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Record learning outcomes

by Alexander Humphries*

The famous drumbeats of doom at the end of EastEnders always seem to leave my wife agog at the latest bombshell. Sadly I have just had my own 'EastEnders drumbeat' moment in my pharmacy...

I hate surprises of any sort, at any time. I particularly don't like them at work €“ it is never good news. Typically they might start with €I've got something to tell you...€.

But I've heard them all. So it was that the phone rang one lunchtime. It was one of my dispensers.

In fact, it was my only dispenser, as her colleague is due to leave to go to university at the end of August, as I recounted in my column a short while back. €I've got a bombshell to drop,€ she said. Gulp. €I'm leaving.€

Having gone out of my way to keep an eye on this member of staff since we found out her colleague was leaving, it was fair to say I was floored. €Is there anything I can do to change your mind?€ I asked. €Not really,€ she replied, €I'm going to be a student dental nurse. I want a new challenge.€

Fair enough. This member of staff was excellent but had never shown the slightest interest in any personal development or, indeed, any unhappiness in her current role. €So when are you going?€ I asked nervously. €Two weeks,€ came the response.

Now, while this was the bare minimum notice that she had to give, we have always taken great care to look after our staff, so to be treated in such a brutal manner still hurts even now.

Panic stations

Then immediate panic set in. What the heck was I going to do ? In our neck of the woods, good people, let alone trained dispensary staff, don't grow on trees.

Losing both dispensers in such a short space of time is a disaster, plain and simple. The next six months will be hell. By the time we get another member of staff in place, it won't be long before the ramp-up to Christmas begins.

Brain drain

One of the most devastating effects of losing your entire dispensary team is the loss of organisational memory. There will be nobody left to show the new people how to do things, except me, which means I can no longer trust the business to run if I'm not there. Not normally a problem but my first holiday in years is looming and I am dreading the run-up to it, knowing that when I come back I will have no dispensary cover, unless by some miracle we have been able to get someone in post in the next few weeks.

Of course we've got the SOP file, but what we will lose €“ our work culture €“ is much more important. There is, I suppose, an opportunity to re-engineer the pharmacy team, potentially bringing in an accuracy checker or someone with team leadership skills, although I don't have a huge amount of hope that we will find the right person in our immediate vicinity. I read in the pharmacy press about the droves of disgruntled employees of large organisations, but where are they?

If they did exist, my door would have been beaten down every time we have advertised for support staff. When a friend asked what I needed, my thoughts were someone reliable and hardworking; everything else can be learnt, unlearnt or forgiven. Yet the most difficult part of recruitment is knowing what you need.

Often it isn't as simple as a like-for-like replacement, as people may want different hours, more money, or need to be trained. Overcook the staffing levels and pretty soon the bank manager will come a-knocking. One full-timer, to provide continuity, and a couple of part-timers, is probably about right to provide some flexibility and additional capacity to compensate for the steep learning curve the new team will have to go through.

Team building

Without doubt the biggest difficulty of all in any small group, is turning the individuals into a functioning team. We will get there, I'm absolutely sure. We have no choice other than to get on with it, but my life could have been a lot easier if the member of staff had shared with me that she was looking for a new job.

If we had known we could have changed our recruitment plans and might even have been able to bring in someone new to learn the ropes alongside the current incumbents, which would have lessened the stress. Sadly nobody ever thinks about things like that when they are considering what is best for them. If only I thought the same way, how much easier life would be.

 Losing both dispensers in such a short space of time is a disaster

* Pen name of a practising community pharmacist. Alexander Humphries' views are not necessarily those of Pharmacy Magazine. What has your experience been of losing staff? Email pm@1530.com