkeys]

Nah nah, you cant just lay off a well performing PIC man, we are required there by BOP laws ya know? it;s NOT that simple....

Layoff and replace is legal

 

[sozetone]

Layoff and replace is legal

what im saying is within 10 days in most states you have to replace the PIC...and the way WM does it is the "eliminate the position", to avoid lawsuits,. absolute #1 with WM is lawsuits.....deepest pockets in the world. So you see? you cant "eliminate" a PIC position. They would NEVER replace me outright (or any of us) so try again.

 

[sozetone]

Layoff and replace is legal

Without a performance issue, they wont fire you. period. They simply come and say "your position has been eliminated", which works for staffs who are salaried, as they can replace with HOURLY..Then it looks legitamite. I did this exact routine with my DM a year ago to a staff and we had to replace the spot with another salaried staff, but.......BASED out of another store....so my store appears as though the spot is truly gone, but we SHARE her. thats how scared my DM was ....

 

[sozetone]

getting rid of a PIC at WM is no easy business......they cannot come in and say your out and immediately replace you with a lower paid" PIC" position. Would be a discrimination suit in a hot minute, in other words the position HAS to be different, you get it?

 

[Sine Cura]

It sounds like layoffs were announced both Monday and Tuesday so I wouldn't rule out more abrupt "displacing" the rest of the week.

 

[sozetone]

It sounds like layoffs were announced both Monday and Tuesday so I wouldn't rule out more abrupt "displacing" the rest of the week.

No, your right, these cuts are nationwide and rolling out slowly. IF you google "walmart cuts" and look a few links down at layoffs.com or something like that, you will see reports from people all over the country. They farmed out jobs to india, and are now advertising "investing in American jobs" all over. My wife saw an ad on TV tonight which ended with this same slogan

 

[Rybko90]

Walmart Pharmacy Layoffs Today (June 2019) - post regarding Walmart layoffs

The Layoff discussion - User says: ``Walmart Pharmacy Layoffs Today (June 2019)'' regarding Walmart

www.thelayoff.com

Thread on the layoff that sozetone mentioned above.

A lot of posts like this one:
Nebraska. Chief pharmacist. 12 years. Received phone call yesterday. Laid off no reason given

Gives me the chills. There are absolutely no guarantees whatsoever within this profession at the moment.

 

[mentos]

I have not heard 30/hr but thats not to say by 2025 we will not be there the way things are going. We did absolutely cut staffs to 50 or less/hr in BFE CO. And as per usual they are "flexi staff", so they get a lower base (28-32/week) and get shoved all over when needed...they also get less PTO, although i dont know how much. When i signed on as manager in 2017 I got a nice salary 70/hr , and like 168 hours pto, which has now grown to over 180....yeah that aint happenin' anymore! lol.

You get $70+/hr AND 180+ hours PTO?! I like you man but it's hard to feel sympathy for your store's cuts now. I started at $53/hr and 80 hours PTO at CVS.

 

[King2440]

Nah nah, you cant just lay off a well performing PIC man, we are required there by BOP laws ya know? it;s NOT that simple....

They can do it. All they say is you are being displaced. It happened to MANY PICs in the country these past few days.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Question is would sozetone take a pay cut to keep his job?

 

[Sine Cura]

I am firmly in the "just want to watch the world burn" camp, which is happening literally in some places.

I actually have been displaced at Walmart before for actual business reasons so to have it done again in fewer than 18 months will be just LOL

If you get displaced at Walmart you are probably better off taking the pay cut working elsewhere. Now if you worked as a FT pharmacist for over 15 years and got displaced, well you really had it good the past few decades so call it a career. This world is going down the ****ter so ride it out.

 

[mentos]

They can do it. All they say is you are being displaced. It happened to MANY PICs in the country these past few days.

Yeah they can do whatever they want. Change opening/closing times, close the pharmacy permanently, sell it to CVS... It's all been done before.

 

[Dred Pirate]

Can an employer legally replace highly paid employees with lower wage workers? | FreeAdvice

employment-law.freeadvice.com

I am glad I just hit 40!

 

[quickpic007]

You get $70+/hr AND 180+ hours PTO?! I like you man but it's hard to feel sympathy for your store's cuts now. I started at $53/hr and 80 hours PTO at CVS.

Why did you accept that offer? Serious question

 

[Dred Pirate]

You get $70+/hr AND 180+ hours PTO?! I like you man but it's hard to feel sympathy for your store's cuts now. I started at $53/hr and 80 hours PTO at CVS.

that 80 hours of PTO would make me want stab myself repeatedly - the $53 I can live with, but I need my time off

 

[sozetone]

i think the offer was awesome at the time no? i mean maybe you are better off, but not by more than a few bucks or hours man,,,,lol

 

[mentos]

Why did you accept that offer? Serious question

Cause I had student loans to pay, it was either that or make nothing. I eventually made my way up to $62/hr before I left the company.

that 80 hours of PTO would make me want stab myself repeatedly - the $53 I can live with, but I need my time off

Unfortunately that is the standard for new grads, and it takes 5 freaking years just to get 120 hours. After that I think it's 15 years for 160 hours, and no more after that. Ridiculous.

 

[projektreverb]

Cause I had student loans to pay, it was either that or make nothing. I eventually made my way up to $62/hr before I left the company.



Unfortunately that is the standard for new grads, and it takes 5 freaking years just to get 120 hours. After that I think it's 15 years for 160 hours, and no more after that. Ridiculous.

That’s vacation structure is pretty much standard with any profession in 2019....

 

[nublar]

Are those PTO hours inclusive of holidays and sick time? Most companies give you 8-10 days of holiday pay and 5-12 days of sick time.

 

[quickpic007]

i think the offer was awesome at the time no? i mean maybe you are better off, but not by more than a few bucks or hours man,,,,lol

Was thinking of the 53 CVS offer...I am close to your PIC rate....less though...

Cause I had student loans to pay, it was either that or make nothing. I eventually made my way up to $62/hr before I left the company.



Unfortunately that is the standard for new grads, and it takes 5 freaking years just to get 120 hours. After that I think it's 15 years for 160 hours, and no more after that. Ridiculous.

Getting from 53 to 62 is impressive though. PBM now? Hospital?

 

[mentos]

Was thinking of the 53 CVS offer...I am close to your PIC rate....less though...


Getting from 53 to 62 is impressive though. PBM now? Hospital?

I was underpaid my first two years, my sup straight up told me cause of the saturation. Got a bump from 54 to 58 then normal raises after that. I'm at LTC now. Did hospital per diem but a full time spot never opened up so I left.

 

[Dred Pirate]

Unfortunately that is the standard for new grads, and it takes 5 freaking years just to get 120 hours. After that I think it's 15 years for 160 hours, and no more after that. Ridiculous.

That’s vacation structure is pretty much standard with any profession in 2019....

not necessarily the norm- my first retail job I had 80 hours - only stayed there a year - next job (hospital-started at 200, now am at 280, about to go to 320. One hospital in the area you start at 280, and after 3 years go to 320. so I would not say that is standard by any means.

 

[mentos]

not necessarily the norm- my first retail job I had 80 hours - only stayed there a year - next job (hospital-started at 200, now am at 280, about to go to 320. One hospital in the area you start at 280, and after 3 years go to 320. so I would not say that is standard by any means.

We are talking about chain retail.

 

[projektreverb]

not necessarily the norm- my first retail job I had 80 hours - only stayed there a year - next job (hospital-started at 200, now am at 280, about to go to 320. One hospital in the area you start at 280, and after 3 years go to 320. so I would not say that is standard by any means.

I’m saying it’s the norm for any other career other than pharmacy. Our field is normalizing to reflect what it’s like in other field now.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I’m saying it’s the norm for any other career other than pharmacy. Our field is normalizing to reflect what it’s like in other field now.

I think it is the norm for retail based jobs (lumping Rph's in with a walmart cashier), but I have friends in non-medical fields who get 3-4 weeks to start, plus holidays, plus sick, etc.

 

[projektreverb]

I think it is the norm for retail based jobs (lumping Rph's in with a walmart cashier), but I have friends in non-medical fields who get 3-4 weeks to start, plus holidays, plus sick, etc.

Most engineers I know start with 2 weeks pto and maybe 1 week sick time for the first 5 years.

 

[SF2]

What do you expect, it's retail. When I quit retail, I worked 2 jobs (industry + hospital; 60+ h/wk) while taking 2 full-time graduate degrees (15-18 creds/sem including summer) and self-teaching myself the equivalent of a bachelors in computer science over the course of 2 years. The sad part is that my stress level actually went down. Luckily, my wife was supportive as she was also working full-time while finishing her PhD (80+ h/wk of work on her end too), but we are both in much better positions now. Don't expect it to get any better.

 

[mentos]

What do you expect, it's retail. When I quit retail, I worked 2 jobs (industry + hospital; 60+ h/wk) while taking 2 full-time graduate degrees (15-18 creds/sem including summer) and self-teaching myself the equivalent of a bachelors in computer science over the course of 2 years. The sad part is that my stress level actually went down. Luckily, my wife was supportive as she was also working full-time while finishing her PhD (80+ h/wk of work on her end too), but we are both in much better positions now. Don't expect it to get any better.

That is beast! Most people complain about how hard they have it just doing one of those things.

 

[APN-59 rph]

Yipper...During Phcy college and at work after....two day 24 hr. shifts baby sitting "certain equipment" along with other longer range activities...ya haven't lived 'til you report to some filling counter with a bad case of jet delay....but it IS done

 

[wagrxm2000]

Last week, I had to get new goggles. Walked by and i saw what I assumed was the pharmacist and either another pharmacist or intern both just staring at their computer, a tech appeared to be dusting, someone was helping a customer and the last person was filling. I just stood nearby for awhile and no one seemed rushed at all.

Maybe it was a dead day but they had way too much help. I thought to myself, I bet sdn members would be jealous right now.

This is what it's always like at Walmart. I have never seen a line of customers. With the amount of scripts I do compared to the staff they have, I would think they are busy too but I guess not.

Quick update, today one tech was sitting at a counter playing on his phone. Didn't move each time I walked by.

Maybe a 15 minute break? If so he shouldn't be in the pharmacy, it looks bad.

 

[nickw2401]

I work hospital and one of my night shift co-workers covers weekends every now and then at walmart. She literally talks about dreading it about a month in advance.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Quick update, today one tech was sitting at a counter playing on his phone. Didn't move each time I walked by.

Maybe a 15 minute break? If so he shouldn't be in the pharmacy, it looks bad.

Looking up ICD 10 codes on google. Or finding a competitive pharmacy phone number.

 

[OmiPharmD]

Quick update, today one tech was sitting at a counter playing on his phone. Didn't move each time I walked by.

Maybe a 15 minute break? If so he shouldn't be in the pharmacy, it looks bad.

Your post made me curious so I wandered slowly past my local super center WM pharmacy on Tuesday. OMG it looked crazy!

Appeared to be 1 pharmacist and 3 techs. Pharmacist was verifying and looked like it was a problem, 1 tech filling, 2 techs trying to get customers at the counter gone. Maybe I just lurked at a bad time? There was a herd of customers and it was just after noon. They don't have a drive thru so only foot traffic.

WM peeps, what is your backup? Do any non-pharm employees have tech licenses to pop in - like a low level manager or something?

 

[Sine Cura]

There is no backup at Walmart. Why would you want backup from elsewhere anyway... they don't know anything about insurance or how to clear problem customers

 

[Rybko90]

What do you expect, it's retail. When I quit retail, I worked 2 jobs (industry + hospital; 60+ h/wk) while taking 2 full-time graduate degrees (15-18 creds/sem including summer) and self-teaching myself the equivalent of a bachelors in computer science over the course of 2 years. The sad part is that my stress level actually went down. Luckily, my wife was supportive as she was also working full-time while finishing her PhD (80+ h/wk of work on her end too), but we are both in much better positions now. Don't expect it to get any better.

I thought I worked hard, but that's just beast-mode. Respect.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Your post made me curious so I wandered slowly past my local super center WM pharmacy on Tuesday. OMG it looked crazy!

Appeared to be 1 pharmacist and 3 techs. Pharmacist was verifying and looked like it was a problem, 1 tech filling, 2 techs trying to get customers at the counter gone. Maybe I just lurked at a bad time? There was a herd of customers and it was just after noon. They don't have a drive thru so only foot traffic.

WM peeps, what is your backup? Do any non-pharm employees have tech licenses to pop in - like a low level manager or something?

They close down the pharmacy for 1 hour lunch. You came during their re-opening when they are trying to catch up from that 1 hour of unattended md calls and patient calls.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Quick update, today one tech was sitting at a counter playing on his phone. Didn't move each time I walked by.

Maybe a 15 minute break? If so he shouldn't be in the pharmacy, it looks bad.

Another update, first I understand it was Independence Day today but the pharmacist was sitting at his station while doing his work.

This was at a random Kroger we stopped at on our way out that I'd never been to. Was he injured and had to sit, maybe? All I know is that must be nice.

Now I sit when I'm eating but not when working. (Yes my pharmacy still runs extremely efficiently so I can still sit while I eat)

 

[wagrxm2000]

Your post made me curious so I wandered slowly past my local super center WM pharmacy on Tuesday. OMG it looked crazy!

Appeared to be 1 pharmacist and 3 techs. Pharmacist was verifying and looked like it was a problem, 1 tech filling, 2 techs trying to get customers at the counter gone. Maybe I just lurked at a bad time? There was a herd of customers and it was just after noon. They don't have a drive thru so only foot traffic.

WM peeps, what is your backup? Do any non-pharm employees have tech licenses to pop in - like a low level manager or something?

Having no drive thru makes the job extremely easy. People in the drive thru get way more upset when they have to wait. People in the store can see what's going on and understand it's usually the customer that causes the line to slow down so they won't be upset with us.

 

[King2440]

Having no drive thru makes the job extremely easy. People in the drive thru get way more upset when they have to wait. People in the store can see what's going on and understand it's usually the customer that causes the line to slow down so they won't be upset with us.

Customers don’t care. They still get mad at you. Just like they get mad at YOU when their insurance is expired.

No wonder you say your job is “easy” when you have such smart customers. You would probably get ripped a new one if you worked in intercity areas

 

[wagrxm2000]

Customers don’t care. They still get mad at you. Just like they get mad at YOU when their insurance is expired.

No wonder you say your job is “easy” when you have such smart customers. You would probably get ripped a new one if you worked in intercity areas

Nope i work in a very diverse pharmacy. People still get upset, we just know how to talk to them to keep them calm.

The key is fixing problems or calling them before they come in.

 

[Chrish]

I don't have any experience with WAG but I did my rotation at busy CVS. WM certainly provides more staffing in comparison to CVS. But there are certain issues that only WM people have to deal with.

1. Opioid stewardship: We are required to verify if any narcotic is written for acute or chronic pain if it exceeds 7 day supply or 50 MME and if patient doesn't take it every month. This has severe implication on the workflow. Pharmacists spend significant amount of time reviewing pt history or calling doctor's office to verify this information. On top of that, we are also required to offer mandatory narcan counseling on high risk patients (> 50 MME dosage or Opioid + benzo combo etc.).

We are required to document these conversations otherwise there is a risk of getting written up or even terminated if you don't. Our DM would come and check the notes. At CVS, I dropped off my grandma's Tramadol prescription for 120 tabs and no questions were asked.

2. Mandatory counseling on all new rxs: I have gone to CVS, Kroger, Publix and Kaiser to get my family members' prescriptions filled and there was a grand total of one time where I was offered counseling by a pharmacist!

3. Inefficient system: Connexus has way too many checks and balances. For example there are look alike sound alike drugs that would automatically go into trouble and you will have to check the rx image and enter the PA666 code 10 times to fill the prescriptions (keep entering the code every time insurence gets applied instead of just doing it once). Also, if someone brings narcotic prescription for the first time, it will go into trouble and prompt you to either dispense 7 day supply or enter codes for override.

4. Strict compliance: My buddy used to work at Walgreens that did hundreds of shots and he used to tell me that vast majority of the times, they never reported the immunizations to state registry. Patient would fill out those forms and they would just put them inside the cabinet. At WM reporting is not only mandatory, pharmacists are required to make sure that not even a box is missing from the IMZ form that pt fills out. Otherwise you can get written up for it.

I am sure there are other things that I missed but the bottom line is with the expectations that are set up and the way Connexus is designed, they have no choice but to allocate more staffing in comparison to competitors. At CVS, the main focus is on filling prescriptions and immunizations. At WM, filling prescriptions and vaccine is only a part of of the responsibility. Providing clinical service (Opioid stewarsdship and promoting diabetic/ cholesterol adeherence) and maintaining strict compliance is just as important. WM can easily function with less hours but in that case company will have to let lot of the above things go.

Having said that, I would still choose WM over CVS any day.

 

[wagrxm2000]

I don't have any experience with WAG but I did my rotation at busy CVS. WM certainly provides more staffing in comparison to CVS. But there are certain issues that only WM people have to deal with.

1. Opioid stewardship: We are required to verify if any narcotic is written for acute or chronic pain if it exceeds 7 day supply or 50 MME and if patient doesn't take it every month. This has severe implication on the workflow. Pharmacists spend significant amount of time reviewing pt history or calling doctor's office to verify this information. On top of that, we are also required to offer mandatory narcan counseling on high risk patients (> 50 MME dosage or Opioid + benzo combo etc.).

We are required to document these conversations otherwise there is a risk of getting written up or even terminated if you don't. Our DM would come and check the notes. At CVS, I dropped off my grandma's Tramadol prescription for 120 tabs and no questions were asked.

2. Mandatory counseling on all new rxs: I have gone to CVS, Kroger, Publix and Kaiser to get my family members' prescriptions filled and there was a grand total of one time where I was offered counseling by a pharmacist!

3. Inefficient system: Connexus has way too many checks and balances. For example there are look alike sound alike drugs that would automatically go into trouble and you will have to check the rx image and enter the PA666 code 10 times to fill the prescriptions (keep entering the code every time insurence gets applied instead of just doing it once). Also, if someone brings narcotic prescription for the first time, it will go into trouble and prompt you to either dispense 7 day supply or enter codes for override.

4. Strict compliance: My buddy used to work at Walgreens that did hundreds of shots and he used to tell me that vast majority of the times, they never reported the immunizations to state registry. Patient would fill out those forms and they would just put them inside the cabinet. At WM reporting is not only mandatory, pharmacists are required to make sure that not even a box is missing from the IMZ form that pt fills out. Otherwise you can get written up for it.

I am sure there are other things that I missed but the bottom line is with the expectations that are set up and the way Connexus is designed, they have no choice but to allocate more staffing in comparison to competitors. At CVS, the main focus is on filling prescriptions and immunizations. At WM, filling prescriptions and vaccine is only a part of of the responsibility. Providing clinical service (Opioid stewarsdship and promoting diabetic/ cholesterol adeherence) and maintaining strict compliance is just as important. WM can easily function with less hours but in that case company will have to let lot of the above things go.

Having said that, I would still choose WM over CVS any day.

All Walgreens immunizations are reported.

 

[Chrish]

All Walgreens immunizations are reported.

This is from 5 years ago so things are probably different now.

On a related note, other pharmacies are quite relaxed when it comes to compliance. They don’t mind just paying off the fine when getting caught (CVS fined for Medicare fraud/ WAG fined for not breaking insulin pens etc.).

All this doesn’t fly at WM.