CVS and Walmart are lowering their pharmacy working hours throughout the U.S. to enhance workers’ work-life steadiness because the chains proceed to wrestle with staffing shortages within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CVS stated will probably be “adjusting hours in choose shops” come spring, as a part of a periodic evaluate of “working hours to ensure we’re open throughout peak buyer demand.” The transfer will have an effect on roughly two-thirds of the corporate’s roughly 9,000 retail pharmacies starting in March, an organization spokesperson stated in a press release to CBS MoneyWatch. 

CVS, which is the most important pharmacy chain within the U.S. by income, stated it is making the schedule modifications as a way to “guarantee our pharmacy groups can be found to serve sufferers after they’re most wanted,” a CVS spokesperson stated. “If a pharmacy is closed, a affected person can go to any open CVS Pharmacy location for help with their rapid prescription wants,” the spokesperson added.

Walmart reduces hours, raises pay

Walmart additionally stated it is reducing hours at its pharmacy areas nationwide to enhance “work-life steadiness” for its associates. 

Walmart pharmacies might be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday by way of Friday. Beforehand they had been open till 9 p.m. on weekdays. 

“Walmart is dedicated to serving to our associates stay higher. Walmart has a powerful and unbelievable pharmacy group, and we’re making this transformation to not solely improve their work-life steadiness but additionally to keep up the perfect stage of service for our prospects,” Walmart stated in a press release to CBS MoneyWatch. 

Walmart stated it is making the schedule change primarily based on suggestions from pharmacy employees and prospects. 

“By positioning our groups within the hours the place our prospects say they wish to go to our pharmacy, we’re higher in a position to ship glorious customer support and assist our associates as they proceed to serve their communities every single day,” Walmart stated. 

In mid-June, Walmart announced higher wages for greater than 36,000 pharmacy technicians, elevating their common hourly pay to greater than $20.

Walgreens hires extra pharmacists, raises pay

A spokesperson for the Walgreens pharmacy chain, the second largest within the U.S., additionally stated it has needed to regulate pharmacy hours over the previous 12-plus months resulting from staffing challenges. 

Walgreens added that it has employed 1000’s of pharmacists in addition to elevated pharmacy employees’ pay to deal with ongoing staffing points. It stated the efforts are working and the problems are subsiding. 

“Now we have seen constructive staffing traits for the previous a number of months as we work to return extra shops to regular working hours,” Walgreens stated. 

Pharmacies aggressively employed pharmacists and pharmacy technicians beginning in February 2021, when COVID-19 vaccines had been first made obtainable to most people, to speed up efforts to inoculate as many individuals as attainable. Pharmacist job postings surged and drugstore chains provided hefty signing bonuses of as much as $20,000.