Employees say they still lack support for stress
The vast majority of employee pharmacists who have experienced workplace pressures and associated problems say they have not received support from their employers. The findings of the C+D Salary Survey 2011 showed no improvement on last year.
The vast majority of employee pharmacists who have experienced workplace pressures and associated problems say they have not received support from their employers. The findings of the C+D Salary Survey 2011 showed no improvement on last year. And, with the Survey suggesting the average employee pharmacist dispenses around 340 prescriptions a day, almost four in five said their employers had made no changes or investment in staffing or technology to help cope with rising volumes. But, as last year, the largest multiples cited a range of mechanisms to support their pharmacists, including operational reviews, IT investment, confidential helplines and anonymous whistle-blowing policies (See how the big three are tackling workplace pressure). More than four in five employee pharmacists who told the Salary Survey they had experienced stress, depression, bullying, harassment and other problems at or as a result of work in the past 12 months said their employers had not provided support. And locums were even less likely to have received support, with 93 per cent saying their employers had not provided it. Of employee pharmacists, pre-reg graduates were the least likely to say they had received support from their employers (6 per cent), and superintendents the most likely (41 per cent). There was no clear correlation between the proportion of pharmacists who said they had received support from their employers and the size of those employers. But more than three-quarters of around 60 independent contractors who responded to the Salary Survey claimed they provided support with workplace pressures and problems, internally (70 per cent) and via external signposting (23 per cent). Lloydspharmacy said it was "concerned" so many pharmacists felt unsupported, and the Co-operative Pharmacy said its internal research showed more than seven in 10 of its pharmacists felt the support they got was "good or excellent". More news, in-depth analysis and comment from the C+D salary Survey 2011, plus crunch your numbers to see how your pay measures up with the C+D Salary Calculator