80% of employee pharmacists now suffering from workplace stress
Employee pharmacists across community pharmacy face stress, pressure from management and rising workloads, the C+D Salary Survey 2017 has revealed.
The results from 722 branch managers and “second or non-manager community pharmacists” who responded to the survey – which ran throughout October – show stress levels remain high across the sector.
Some 80% of employee pharmacists said they were stressed at work – an increase of six percentage points on 2015 levels, the survey shows.
Pharmacists who work for independent pharmacies or small chains experienced an 11% increase in stress between 2015 and 2017, now cited as an issue by 78%. The proportion of pharmacists employed by the biggest three multiples who experienced stress remained at 82%.
Use C+D's interactive tool to compare pay and working conditions at the three largest pharmacy multiples.
Three-quarters (75%) of employee pharmacists working for the multiples said they experienced “pressure from management”, compared with 40% of those working for independents or small chains. Overall, 60% of pharmacists said they experienced pressure from management.
While 14% of pharmacists working for independents experienced “intimidation from management”, this rose to 40% for pharmacists working at the multiples.
The proportion of branch and non-manager pharmacists suffering from depression also differed between workplaces, with 23% of pharmacists at independents affected, compared with 36% at multiples.
Another common problem experienced by employee pharmacists was “increased paperwork”, which affected 64% of all respondents.
Employee pharmacists from across the sector told C+D their work had caused them issues including “panic attacks”, “palpitations”, “tension headaches” and “musculoskeletal pain”.
In their own words: How high are your stress levels?”
“We have to change tasks too often on the spot. One minute: check a script for a baby; interrupted to do a flu jab; then methadone supervision; then a clinical test; then diagnose a child's condition.”
“[There is] pressure to meet targets no matter what.”
“If I let my workload get the better of me, I would suffer from high stress. But I try to stay positive and smile through it all, and do overtime.”
For support and advice on mental health and wellbeing, visit the Pharmacist Support website here. For specific stress and wellbeing support, contact the charity’s ‘Listening Friends’ scheme here.
Use our interactive tool below to compare pay and working conditions at the three largest pharmacy multiples.
How do you deal with stress in the workplace?