Managing the Professional Development of Your Employees

Pharmacy owners are called upon to manage a wide range of resources within the pharmacy. One of the largest of these is staff. From an accounting perspective, staffing, along with Cost of Goods Sold and Rent, accounts for 90% of the expenses of the business. Of these three, in most instances, salaries is the second largest of the three. Therefore it is important that time is allocated to manage this resource.

In community pharmacy, your employees are the face of your business. They are your representatives on the front-line, responsible for meeting the customer's needs and, in many cases, managing your business. As such, training and job experience create a wealth of knowledge within each employee - an intangible asset to the business and its operations. To lose this knowledge would result in difficulties during replacement/re-training as well as additional costs in the process. As such, it is important to consider the special challenges small to medium sized businesses face in the HR aspects of their pharmacy.

Some key points to consider include:

• HR Management for Small to Medium Pharmacies is different to the HR considerations of large businesses. They face constraints regarding limited HR resources as well as the requirement to employ persons with a broader expertise;
• A smaller group of staff enables a greater level of dealing with professional development on a one-on-one, case by case basis;
• Different pharmacies operate in different ways. Hence there are distinctly different paths to success in professional development. It is important that you understand the role of employees in your business and define a recognisable career path for your employees;
• Retaining and developing talent is a bigger challenge than attracting and selecting talent. While getting the right people matters, it's what you do with them that really makes the difference; and
• The sense that "we are special" can be important in driving a career mindset.

Moving forward, what have you done in your pharmacy as an employer to identify and develop a career path for your employees. And conversely, as an employee, have you discussed these issues with your employer to make them aware of your own interests and to identify what you find pivotal in your employment?

Jobs4Careers, along with PSA Victoria, Medici Capital, APHS Group, PBS Group and Pulse Pharmacies conducted a careers night at the Melbourne Business School last Thursday, 13th September to encourage younger pharmacists to understand employment options in pharmacy. Each representative/sponsor brought a different perspective to the discussion, with a panel of representatives available to answer questions on a personal level to all attendees.

For more information about future networking events, please contact Practice4Sale or Medici Capital.



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