Just recently I read a post about job satisfaction. How satisfied are you with your pharmacy practice? If you believe you could be more satisfied, what would it take?
The post I read talked about 5 key factors to job satisfaction:
- Engagement – are you present, focused and productive or do you feel your skills and talents are underutilized? Maybe its time to realign with your management or strike out on your own like our entrepreneurial interview subjects have done.
- Fair Compensation – pay and benefits now rank 3rd and 4th as key to satisfaction but it’s not just about $500 that shows up in a paycheck.
- Motivation – what inspired you to become a pharmacist? Do your day-to-day activities align with your earlier vision for yourself?
- Life Satisfaction – do you take care of yourself and take time to nurture your life? Perhaps a bit more attention outside of work could help you feel a bit more satisfied overall.
Having a clear understanding of company goals and your role, or how you “fit in”, matching that to your goals for compensation and achieving goals which inspired you to become a pharmacist will most likely increase your level of satisfaction in your practice. But there is one more key factor that is important to nearly everyone I’ve managed or worked for….
Respect, praise, and appreciation. Regardless of the job, you want to feel respected in the workplace as well as appreciated for the work you do.
Through our careers Val & I have both worked for numerous “bosses,” in a number of different environments. Our greatest rewards are the recognition and thanks we receive from pharmacists who appreciate what we do for the profession. An email we received last week just made my day:
… I appreciate everything you and Val have done to promote pharmacy, advocating for all multidiscipline’s in pharmacy not just one Special Interest Group in Pharmacy as others have done (sic) in the past and continue to do. I know how hard you have worked to get us reimbursement for our knowledge and hopefully one day we will be given prescription writing privileges. …
Periodically, we receive messages such as
I am pleased to support your continued advocacy on behalf of pharmacy and pharmacists in Colorado.
Overall, job satisfaction at Value Pharmacists is high due to our supportive members, our engagement and motivation, and overall life satisfaction. Compensation can be spotty but is increasing especially as new projects and members come on board.
But what about your practice? Your job satisfaction? Certainly initiatives such as prescriptive authority or payment for therapy management services could increase the overall sense of higher job satisfaction for pharmacists. How much would it impact you directly? Are you positioned now to take advantage of regulatory changes that could lead to a more fulfilling role?
Colorado Pharmacists – Let us know what is needed in rules and regulations to support the recently passed SB 135 which added Part 6 – Collaborative Pharmacy Practice to the Colorado Pharmacy Practice Act. What salient factors would you recognize as leading to greater job satisfaction for pharmacists? The work begins this month (July 2016). Respond below or contact Val at val@valuepharmacists.com or 303-669-3080.