Strong benefits but training and agency need improvement - Staff Pharmacist Walmart Employee Review

Individual needs as a policy never supersede business needs. I worked as a retail pharmacist. Retail pharmacy runs on a very small margin. Walmart is somewhat buffered from the reality of those margins. They generally set their budget for staffing based the number of hours needed to run the pharmacy if everyone is competent and can work independently. Unfortunately, they in my assessment, they do not budget for training and therefore new employees are expected to learn on the job with no additional help. Once a store experiences any turnover, it becomes a self perpetuating phenomenon as newer staff either quit because they are overwhelmed or veteran staff move on because they wind up taking care of the majority of the work while trying to train another person. They would do well to open their budget to allow adequate training. That being said, they still probably staff their pharmacies better than most other retail chains. Another criticism is that they use the term “cascaded goals” when discussing the goals set for front line workers. This is because front line workers have little input or agency in deciding what goals are important or achievable with the resources they are provided. As a result everything is a priority and slotting resources becomes problematic. Time intensive alternative streams of revenue that generate very little are implemented without the benefit of increased staffing. Front line managers are charged with executing these services without any agency on how they will achieve those goals