What’s the latest with well-being for pharmacy staff?

According to the tenth installment of the Pharmacy Workplace and Well-being Reporting (PWWR) series, community pharmacists continue to suffer discrimination, harassment, and aggression on the job, but more are pushing back with legal action.

“The persistence of harassment, especially toward female pharmacy personnel, is alarming and underscores the necessity for robust policies to protect staff well-being,” said Krystalyn Weaver, PharmD, JD, executive vice president and CEO of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA).

APhA, along with NASPA, launched the PWWR in October 2021 to encourage pharmacy professionals to confidently share personal and detailed work experiences—both positive and negative.

Weaver said the ongoing challenges surrounding staffing and workload continue to be prominent themes in this latest report, with many submissions highlighting inadequate staffing and mismatch between workload expectations and available resources. “What particularly stands out is the high recurrence rate of these issues across various practice settings, signaling the need for systemic change,” Weaver said.

She said she is also struck by how the current business model exacerbates recurring issues such as inadequate staffing and workload pressure, which take an emotional and psychological toll on pharmacy personnel.

“Many services are provided for free, and pharmacies are often under pressure to focus on high-volume dispensing to sustain revenue, leading to a mismatch in staffing and workload. A shift to a care-based funding model could alleviate these issues by allowing pharmacies to be staffed according to the level of patient care they provide, which would not only improve working conditions but also better serve the community,” Weaver said.

A total of 108 reports informed this tenth iteration. The goal is to use insights from the reports to better support the profession.