Finding qualified pharmacy specialists has rarely been more challenging than it is today. Despite pharmacy closures, there is a nationwide shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. According to Community Pharmacy England, 76% of pharmacy team members said their pharmacies were experiencing staff shortages, and 19% of pharmacy owners reported that their pharmacies had been required to close temporarily because of these.

But what can I do to make my pharmacy more attractive to potential new team members? Salary isn’t everything; there are many ways to be perceived as an attractive and appreciative workplace. For example, you can ensure greater visibility on social media. Be creative, for example, and let your team have their say and talk about their workplace.

But you can not only be active externally. Promote team spirit to bind your employees more closely to their workplace. Organize joint events, such as a weekly team breakfast, provide your staff with further training or invest in coaching. You will see that cohesion is strengthened – ideally, your employees will talk about it, too.

Last but not least – is your pharmacy an attractive place to work? What do the team rooms look like? Is the pharmacy modern and inviting, and is it keeping up with the digitalisation trend? Or are packs still being dusted off and drawers put away like “in the good old days”? If so, automation and digitalisation can be crucial additional building blocks for recruiting and retaining staff. Many pharmacies even go so far as to advertise a dispensing robot in their job advertisements.

“We’ve taken trained staff away from the dispensary because the robot can do that and brought them, not a more patient-facing robe, which is what they’ve been trained for”, said Sam Ellis, the pharmacist at Vale of Neath, Wales.

A satisfied team makes a pharmacy run more smoothly. Quickly filling vacancies is part of this. Our tip: If you are considering purchasing a dispensing robot, talk to your team about the changes and point out what will improve and how the team can take on new tasks. Or ask your colleagues who have already automated.