‘We don’t try to overwork people:’ How some local pharmacies cope with labor shortage
Amid Walgreens’ staffing shortages, independent pharmacies are filling a growing need for pharmaceutical services.
According to a previous Idaho Statesman article, several Walgreens pharmacies in Idaho’s Treasure Valley have been affected by staffing shortages in the past year. While the stores remain open, some of their pharmacies have either closed temporarily or reduced their business hours.
Along with these closures comes frustration from customers, especially when they may not be aware of revised service hours or closures when no pharmacists are available to attend to them.
“I waited in the drive-thru line at the Walgreens in Nampa (12th Avenue/7th Street) for 32 minutes only to pull up to the window and have the window closed. There were five cars lined up behind me,” Walgreens customer Daisy Staggs wrote in an email to the Statesman. “I find it extremely frustrating to not be informed that my pharmacy has changed hours or it is closed because they are having staffing issues.”
Staggs, a stay-at-home mom, has been a Walgreens customer for the last five years. When Staggs called Walgreens to make a complaint, she was contacted by a Walgreens employee who had experienced some of the customers’ frustrations firsthand.
“I received a phone call from the store manager, who was very apologetic and even confided in me that she has left work in tears because she was called some pretty nasty names for something that Walgreens Corporate is responsible for,” Staggs wrote.
In 2021, Walgreens began offering up to $1,250 sign-on bonuses for pharmacists to keep up with staffing demand during the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The starting hourly wage for all team members was also raised to $15 per hour.
Now, sign-on bonuses can go up to $50,000 in states like Florida.
Falling behind in staffing can mean falling behind in preparing prescriptions, which Staggs said is hard on employees and customers.
“I have a prescription that I need filled, but I need to transfer pharmacies because I can’t wait. I’m gonna put it in today, I’m not going to have it filled till next week,” Staggs said. “It’s really sad, because I really like Walgreens.”
Independent pharmacies fill a growing need for service
Some independent Idaho pharmacies say they have found the secret to staying open even though workers are hard to find.
Vic’s Family Pharmacy has enough staff to keep both of its Nampa stores working regular business hours. The owner, Victor Allen, said the business even has a new employee starting the week of July 4.
“There [were] like two months of very thin staffing going on around here that was difficult to manage during the spring,” Allen said. “And with the COVID infection and the pandemic going on, there have been some troubled times, but we were always open and managed our hours.”
Raising worker pay has helped.
“We’ve had to be aggressive with our salaries,” Allen told the Statesman by phone. “I think the management side is important too during these times. Your employees have to feel, you know, have some joy with their career, their work, and feel [that they are] part of a team and [have] that understanding that we’re helping our community.”
Medsync Health Mart Pharmacy in Boise says it hasn’t had to reduce hours either. The locally-owned pharmacy is located at 801 South Vista Ave.
“Us being an independent (pharmacy), we staff much more appropriately than, you know, the big chains so if you came into our pharmacy, you would be surprised at how many employees we have,” Medsync Pharmacist Chelsea Suchs told the Statesman over the phone. ”We don’t try to overwork people, we don’t try to understaff people to where everyone’s in a high stress situation all the time.”
Voice-mail messages and emails seeking comment were not returned from drug-store chains CVS and Rite Aid, and from supermarket chains Albertsons and Fred Meyer, which have in-store pharmacies.
This story was originally published July 5, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
