CVS Health reviews

Working as a pharmacy technician part-time is a great job for students and pays relatively well compared to other part-time jobs. I chose to work at CVS over their competitors because they are an industry leader and take lots of initiative. For example, CVS diversifies its income (i.e. Caremark merger, Longs acquisition, beauty store openings, walk-in clinics), offers access to patient history through their website, and offers some products that are not available at competitor locations (i.e. CO Q10 gummy vitamins). All employees, regardless of P/T or F/T, receive a discount on store merchandise as well as CVS stock purchases via payroll deduction. Also, if your store's department is one of the top performing departments in the district, which is assessed through customer phone surveys, every employee in that department gets a $5 or $10 gift card for the month. Pharmacy and front store are assessed separately which is good since the pharmacy tends to know the customers better. For pharmacy technicians, CVS will pay for the national certification test (~$200 value). Other P/T benefits include an optional (mediocre) health care plan (which is different from the F/T one) and corporate discounts. I was able to get a discount on my monthly cell phone plan. F/T benefits include paid vacation, a 5% 401k company contribution, yearly bonuses, and stock options (but only for managers and pharmacists I believe). Personal experiences are going to vary depending on the store. The majority of the employees at my store were pleasant to work with and made it fun. Also, I never felt stressed at work, even in the pharmacy. I attribute this to the great pharmacy staff as well as to our store volume and hours (NOT open 24 hours - it looks like a nightmare to work at one!). Also, the pharmacy manager wrote the schedule and was very understanding about taking time off for school and personal reasons. This may have been just at our store, but the pharmacist allowed the techs to leave during their shift to pick up lunch for everyone. Finally, the pharmacy does not have any obligations to the front store so if you work in the pharmacy, you do not have to help the front store stock shelves, organize the stock room, or clean bathrooms!

Great job, great people. Management always willing to pitch in and help. The pharmacy where I work is very busy, and when I started I was impressed by the way everyone pitched in to help get me trained. I have been here for 5 years, and I don't ever want to leave. I used to work at another chain drug store, but the atmosphere there was horrible, someone was always looking over your shoulder trying to catch you doing something wrong. At CVS, we have a lot of metrics and reports, but the way we use them is to help us provide better service to our customers.