New research published today suggests that as many as 1,600 jobs have been lost in the community pharmacy sector in the last nine months, including 300 pharmacists. The research was undertaken by PriceWaterhouseCoopers [PWC] o ...

Clearly, it is not hard to appreciate that a motivated workforce leads to enhanced productivity and positive results for any business. Employees are motivated not only by personal gain but also by feeling part of the pharmacy a ...

The Small Firms Association has stated that an influenza pandemic would have a significant impact on the business environment and highlighted the importance for small businesses to be prepared by putting in place a plan which i ...

Employee pharmacists [registered pharmacists who work for pharmacy chains or for other pharmacists] have today criticized the HSE's contingency planning for the supply of medicines after this coming Saturday. From that date, t ...

The PSI (Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland), the pharmacy regulator, has said that greater use of pharmacy in frontline health services would save money and improve care for patients in the community, and recommends the develop ...

A strong quality management system is the foundation of any healthcare practice. Those pharmacists who fulfil supervisory roles, which involve taking personal responsibility for a pharmacy practice will be accountable for the ...

Team building for many is an elusive subject. What does it mean? There are endless courses on the subject, some good, many not so focussed. And it has that sense of airy fairy management speak. But people work for you and it is ...

In tough times, having competitive advantage can sustain and protect pharmacy businesses. US Marketing expert Seth Godin has some thoughts on how to cultivate it in his blog www.sethgodin.com

Along with time management, delegation, leadership and motivation skills, the ability to be a good communicator is the missing ingredient to complete the essential management toolkit. Most employees expect their manager to have ...

For many of us, dismissing an employee is an extremely uncomfortable scenario. Getting disciplinary procedures right is vital in today's litigious society and most employers lose employment tribunals, not because of the rights ...

Eliciting peak performance begins with designing satisfying jobs but does not end there. You have to find the best people to fill these positions; plan employees' daily, monthly, and yearly tasks; create conditions that motivat ...

Training is often regarded as a business luxury and not as a business necessity. What most business people do not appreciate, is that investing in training is as important as investing in your infrastructure. You would not skim ...

In a busy pharmacy environment, if you find yourself running around endlessly just to complete a day's work, then you could have a problem with delegating effectively. Being busy all day does not automatically mean that you are ...

Managers often cite performance appraisals as one of their most disliked management tasks. Handling employee performance effectively is particularly pertinent in smaller team settings such as the pharmacy, where tensions can ea ...

Managing people effectively is essential to ensure you receive a high level of return on this investment, but overcoming the challenges of improving motivation, dealing with difficult people and managing the team into high perf ...

The purpose of an interview is to recruit the right person with the right skills for the right position-thereby ensuring that the successful candidate contributes to the pharmacy as quickly as possible. Jacqui Dougan explores a ...

It is inevitable that at some stage all pharmacy managers will encounter difficulties with staff performance in the workplace. These difficulties can range from poor performance on behalf of the employee to insufficient trainin ...

Injuries due to manual handling account for one in every three accidents reported to the Health and Safety Authority (H.S.A.) in Ireland on an annual basis. William Plows, Managing Director of Workplace Compliance Solutions Ltd ...

Poorly managed workplace conflict leads to decreased productivity, increased stress among employees, hampered performance, high turnover rate,absenteeism and at its worst, violence and death.

About 400 years ago, Voltaire once said- "Common sense is not so common". Unfortunately, the same could be said today about many businesses that fail to use good old-fashioned common sense when it comes to matching staffing nee ...

There are many different forms of work-leave in Ireland and it is important that you are up to date with legislative requirements. A failure to comply to employee's rights to work-leave could result in hefty financial penaltie ...

Pharmacy is not exempt from employment legislation and pharmacy managers must ensure that they implement robust, fair, transparent, effective, efficient procedures and systems to promote a legal, safe, and productive work envir ...

The Organisation of Working Time act 1997 sets out the statutory rights for employees in respect of rest, maximum working time, and holidays. Retail pharmacy is not exempt from these regulations. Jacqui Dougan, pharmacy consult ...