Walmart Pharmacists’ Salaries And Working Hours Have Decreased

(CTN News) – Has learned from a source familiar with the matter that Walmart is asking some of its 16,000 pharmacists across the United States to take voluntary pay cuts and reduce their working hours as a means of reducing costs at the company.

In a report from Reuters, the company said the cuts are targeted at pharmacists in higher salary brackets and reflect a new pressure on Walmart pharmacies where customers are lining up for high-priced weight-loss drugs.

This is putting pressure on profits at Walmart pharmacies,

Moreover, Walmart faces legal costs for the first time in its history this year, as it is expected to pay $3.1 billion as its share of a lawsuit related to opioids in late 2022.

Reuters reported in May that Walmart’s field leadership asked 20 market leaders – directors of 10 to 15 stores in an area – to meet with Walmart’s senior management to ask pharmacists to voluntarily reduce their base salary hours in order to save the company money.

A pharmacist, for instance, could go from having an 80-hour, two-week pay period to one that lasts 64 or 72 hours, according to the source who spoke to Reuters.

Reuters reported that the market leaders who attended the meeting represented Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, however the move was presented as a national one, according to the source.

There was a request made to Walmart’s leadership to hire pharmacists at lower base hours as part of efforts to reduce the number of pharmacists receiving higher salaries, the person added, noting that Davey Lavergne, Walmart’s vice president of Health and Wellness, is leading the initiative.

In general, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based chain of retail stores pays its pharmacists more than $140,000 a year, excluding bonuses and incentives, according to Reuters, which cited Walmart.

Walmart provided Drug Store News with the following statement in response to the recent media report: “The recent media report is inaccurate.

It is important to note that we are not cutting the pay of our pharmacists. It is important to note that pharmacy techs as well as pharmacists have recently had their wages raised.

Additionally, we are actively recruiting pharmacists in a number of markets across the country and continue to see a steady increase in demand for the services they provide.

Our team is very proud of the work they do on a daily basis to provide better care to their patients.”

As a Walmart spokesperson, Marilee McInnis told Reuters, the company is “committed to creating a great place to work” through work-life balance and competitive pay, and is now in the process of hiring pharmacists as the company sees a growing demand for their services.

According to the report, Walmart reduced the operating hours of its pharmacies by two hours at more than 4,500 of its stores across the U.S. earlier this year due to the shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians that began during the pandemic.

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