• When the pharmacy began doing covid vaccines, techs were trained to administer them. As they administered them, there was no additional help hired to make up for the loss of that tech. I do not think that it is right to increase work tasks without hiring more people to cover the additional labor.
• After the loss of a tech, the work was still expected to be complete with no complaints or rewards for completion. There was a raise for the tech; however, that raise does not compare to the amount of money that was being generated for the new labor being completed. There should be no guilting of employees for work that is left over. That is not appropriate of a multi-million-dollar company. If the work needs to be done, then hire people to help with the additional workload, do not pressure employees to work faster when there is no true incentive besides not getting fired.
• Time off is very difficult to get without being guilted for it. Some techs have even shared with me that they do not get any time off because “the business is not able to find someone to cover them for that time off.” To me, this is very inappropriate because techs are people with needs too. Techs need time off to be able to live their lives fully and happily. When I made suggestions to hire techs that could travel from pharmacy to pharmacy to cover time off or upticks in workload, I was told that it is not a good business model and that it would not happen.
• Pharmacy managers should be able to manage without having to worry about getting the work done themselves. The pharmacy managers that I met all seemed to have trouble balancing their management with their workflow demands. One of the managers did not seem to have good oversight of what was going on in the pharmacy because they did not coach or try to improve their employees when errors were being made. A pharmacy manager should be able to provide feedback and growth opportunities to the people they oversee. I do not see that happening at this company because the pharmacists are always worried about clearing the workflow as their primary and most times, only, objective.
• Companies that make millions of dollars should be able to provide a livable wage to their employees. Living in California, a part time job at $19.85 an hour will not get you enough money to rent an apartment by yourself. I honestly have no idea how people survive out here. I am fortunate that my husband makes enough money to pay the rent on his own because my contributions go to smaller expenses.
• Lastly, I understand that “businesses need to be run” but any business that is withholding vacations simply because the employee cannot find someone to cover their shifts, is unethical and makes me uneasy. The fact that the reason exists is very demoralizing and sad to me. I wish things were not like that and I am sure that my words will not change anything, but I feel better after writing it out and submitting it to the very business that makes me feel this way. I wish Vons had enough employees to be able to give people vacations without the tech having to worry about finding someone to cover their shift for them.
