Drug Topics - March 2009 - (Page 21) EXCLUSIVE SALARY SURVEY She’s not alone in her sense of security. Drug Topics’ latest survey of employee-pharmacist salaries indicates that many pharmacists may be feeling additional stress in their jobs, the result of added responsibilities. But the money, benefits, raises, and job security have helped them to tough it out through this crisis. The survey, completed online by pharmacists in various practice settings around the United States, revealed that unlike many other workers, pharmacists enjoyed a median bonus of $4,000 to $4,999 in 2008. Eighty-one percent of those polled earned a mean raise of 3.7 percent (median dollar amount: $5,100) in 2008. Experience was one of the factors determining salary, according to respondents. Of the respondents with more than five years’ experience in their current profession, 5 percent said that relative to new hires, their salary is much higher, 33 percent said it is higher, 37 percent say it is similar, 11 percent said it is lower, 2 percent say it is much lower, and 12 percent said they didn’t know. Practice settings also played into salaries in 2008. Pharmacists in urban and suburban settings made roughly $112,000, while pharmacists in rural pharmacies made about $110,500. Pay in pharmacies in the Southwest, Northwest, Southeast, Northeast, and the Midwest ranged between $104,000 (Midwest) to $115,500 (Southwest). Gender matters When asked whether they believed women pharmacists were paid the same as men working in the same position in their pharmacy, 74 percent of respondents said yes, while 2 percent said no and 23 percent were in the dark about gender-based pay discrepancies— the same result revealed in Drug Topics’ previous salary survey. When it comes to opinions on pay equality by practice setting, supermarket pharmacists were the most likely to agree (83.7 percent) that men and women were paid the same salary for the same work in 2008. Pharmacists employed by mass merchandisers were least likely to agree, at 67.5 percent (though 0 percent of them also answered “no” to this question). Other naysayers here include pharmacists working in independent (2 percent), chain (2 percent), supermarket (0 percent), and hospital (3 percent) pharmacies. Laurence Shatkin, author of 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs, said the pharmacy field was ahead of the curve on pay equality for men and women. Statistically, men and women have been parallel in the field for several years, he said. Raises, benefits sweeten deals Daryl Barnes, RPh, said that he was attracted to pharmacy school because of the stability the career offers. But it’s the benefits at his retail pharmacy job at Albertsons/Savon Supervalu in Oregon that keep him “as loyal as the day is long,” he said. “I think I have a fantastic medical, dental, and vision plan,” Barnes said. He is among the 38 percent of survey respondents who are satisfied with their current positions. Raises, signing bonuses, and benefits were among the ways employers sweetened the deal for pharmacists in 2008, according to survey respondents. In 2008, 81 percent of respondents received a raise, 12 percent received two raises, and 1 percent garnered 3 or more raises. Pharmacists at independent pharmacies were less likely to have received raises in 2008, with only 53 percent receiving a raise, but 88 percent of chain drugstores offered their pharmacists at least one. About 84 percent of hospital pharmacists received a raise. Supermarket pharmacies were among the most likely to offer a raise — with 90 percent of those employees bringing home more bacon. Bonuses were paid to 64 percent of pharmacists with a BS who started a new job in 2008. But 82 percent of pharmacists with a PharmD who began a new job in the past year were offered a sign-on bonus, and 25 percent were offered relocation expenses (compared to 18 percent of those with a BS). For respondents who received a signing bonus in 2008, the median sum was $10,000. March 2009 W W W.D R U GTO P I C S .C O M DRUG TOPICS 21 http://WWW.DRUGTOPICS.COM
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