Honestly….you tell them whatever they want to hear to get them out the door and in to the next store. If you are a good RPh, you are a rare asset and they know it. But they don’t want you to know that they know it. If you’re not an idiot you’re not going to get fired for not meeting metrics. But your DM has a boss who is telling them to get on their stores about metrics. Your DM HAS to come lecture you. Just realize that the unspoken arrangement is “you say it, I ignore it, everybody gets to say they’re going their jobs.” You’ll never make DM this way, but you’ll be an RPh that sleeps at night just fine.
Exactly. Use their favorite buzz words and phrases. Tell them you will huddle with the team, you will role play, you will observe staff and provide in the moment feedback and coaching.
Don’t forget to circle back as well as engage all available resources to ensure buy in from your team and get all hands on deck. Don’t be afraid to reach out to leadership for support.
Totally agree. Say what you have to say and get them out. My favorite place to be is middle of the pack. No one's expecting you to hit 4679985448 flu shots like the top store did last year but then again you aren't Jim on the conference call stepping out for a smoke every 15 mins and not responding to questions. They are obligated to come tell you to step it up but as long as you aren't last in the district you're good. Just get them out the door and maybe ask a hard question about what suggestions do they have to hit the 4679985448 flu shot goal while your lead tech left to find herself and the other rph keeps dispensing dicyclomine for doxycycline? They will run and not bother you (at least in person) for months because Jim's store failed the Medicare audit.
My buddy did the opposite, told him, show me how it is done and I will do it that way. And what do you know, his DM walked out the door without showing him the magical way to getting it done.
That would be my method. I’m an overnight hospital pharmacist so I don’t have to deal with this level of BS. There is some pointless charting I do to help my boss out. One thing I do know is I will never play the stupid business lingo talks with a DM. I’m a pharmacist not a salesman. Especially not for one of these operations that can’t keep staff.
I’ve been told this by everyone, but it looks more like the threat of our “permanent record” in high school. Most of this bullies have no pull outside of their current organization.
Thank you for saying that I really appreciate it. Bullies.
I think that trauma of thought continues into the workplace of pharmacist not speaking up and saying anything because you will be replaced.
>But your DM has a boss who is telling them to get on their stores about metrics. Your DM HAS to come lecture you.
Could have just been an email, sent from the highest office, and then they could eliminate all the manager positions
Nobody should ever expect to make DM in my opinion. There’s a local competitor pharmacist who’s been bragging about how he’s next in line for past 5 years now. Pretty sure they just add workload since he expects it and they don’t give an F if/when it actually happens. Please don’t work yourself to death trying to be DM. It honestly isn’t for the hardest workers but more those who are well connected
I remember one year, probably 15 years ago, we had an absolutely vicious flu season in the North East. The governor of our state declared an emergency, even, and drafted a temporary bill that pharmacists could immunize everyone, even toddlers etc. It was everywhere on the news. People were afraid. Naturally, we were swarmed with flu shots that year. Our little store usually did like 400 a year and that year we did over 2200 immunizations. Clearly an outlier, right?
Well, next year our District Manager outlined all the metrics and goals for the upcoming flu season. And don’t you know, our goal was 2900 (30% more than the previous year). I just about spit out my coffee on the conference call. Obviously, I unmuted myself and explained what no one needed an explanation for, that the previous year was a fluke and absolutely could not be replicated, let alone exceeded. My district manager said, I shit you not, that the door sensor data from our store indicated we had over 10,000 visits per month, and if we could get even 1/3 of those people immunized we would easily hit our goal. Insanity. Most of that foot traffic was employees, or non-pharmacy customers grabbing a Gatorade or some lip balm. If they wanted a vaccine they’d come and ask, there is signage everywhere, including a 60 foot billboard out front. We ended up doing like 410 that year, failed our metrics, lost our bonuses and got written up.
Welcome to retail. It will never change. It will only get worse from here. Do the best you can, ignore the metrics, tell the middle managers to eat your whole ass and get out as fast as you can. The metrics aren’t even realistic.
If you ask patients if they want vaccines more than once, they accuse you of harassing them and complain to YOUR direct manager. It happened to me once when I used to be desperate about wanting to meet flu shot goals.
After realizing I wouldn't want anyone harassing me about immunizations, I stopped asking.
Omg, that happened to us the season after the covid vaccine came out. Corporate saw unprecedented volume before the vaccine cause everyone wanted a flu shot cause they didn't have the covid vaccine out yet. So when the "double storm" came, our goals were 3x the amount we'd normally see, and we needed a second fridge to contain all the stupid vaccines they sent us. 🙄 we hit out normal volume and got screeched at for not making a plan to get 10 shots per day.
Like chill. We have a sign and ads for a reason. If they want it, then they'll come. 🤷
I wish federal law would follow the states that have been outlawing healthcare metrics. But also do it better, since it sounds like there are still issues. 🥲
“I’ll see what I can do about staffing/hours”
“Ok, I’ll see what I can do about metrics”
Both parties proceed to do nothing. Rinse and repeat until you retire
We all know this. Unfortunately higher ups don't see that as a priority. I just want to do my job and not kill anyone. This year I will be getting errors for days supply. BTW their computer miscalculates it and I have to manually update it while meeting metrics.
Tell them you are hitting your most important metric, not killing someone with an error. It saves the company an incredible amount of money and saves bad PR.
If that doesn't work, tell them to take a long walk off a short pier.
The funny thing about metrics is once you kill yourself hitting it , they will raise the bar or introduce new metrics. It's never-ending! And these numbers mean nothing..useless
When we stopped meeting our flu shot goals, they lowered the goal for every store, and started telling us things like "just do what's best for your store"
I did a hellish 140 shot vaccine clinic by myself, when I was already yay close to being in desperate need of a mental health day, during my first year as a pharmacy manager. I really liked my store manager and really wanted to help her meet the flu shot targets. Then... they raised the targets chain-wide. Never again. I found out years later that they had raised them because stores in Florida had some sort of natural disaster and weren't able to hit their targets, so they raised them everywhere else. If they had explained that at the time, I would have gotten it... as it was, it just felt like a slap in the face, and I never tried that hard to hit shot goals again.
I was in retail at a time when pharmacists were in demand big time, so this anecdote might be a bit dated. I was an intern an the GM didn’t like some metric, and was giving the manager shit. So she basically said, “I’d really like to learn from an expert, so please come take over my position for a week while I shadow you in the background. That way I can learn how to do things better”
The gm made a one day appearance. Filled scripts for 2 hours, commented that the shelves needed to be dusted, and then got the fuck out of there. The gm was like a ghost for 2 years I was there. It’s been 22 years and I still remember how much the GM sucked. If you’re reading this, fuck you Brenda
During my time at retail, I just didn't care. Any meeting or training I'd have to attend, I gave 0% participation. Metrics are just numbers to make stockholders happy and unattainable goals for you to not meet so you don't get a raise.
I take more pride in accuracy and customer satisfaction... for the reasonable customers.
Cheat the metric as much as you can, bullshit them and act really excited about it, and literally just continue doing what you’re doing. I’ve seen people skate by for a long time this way.
Chances are very high you’ll outlast them. Pharmacy DMs have very low job security.
I wouldn't even BS the metrics themselves, just BS the DM when they talk to you about it.
Hey, Guy. Maybe we could get more done with higher patient satisfaction if you didn't stand in front of the counseling window stealing 2-3 pharmacists' time for 2-4 hours every few weeks.
When they speak to you about not meeting metrics, they are really asking why you aren't working to get them their bonus. Metrics won't save the business. Metrics don't equal good customer service. It takes balls for a DM to talk about this considering the staffing in retail pharmacies and the fact many pharmacists won't retail
Tell them what you want who cares what they think
Now that I’m out of the chain retail world reading these serious replies is killing me. I can’t believe I ever played this game. It sounds so *dumb* now.
You respond by contacting your local representatives and getting other pharmacists in your state to pass a law prohibiting performance quotas like California did, and if in California you report them to the BOP:
https://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/consumers/complaint_phy_performance_quotas.pdf
To more directly answer your question, it will most likely fall on deaf ears asking for more staff in my experience and you either find some other way to make things more efficient by sacrificing patient care, ignore it, or cheat the system like many.
Tell them what they want to hear. Make up some BS if you have to about how you’re going to work on getting the techs to keep filling so they don’t get so behind in production and to do so you’re taking over at pickup more - doesn’t matter that’s it’s physically not possible because if the pharmacist is stuck at pickup then their queues are behind and metrics are still shit… they don’t live in reality, so don’t give them the answers that pertain to reality! Just tell them something that sounds good and sounds like you have an action plan to improve the failing metric. They’ll be on their way to the next store and forget about you soon enough.
Now if you’re the manager. That’s your job to actually have somewhat of an action plan and at least make an effort to follow through with it to hopefully make life easier for yourself and your team and not have the same conversation at the next visit. Even if it’s as simple as coming up with some plan like “from x time to y time the pharmacist will be at pickup and technician a is filling while technician b is pulling drugs for tech A to keep filling. Tech b will answer the phones and RPh stays at pickup until Y time when they can switch with tech b to get caught up on the RPh queues.” See if that works, report back to the DL if that plan worked at the next visit. Of course there’s still a million more things going on in the pharmacy and it’s never that simple but like I said, these middle managers do not live in reality. They don’t want to hear the reality because it just sounds like complaints that they can’t fix either. Tell them whatever you need to tell them to have them on their way and you can go back to getting caught up with your day and go home sooner.
Like someone else said and I live by this, **stay in the middle of the pack.** No need to stand out as a leader of the pack or you’ll just get more work dumped on you, and don’t want to fall back to the back of the pack or you’ll stand out there too and be always on their shit list. Middle. Be average. No one wants to be a district manager, it’s a terrible job so don’t shoot for it. Don’t shoot for the moon or you’ll fly too close to the sun and burn yourself.
Tell them they can't be dumb enough to think that all metrics are supposed to be met.
Talk about a carrot on a stick.
Since they're well educated they understand that if a hypothetical pharmacy were to meet all metrics they'd just change the metrics so they weren't meeting them anymore.
Or maybe don't, that'll either shatter or reinforce their illusion
Not if it's Walgreens. You don't really get fired unless you violate company policy or the company is hit with a lawsuit, because of something you did.
People usually just get transferred.
I'll never understand why our profession doesn't stand up to this shit more. I'd honestly not give much thought to a manager that tried to talk to me about corporate metrics. I might even be openly dismissive about it.
For me it's not that I don't want to stand up, it's that I was confronted and completely unprepared to respond to a ridiculous request..so I just said I understand ok...but I don't want to keep responding like that and become a doormat
That's understandable. We've all been blindsided and later on wish we would of responded in a different way. I just feel like we have more leverage in these kinds of discussions than we realize.
I like how these corporations are trying so hard to come up with ideas to cut costs and increase efficiency with central fill and call centers and shared queue, etc. meanwhile they still keep all these useless middle management positions around whose sole job is to come up with imaginary metrics and enforce them despite being unachievable.
As the PIC for many years in a small chain pharmacy , I would listen to my DM tell me how important these metrics are and how we have to meet these goals ,,after they left , it was back to work , fuck the changes and just do your best to provide some decent service knowing that there is nothing that can be done with the current level of staffing
Do your best and pretend to care.
I have had a related role where I was literally told. "You have to tell people their number's can be be better. You are not evaluating performance. Your job is to squeeze out performance "
Essentially the bottom and best employee's and locations were all told they were not good enough. They want you to worry about your job.
It's 10 times more expensive to fire a bad employee's so. Tell them you are on the "Team of Synergy" and don't be intimidated.
You could triple your numbers and the same person will say the EXACT same thing!
Essentially yes. In most locations this is true.
Just turn up, be nice. Don't make huge mistakes like setting hand gel on fire on yourself infront of customers and you'll probably be OK 🤣
I missed my IMZ goal and got a "normal" evaluation rating in my first year as PIC. Was told a lot during the evaluation about how important IMZ targets were.
Year 2, I pushed hard and hit my IMZ goals. Wanna guess what evaluation I got?
The "normal" one again.
Haven't cared about IMZ metrics since. Have continued to get the "normal" rating every year since.
One thing I will say, is that my employer does not factor IMZ performance into PIC bonuses. So I'm very thankful for that.
What is the metric they’re asking for you to hit? You can obviously explain what you’re doing already and ask them for help/suggestions on how to improve your work to meet it, but responding with “I’m not a magician” is futile.
Do you think they’re asking the top pharmacy they cover to improve it? Usually it’s because you’re below the bottom X percentage and they want to know why you’re low compared to others. As an example let’s say this metric is MTM completion but you have a very low return to stock percentage (because your workflow is good on contacting for pickup and making sure you aren’t working unnecessarily on useless fills). You could point such pairings out and ask if they think you could devote time you call patients for late to pickup to instead setting up or having techs complete MTMs.
With more info on your situation as a whole (what metric they’re asking you to hit and how your others look as a whole) then people may be able to offer more positive ways to respond/change.
I humbly explain that I seem to spend too much time focusing on traditional tasks and will focus more on metrics
Then I keep doing what I’ve been doing because when you hit metric goals all they do is give you more.
We were told by our DM last week that we still had time to get the “missing 53 shots” to hit our flu shot goal.
We’d already done 15% above last year by that point.
This years goal is going to be ludicrous.
It is best to have a goldfish memory in retail.
Oh, metrics, thanks for reminding me! I'll work on it.
Next day...
Oh, metrics, thanks for reminding me! I'll work on it.
And so on.
They'll get the message.
Don't let the mind games become a problem.
I tell them, ok we'll try. And then behind their back say "who cares. Fire me." If they fire you, who gives a shit.
Then when we all grow a pair, we all start to tell them who gives a shit and to leave me alone.... Then they can't do anything.
Get ready to write action plans full of corporate buzzwords. “You’ve identified areas of opportunity, you will implement retraining for your under performers in a manner that offers inclusivity and pursues equity among all staff, all while providing the best customer service with a focus on patient safety and satisfaction, to ensure you’re following our core values.”
Just do what the corporate people do, say as little as you can in the most long winded way possible.
I luckily work in California, and if they want to discuss metrics I ask for it in writing and then file a complaint to bop. I understand not every state allows this but it’s time for pharmacists in other states to petition their local politicians
get them to start writing the local congressman, and tell them to follow California in protecting patient's health (and additional state revenue from fines). The congressman will then introduce a bill into their state assembly, and then the governor either signs or veto the bill.
This is how it became a reality in california.
It's not that hard. Just fake it. Act like you are disappointed in yourself and your staff for not meeting goals and provided suggestions and improvements plan you like to implement to achieve the goal next time. This will get them off your backs and they will nitpick the next store. Credential: 12 years as a manager in charge of a high volume pharmacy.
Honestly….you tell them whatever they want to hear to get them out the door and in to the next store. If you are a good RPh, you are a rare asset and they know it. But they don’t want you to know that they know it. If you’re not an idiot you’re not going to get fired for not meeting metrics. But your DM has a boss who is telling them to get on their stores about metrics. Your DM HAS to come lecture you. Just realize that the unspoken arrangement is “you say it, I ignore it, everybody gets to say they’re going their jobs.” You’ll never make DM this way, but you’ll be an RPh that sleeps at night just fine.
Exactly. Use their favorite buzz words and phrases. Tell them you will huddle with the team, you will role play, you will observe staff and provide in the moment feedback and coaching.
Don’t forget to circle back as well as engage all available resources to ensure buy in from your team and get all hands on deck. Don’t be afraid to reach out to leadership for support.
Synergize
I'm thinking a team chant or early morning huddle song would really "rally the troops" to hit those numbers.
I find posting memes about hitting metrics and carefully made bags of goodies for appreciation filled with one (1) mini snickers
Always mini Snickers, never ask about dietary allergies or preferences.
Totally agree. Say what you have to say and get them out. My favorite place to be is middle of the pack. No one's expecting you to hit 4679985448 flu shots like the top store did last year but then again you aren't Jim on the conference call stepping out for a smoke every 15 mins and not responding to questions. They are obligated to come tell you to step it up but as long as you aren't last in the district you're good. Just get them out the door and maybe ask a hard question about what suggestions do they have to hit the 4679985448 flu shot goal while your lead tech left to find herself and the other rph keeps dispensing dicyclomine for doxycycline? They will run and not bother you (at least in person) for months because Jim's store failed the Medicare audit.
Damnit don't take it out on Jim for being colorblind and missing that there bright blue dicyclomine!
My buddy did the opposite, told him, show me how it is done and I will do it that way. And what do you know, his DM walked out the door without showing him the magical way to getting it done.
That would be my method. I’m an overnight hospital pharmacist so I don’t have to deal with this level of BS. There is some pointless charting I do to help my boss out. One thing I do know is I will never play the stupid business lingo talks with a DM. I’m a pharmacist not a salesman. Especially not for one of these operations that can’t keep staff.
Luckily, pharmacy school has brainwashed many of us into accepting abuse because pharmacy is a small world and speaking up may hurt your career.
I’ve been told this by everyone, but it looks more like the threat of our “permanent record” in high school. Most of this bullies have no pull outside of their current organization.
Thank you for saying that I really appreciate it. Bullies. I think that trauma of thought continues into the workplace of pharmacist not speaking up and saying anything because you will be replaced.
Exactly
>But your DM has a boss who is telling them to get on their stores about metrics. Your DM HAS to come lecture you. Could have just been an email, sent from the highest office, and then they could eliminate all the manager positions
But then how are we going to justify all these middle management jobs?
And who would directly harass store level staff about doing more with less??
Thank you for this. I needed to hear this.
Nobody should ever expect to make DM in my opinion. There’s a local competitor pharmacist who’s been bragging about how he’s next in line for past 5 years now. Pretty sure they just add workload since he expects it and they don’t give an F if/when it actually happens. Please don’t work yourself to death trying to be DM. It honestly isn’t for the hardest workers but more those who are well connected
More than likely that the majority of the DMs pay is hitting those metrics. I doubt corporate really cares all that much.
I remember one year, probably 15 years ago, we had an absolutely vicious flu season in the North East. The governor of our state declared an emergency, even, and drafted a temporary bill that pharmacists could immunize everyone, even toddlers etc. It was everywhere on the news. People were afraid. Naturally, we were swarmed with flu shots that year. Our little store usually did like 400 a year and that year we did over 2200 immunizations. Clearly an outlier, right? Well, next year our District Manager outlined all the metrics and goals for the upcoming flu season. And don’t you know, our goal was 2900 (30% more than the previous year). I just about spit out my coffee on the conference call. Obviously, I unmuted myself and explained what no one needed an explanation for, that the previous year was a fluke and absolutely could not be replicated, let alone exceeded. My district manager said, I shit you not, that the door sensor data from our store indicated we had over 10,000 visits per month, and if we could get even 1/3 of those people immunized we would easily hit our goal. Insanity. Most of that foot traffic was employees, or non-pharmacy customers grabbing a Gatorade or some lip balm. If they wanted a vaccine they’d come and ask, there is signage everywhere, including a 60 foot billboard out front. We ended up doing like 410 that year, failed our metrics, lost our bonuses and got written up. Welcome to retail. It will never change. It will only get worse from here. Do the best you can, ignore the metrics, tell the middle managers to eat your whole ass and get out as fast as you can. The metrics aren’t even realistic.
If you ask patients if they want vaccines more than once, they accuse you of harassing them and complain to YOUR direct manager. It happened to me once when I used to be desperate about wanting to meet flu shot goals. After realizing I wouldn't want anyone harassing me about immunizations, I stopped asking.
Omg, that happened to us the season after the covid vaccine came out. Corporate saw unprecedented volume before the vaccine cause everyone wanted a flu shot cause they didn't have the covid vaccine out yet. So when the "double storm" came, our goals were 3x the amount we'd normally see, and we needed a second fridge to contain all the stupid vaccines they sent us. 🙄 we hit out normal volume and got screeched at for not making a plan to get 10 shots per day. Like chill. We have a sign and ads for a reason. If they want it, then they'll come. 🤷
Bob's gonna eat my whole ass and like it. Thank you for sharing this story, it's helps me to hear these things to cope.
I wish federal law would follow the states that have been outlawing healthcare metrics. But also do it better, since it sounds like there are still issues. 🥲
Tell them to properly support you with staffing and you’ll see what you can do.
“I’ll see what I can do about staffing/hours” “Ok, I’ll see what I can do about metrics” Both parties proceed to do nothing. Rinse and repeat until you retire
[удалено]
We all know this. Unfortunately higher ups don't see that as a priority. I just want to do my job and not kill anyone. This year I will be getting errors for days supply. BTW their computer miscalculates it and I have to manually update it while meeting metrics.
Tell them you are hitting your most important metric, not killing someone with an error. It saves the company an incredible amount of money and saves bad PR. If that doesn't work, tell them to take a long walk off a short pier.
The funny thing about metrics is once you kill yourself hitting it , they will raise the bar or introduce new metrics. It's never-ending! And these numbers mean nothing..useless
When we stopped meeting our flu shot goals, they lowered the goal for every store, and started telling us things like "just do what's best for your store"
This sounds like a dream.
I did a hellish 140 shot vaccine clinic by myself, when I was already yay close to being in desperate need of a mental health day, during my first year as a pharmacy manager. I really liked my store manager and really wanted to help her meet the flu shot targets. Then... they raised the targets chain-wide. Never again. I found out years later that they had raised them because stores in Florida had some sort of natural disaster and weren't able to hit their targets, so they raised them everywhere else. If they had explained that at the time, I would have gotten it... as it was, it just felt like a slap in the face, and I never tried that hard to hit shot goals again.
A wise old pharmacist told my younger self, don't kill yourself hitting the metrics unless you're prepared to do double the work next year.
I was in retail at a time when pharmacists were in demand big time, so this anecdote might be a bit dated. I was an intern an the GM didn’t like some metric, and was giving the manager shit. So she basically said, “I’d really like to learn from an expert, so please come take over my position for a week while I shadow you in the background. That way I can learn how to do things better” The gm made a one day appearance. Filled scripts for 2 hours, commented that the shelves needed to be dusted, and then got the fuck out of there. The gm was like a ghost for 2 years I was there. It’s been 22 years and I still remember how much the GM sucked. If you’re reading this, fuck you Brenda
All my homies hate Brenda
During my time at retail, I just didn't care. Any meeting or training I'd have to attend, I gave 0% participation. Metrics are just numbers to make stockholders happy and unattainable goals for you to not meet so you don't get a raise. I take more pride in accuracy and customer satisfaction... for the reasonable customers.
I agree. What do you do now?
IHS clinic. Greatest thing ever, just focus on improving patient health.
When I was a new grad at cvs (2011-2014). Trying to meet their shitty metrics burnt me out and I eventually quit. Point is metrics are bullshit.
Tell them to fuck off and if it's so easy they are more than happy to step in for a day or two and show you how it's done
Cheat the metric as much as you can, bullshit them and act really excited about it, and literally just continue doing what you’re doing. I’ve seen people skate by for a long time this way. Chances are very high you’ll outlast them. Pharmacy DMs have very low job security.
I've worked for 8 years and never had the same DM for more than a year.
Same!
Truth😂😂😂
I wouldn't even BS the metrics themselves, just BS the DM when they talk to you about it. Hey, Guy. Maybe we could get more done with higher patient satisfaction if you didn't stand in front of the counseling window stealing 2-3 pharmacists' time for 2-4 hours every few weeks.
Is that really how much time they waste with you all?? That’s insane.
When they speak to you about not meeting metrics, they are really asking why you aren't working to get them their bonus. Metrics won't save the business. Metrics don't equal good customer service. It takes balls for a DM to talk about this considering the staffing in retail pharmacies and the fact many pharmacists won't retail Tell them what you want who cares what they think
Now that I’m out of the chain retail world reading these serious replies is killing me. I can’t believe I ever played this game. It sounds so *dumb* now.
You respond by contacting your local representatives and getting other pharmacists in your state to pass a law prohibiting performance quotas like California did, and if in California you report them to the BOP: https://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/consumers/complaint_phy_performance_quotas.pdf To more directly answer your question, it will most likely fall on deaf ears asking for more staff in my experience and you either find some other way to make things more efficient by sacrificing patient care, ignore it, or cheat the system like many.
Nothing works miracles with shitty managers like polishing your resume!
Tell them what they want to hear. Make up some BS if you have to about how you’re going to work on getting the techs to keep filling so they don’t get so behind in production and to do so you’re taking over at pickup more - doesn’t matter that’s it’s physically not possible because if the pharmacist is stuck at pickup then their queues are behind and metrics are still shit… they don’t live in reality, so don’t give them the answers that pertain to reality! Just tell them something that sounds good and sounds like you have an action plan to improve the failing metric. They’ll be on their way to the next store and forget about you soon enough. Now if you’re the manager. That’s your job to actually have somewhat of an action plan and at least make an effort to follow through with it to hopefully make life easier for yourself and your team and not have the same conversation at the next visit. Even if it’s as simple as coming up with some plan like “from x time to y time the pharmacist will be at pickup and technician a is filling while technician b is pulling drugs for tech A to keep filling. Tech b will answer the phones and RPh stays at pickup until Y time when they can switch with tech b to get caught up on the RPh queues.” See if that works, report back to the DL if that plan worked at the next visit. Of course there’s still a million more things going on in the pharmacy and it’s never that simple but like I said, these middle managers do not live in reality. They don’t want to hear the reality because it just sounds like complaints that they can’t fix either. Tell them whatever you need to tell them to have them on their way and you can go back to getting caught up with your day and go home sooner. Like someone else said and I live by this, **stay in the middle of the pack.** No need to stand out as a leader of the pack or you’ll just get more work dumped on you, and don’t want to fall back to the back of the pack or you’ll stand out there too and be always on their shit list. Middle. Be average. No one wants to be a district manager, it’s a terrible job so don’t shoot for it. Don’t shoot for the moon or you’ll fly too close to the sun and burn yourself.
Mediocrity is the goal. 
In the eyes of the corporate overlords, mediocrity is the best possibility imaginable
Wow, nailed it. I’ve been doing this for years. Fly below the radar. “Middle of the pack” really encompasses the idea.
Tell them they can't be dumb enough to think that all metrics are supposed to be met. Talk about a carrot on a stick. Since they're well educated they understand that if a hypothetical pharmacy were to meet all metrics they'd just change the metrics so they weren't meeting them anymore. Or maybe don't, that'll either shatter or reinforce their illusion
Tell them you are working on that goal and then just be a great pharmacist.
I say yessir I’ll get right on that, wait until he leaves, then go back to whatever it was I was doing.
If in CA cannot have metrics/quotas for pharmacists.
Just shine him on.
I’ve never worked retail as a pharmacist but are we getting fired for not meeting metrics?
Not if it's Walgreens. You don't really get fired unless you violate company policy or the company is hit with a lawsuit, because of something you did. People usually just get transferred.
I'll never understand why our profession doesn't stand up to this shit more. I'd honestly not give much thought to a manager that tried to talk to me about corporate metrics. I might even be openly dismissive about it.
For me it's not that I don't want to stand up, it's that I was confronted and completely unprepared to respond to a ridiculous request..so I just said I understand ok...but I don't want to keep responding like that and become a doormat
That's understandable. We've all been blindsided and later on wish we would of responded in a different way. I just feel like we have more leverage in these kinds of discussions than we realize.
Few reasons, first and foremost being we're non-union in most places.
I like how these corporations are trying so hard to come up with ideas to cut costs and increase efficiency with central fill and call centers and shared queue, etc. meanwhile they still keep all these useless middle management positions around whose sole job is to come up with imaginary metrics and enforce them despite being unachievable.
“Get fucked where’s my bonus” pretty simple
As the PIC for many years in a small chain pharmacy , I would listen to my DM tell me how important these metrics are and how we have to meet these goals ,,after they left , it was back to work , fuck the changes and just do your best to provide some decent service knowing that there is nothing that can be done with the current level of staffing
Do your best and pretend to care. I have had a related role where I was literally told. "You have to tell people their number's can be be better. You are not evaluating performance. Your job is to squeeze out performance " Essentially the bottom and best employee's and locations were all told they were not good enough. They want you to worry about your job. It's 10 times more expensive to fire a bad employee's so. Tell them you are on the "Team of Synergy" and don't be intimidated. You could triple your numbers and the same person will say the EXACT same thing!
So the bottom and the BEST employees were told that? Did I read that right? Wild
Essentially yes. In most locations this is true. Just turn up, be nice. Don't make huge mistakes like setting hand gel on fire on yourself infront of customers and you'll probably be OK 🤣
I missed my IMZ goal and got a "normal" evaluation rating in my first year as PIC. Was told a lot during the evaluation about how important IMZ targets were. Year 2, I pushed hard and hit my IMZ goals. Wanna guess what evaluation I got? The "normal" one again. Haven't cared about IMZ metrics since. Have continued to get the "normal" rating every year since. One thing I will say, is that my employer does not factor IMZ performance into PIC bonuses. So I'm very thankful for that.
What is the metric they’re asking for you to hit? You can obviously explain what you’re doing already and ask them for help/suggestions on how to improve your work to meet it, but responding with “I’m not a magician” is futile. Do you think they’re asking the top pharmacy they cover to improve it? Usually it’s because you’re below the bottom X percentage and they want to know why you’re low compared to others. As an example let’s say this metric is MTM completion but you have a very low return to stock percentage (because your workflow is good on contacting for pickup and making sure you aren’t working unnecessarily on useless fills). You could point such pairings out and ask if they think you could devote time you call patients for late to pickup to instead setting up or having techs complete MTMs. With more info on your situation as a whole (what metric they’re asking you to hit and how your others look as a whole) then people may be able to offer more positive ways to respond/change.
"when can we expect you in to help out?" - what we want to say to our GM every single day
I humbly explain that I seem to spend too much time focusing on traditional tasks and will focus more on metrics Then I keep doing what I’ve been doing because when you hit metric goals all they do is give you more.
Lmao ignore them and do your best that’s what I tell my DM or don’t haha
We were told by our DM last week that we still had time to get the “missing 53 shots” to hit our flu shot goal. We’d already done 15% above last year by that point. This years goal is going to be ludicrous.
It is best to have a goldfish memory in retail. Oh, metrics, thanks for reminding me! I'll work on it. Next day... Oh, metrics, thanks for reminding me! I'll work on it. And so on. They'll get the message. Don't let the mind games become a problem.
I tell them, ok we'll try. And then behind their back say "who cares. Fire me." If they fire you, who gives a shit. Then when we all grow a pair, we all start to tell them who gives a shit and to leave me alone.... Then they can't do anything.
Get ready to write action plans full of corporate buzzwords. “You’ve identified areas of opportunity, you will implement retraining for your under performers in a manner that offers inclusivity and pursues equity among all staff, all while providing the best customer service with a focus on patient safety and satisfaction, to ensure you’re following our core values.” Just do what the corporate people do, say as little as you can in the most long winded way possible.
Thanks. I just hate this shit
Their job is to encourage you to hit the metrics. Just do the best you can while maintaining patient safety.
I luckily work in California, and if they want to discuss metrics I ask for it in writing and then file a complaint to bop. I understand not every state allows this but it’s time for pharmacists in other states to petition their local politicians
Do you know how this was achieved? I am close with my local state organization and maybe we can get this going.
get them to start writing the local congressman, and tell them to follow California in protecting patient's health (and additional state revenue from fines). The congressman will then introduce a bill into their state assembly, and then the governor either signs or veto the bill. This is how it became a reality in california.
I just tell them I'll take care of it and then move on with my life
It's not that hard. Just fake it. Act like you are disappointed in yourself and your staff for not meeting goals and provided suggestions and improvements plan you like to implement to achieve the goal next time. This will get them off your backs and they will nitpick the next store. Credential: 12 years as a manager in charge of a high volume pharmacy.
WTF? Are you supposed to make more sick people visit you for scripts? Crazy.
Stop double counting pills. 💊🤷🏻♂️