RAVEN'S Recruitment has recently launched its sixth edition of the Pharmacy Salary and Market Report 2023.
For the first time, in this edition Raven's has included charts of the yearly comparison data of average pay rates for four key job titles from 2018 to 2023.
The report found that the profession has continued to face shortages with challenges in filling vacant roles, predominantly in the permanent sector.
As such, many pharmacies, particularly those in rural areas are continuing to rely on locums to ensure sufficient coverage.
Inflation and a tight candidate market are putting salaries under pressure and pharmacies are pulling out all the stops to compete for talent and retain existing workers, the report states.
To ease the pressure, many employers have been considering candidates based on their potential, and investing in internal training and professional development.
Salaries too are continuing to trend upward this year, with many employers reviewing and increasing their current remuneration offerings in order to remain competitive and retain staff.
Locum pharmacist wages have continued to soar over the last 12 months, as pharmacists decide that the increased rates on offer were more attractive than opting for the stability of permanent work, showed the report.
The number of vacant roles, as well as the time taken to fill them, has again increased this year across both metropolitan and regional pharmacies, with a marked shortage in the pharmacy workforce talent pool, the Raven's report has found.
Now, more than two years on from the pandemic, skilled migration routes have started to open, but lengthy delays in the time taken to process visa applications have meant this has done little to ease the current shortages.
Flexibility and work-life balance have again been prominent issues this past year, and more pharmacists than ever are seeking part-time work hours rather than the traditional 40-hour-plus work week; employers who are willing to consider this are finding it easier to attract talent, Raven's explained.
Overwork and burnout remain a problem, but the aftereffects of the pandemic have inspired many employers to invest more in mental health than ever before.
Download the report HERE. JG
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 14 Sep 23
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