How to build good relations among employees in a hospital pharmacy

Written by Dr. Taha Murtaza, Pharm-D, 4^th July, 2025

A retail pharmacy has a combination of employees working on various tasks and challenges. Often, retail pharmacy setups have a very stressful environment. Here in this article, we will understand some points to build good relations among employees in a retail pharmacy.

1.Communication:

A retail pharmacy requires an open communication environment where every employee can share knowledge and ideas and work accordingly.

Feedback can promote transparency. Group meetings should be arranged by the pharmacy manager so that every employee can share their problems.

2.Respect:

Every employee needs respect, in this way an employee can learn more and work well. Bullying and aggressive environments often lead to stressful environment and results in drainage of good and hardworking employees.

3.Interpersonal skills:

A pharmacy manager should train his employees regarding the basic skills, which enhances their personality and motivates them to work well.

The following skills are given below:

1.     Verbal and non-verbal communication.

2.     Listening skills

3.     Negotiation

4.     Problem-solving skills

5.     Decision-making skills

6.     Assertiveness

4.Empathy:

A pharmacy manager should be aware of the feelings and emotions of others.

These three qualities can make an environment of empathy:

1.     Compassion

2.     Non-judgmental

3.     Selflessness

5.Trust:

Every employee can make a good trust by doing the tasks assigned to them and by participating in every activities and events organized by their organization.

 6.Mindfulness:

Focus on present problems instead every time talking about past failures.

7.Six major themes:

The six major themes that a pharmacy manager should adopt are:

1.     Autonomy

2.     Altruism

3.     Admiration

4.     Agreement

5.     Alignment

6.     Aspiration

8.Strong teamwork:

·        Each and every staff member should support each other.

·        Promote rotation of shifts and tasks.

·        Go out for a lunch or dinner with team members and should arrange social gatherings monthly or weekly.

·        Promote professional development activities.

·        Enhance problem-solving capabilities of employees by involving them in certain case studies and assignments.

·        Monitor health of an employee regularly.

·        These strategies can be helpful for the retention of the employees.

 

9.Recognize and celebrate achievements:

·        Recognize hard work of an employee and give rewards for their success, by doing this the manager can boost the morale of an employee.

·        Assign titles like “employee of the month” etc.

·        Celebrate small wins.

·        Celebrate birthdays.

10.Invest in professional development of employees:

The manager can spread professionalism by arranging following programs:

·        Workshops

·        Certifications

·        Conferences

·        Seminars

11.Fostering work-life balance:

·        There should be a flexible scheduling of all the employees.

·        Breaks should be provided to all the employees.

12.Building a culture of accountability and support:

A complaint box should be there in any retail pharmacy setup for the employees, where an employee can make complaints anonymously.

13.Make career goals:

Set career goals and make efforts to achieve them. Career goals result in growth of an organization.

Fortune Magazine:

In a “list of 100 best places” to work published in fortune magazine, Wegmans and Publix ranked on top.

The reason that they reported is “these stores have maintained a family feel.”

These organizations promote employee wellness with:

1.     Immunization

2.     Yoga sessions

3.     Cooking classes

4.     Store wellness campaign at each location, where a pharmacist does health screenings and cheers employees on as they make healthy changes.

What to do when things gone wrong:

·        Focus on the causes and weaknesses

·        Call for immediate meetings and make negotiations and agreements to resolve the conflicts.

The End…