Pharmacy workers at Boots, Lloydspharmacy and Well were questioned on elements of their working life during 2022 including whether they had secured a pay rise or been given a bonus.

They were also asked about their workload and stress levels and to rank their work-life balance.

Read more: Average salary of non-manager pharmacists bounces back after 2021 dip

For this article, C+D analysed the responses of 282 pharmacy workers at Boots, Lloydspharmacy and Well who completed the C+D Salary Survey 2022*.

See the findings and each multiple's response to them below.

*Please note: Results from each multiple should not be directly compared due to the differing number of respondents from each chain.

 

Boots: We've invested in pay

 

C+D analysed responses from 119 pharmacy workers at Boots. See the findings in the chart below.

Responding to C+D’s findings, a spokesperson from Boots said that the company aims to "offer competitive remuneration packages to our team members".

The chain has “invested significantly in the pay of our pharmacy team members over the last 12 months", the spokesperson said.

They added that the "wellbeing" of the Boots workforce "is also very important to us", with the multiple offering "a range of support" including employee assistance programmes and access to a wellbeing hub and mental health first aiders.

Boots also encourages regular line management conversations between its staff, the spokesperson said.

Read more: Revealed: The average UK pharmacist branch manager salary in 2022

They continued: “We regularly seek feedback from our pharmacy teams both formally and informally to inform the right investments in their career pathways and in new technologies to help reduce workload."

Boots told C+D that eligible pharmacists and pharmacist store managers received a salary increase of 4.5% in 2022. Its annual pay review and bonus programme aimed to ensure that staff were fairly remunerated for their essential work, it said.  

 

Lloydspharmacy: Nothing to add

 

C+D analysed responses from 108 pharmacy workers at Lloydspharmacy. See the findings in the chart below.

In response, a spokesperson for Lloydspharmacy told C+D that the multiple had nothing to add.

 

Well: Review into ways of working

 

C+D analysed responses from 55 pharmacy workers at Well Pharmacy. See the findings in the chart below.

In response to the survey, a Well spokesperson said the multiple is “committed to giving our colleagues the support they need to develop a healthy work-life balance".

The multiple encouraged its staff to "speak to their managers one-to-one if they need help with this – or one of our trained mental health first aiders if they would like to talk to someone outside of their workplace".

Well has also committed to completing a review of ways of working in conjunction with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), it said.

"We will be asking colleagues to complete our own survey, for which we will review the outputs and agree an action plan in partnership with USDAW," the spokesperson said.

However, they stressed that the “current lack of funding and workforce pressures in the sector are impacting how people feel, especially on the frontline".

They continued: "We know that high workloads are a challenge across the whole of community pharmacy, and that can obviously lead to people feeling stressed. Again, we’d encourage our colleagues to talk to us to see what more we can do – and would encourage those employed at other pharmacies to do the same.”

 

The C+D Salary Survey 2022 ran between October 25 2022 and January 20 2023 and was completed by a total of 1,480 pharmacists and pharmacy staff.

 

See all the coverage so far on the C+D Salary Survey hub