Archived Pharmacy shift swapping issues

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My pharmacy manager has recently made the rule that pharmacy team members cannot swap shifts any longer. One of our techs is scheduled outside of his availability (during one of his classes) and I wanted to help him out and work for him, but now that can't happen. There was also an instance last week when another tech asked me if I could work for her on Wednesday so she could go to a dentist appointment and then she would take the Friday shift I was scheduled to work (even though it isn't in my availability because I have a class at that time); it was denied, so she ended up having to call out and then the pharmacy manager calls me up and asks me if I can work that day... this just seems so ridiculous. Is it even "legal" to make rules like that for the pharmacy when it isn't a Target policy?
 
I would talk to your ETL-HR about it! That seems plain ol' silly.... but then again, it IS up to the ETL of each area of approve or deny each shift swap request. Unfortunately, your ETL (the pharmacist) is apparently just a b*tch who has decided to deny all requests in advance. There's GOT to be a reason, though. Were you making a TON of requests? Were the requests becoming confusing? Were people not showing up for shifts? Are some of you much newer than others? Maybe she doesn't want to have to deny specific requests... say, one tech in particular sucks and she doesn't want that tech working on busy days, and would deny those requests because of that... so she's avoiding conflict in an annoying way by denying them all.

I definitely suggest you speak to your ETL-HR. If you don't feel you can talk to your ETL-HR, either contact the integrity hotline (before everyone jumps on me for overreacting-- that's what they're THERE FOR! :music2:) or, what about talking to your part-time pharmacist for their opinion of the situation?
 
Could it have anything to do with your non-ETL pharmacists? Maybe one of them doesn't like one of the techs. Or even certain guests who come in a certain day of the week have a strict preference. Really though, if you're getting scheduled as a tech outside of availability, a casual reminder to your pharmacy ETL could save you some trouble.
 
Thank you for your advice! We have discussed scheduling issues in the past, as far as out-of-availability shifts and such, but the "no shift swapping" rule is new so I guess we'll need to discuss that issue too.
I do know that the team lead technician and the pharmacy manager do not like a few of our veteran technicians because they are experts at the Target PDX system and they take that as a threat instead of an asset for some illogical reason. There are several people with strong personalities in our pharmacy and there are some work ethic issues as well, so all of this mixed together equals drama, unfortunately, and our issues are reflected in our scores - we are one of the worst in the district!
Our other full-time pharmacist said she does not want to get involved with shift swapping and scheduling issues (because those issues seem to be more rooted in drama than in anything substantial). This is just feeling like back in high school when someone decides they don't like someone else and then will talk about them behind their back and do specific things that they know will negatively affect the person they don't like (such as writing them up for ridiculous things like not writing a date of birth on a bag). Its all so unprofessional, and I haven't even mentioned half of the unbelievably wrong stuff that goes on!
I love working at Target and our awesome guests but there are just a few bad apples that are making things very unpleasant in the workplace!
I am going to try to talk with them again, and hopefully I'll get a better response this time!
 
Good luck!

It sounds like you're at a busy pharmacy, seeing as you mentioned having a Pharmacy Team Lead and multiple full-time pharmacists? Out of PURE curiosity, being a technician myself (at likely a much slower pharmacy), what's your script count like per day?? Just curious! It's rare I actually get to talk to another Target pharmacy tech-- not many of them post on here!
 
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