Walgreens treating those that matter the most with the least respect

I know what you are talking about but think about it,not every store
manager is the same,not every ex is the same and not every assistant
manager is the same.I am working right now with some assistant
managers that are very lazy and you can't do anything to change that
but write them up.My service clerk does more then them .It is not
Walgreens that does this it is who ever is above you that allows lazy
people to get away with it.I think this is a great company to work for
,yes I think they should have stoped building more stores instead off
cutting the OT and hours but maybe they didn't expect this economy
crisis? ...Any way as much as it is frustrating its worse in some
other companies but look at the economy !Lets just be gratefull that
we have a job. Walgreens takes good care off their employees.And I am
sure as soon as the economy gets better they will reward us all.We all
need to stick together trough this.I work almost ten years for this
company and I would never leave it.I seen it all and I tell you its
not different somewhere else.You will always find the bad guy.As far
as the pharmacists :) yes they are acting like they are the best thing
and yes I think they could take a paycut but you need to think BIG
,pharmacie is Walgreens.Thats where we make most profit we can't
afford loosing pharmacists.And also,they have doctorate degree thats
why they get paid so much.If you want that salary go back to school or
keep up the good work and Walgreens gives you chance to make that
without doctorate degree.:) Good Luck

"I am a Walgreens store manager. Today I had to tell my assistants
that they were getting a 14% pay cut based on what they were offered
as their base pay. I hated every minute of it. Most of the employees
in the store are not the primary bread winners of their household.
Assistants are in many cases. They earn good money for their efforts,
which in turn generate good profits for the company based on the
customer service they offer. If morale on behalf of the assistants is
to decline, their job performance will suffer. Resulting in more
customer dissatisfaction. This is not what I got promoted to store
manager for, giving bad news to trusted staff. When I was an assistant
if I was given a 14% pay cut, I, as the primary breadwinner of the
family, I don't know if we would have been able to survive. This is a
very shortsighted view by Walgreens. In reality it will benefit the
company by over 100 million per year but at what cost? Service
declining, morale declining and overall performance declining. This is
one of the worst days I have ever spent at the company that once I
would have praised as one of the most employee friendly companies in
the nation. Ever since Walgreens has not been headed by someone with
the last name of Walgreen we have become more a corporation and less a
vocation. Since Kevin and Charles III have left, it has become
increasingly difficult to justify our existence, without using the
word profit. Profit used to be a good word that showed that we were
providing a service to the community and were shown loyalty by that
community. It has since just become another word to show that as a
corporation we are an investment. Investment also used to be a good
word. It showed that we are good stewards not only of the investment
made in us but of the Walgreens name, a name which meant quality
service, a friendly smile and helpful face but of that something
extra. Above and beyond. Serving our customers needs whenever
possible. Now we are a corporate entity. Sad."

There is a quantitative correlation between labor (costs) and
production (profits). What occurred Monday at Walgreens was not simply
the "elimination of overtime."

It was a massive across the board pay cut.

Managers are scheduled for 44 hours per week. Tasks such as revisions,
resets, price changes, ordering, etc, are factored based upon a
44-hour work week. The compensation package for assistant managers was
figured on a 44-hour work week, four of which hours were overtime.

I know of no assistant manager, or EXA, or young store manager who was
NOT assured and promised 44 hours a week upon being hired. What
happened this week is that assistant managers just took between a
$4800 and $5500 pay cut--and for absolutely no acceptable reason.

Deerfield idiots spend the money stores make faster than the stores
can make it. Stores succeed IN SPITE of Deerfield. Walgreens incessant
addiction to acquisition is frightening. And the money some of these
acquisitions is losing, such as Take Care and WHS isn't
frightening--it's nightmarish.

Last year in fiscal 2008, Jeff Rein approved the creation of $2.9
million in NEW salaried senior executive positions in Deerfield that
had no predecessor, nor any clear responsibility. This does not
include the additional senior exec positions created through
acquisition of companies and the subsequent promotion of THEIR senior
executives.

Deerfield feeds itself before it feeds its help. Problem is, the
stores can operate without Deerfield. Charles Walgreen set up his
company for stores to run autonomously. Dose of Dave, Rein, and now
Wasson have completely destroyed that--while at the same time, talking
out of both sides of their mouths.

Deerfield will still get bonuses--bonuses paid for via the pay cuts
inflicted on assistant managers.

If Walgreens store management was unionized, 95% of all Walgreens
stores would be closed this week due to management picketing their
stores.

Assistant managers (MGTs) have been working 44 hours (4 OT) for at
least the 15+ years I've been with the company. This 4 hours OT was a
bit of compensation for the amount of hard hours, nights, weekends,
holidays, etc. It is part of the salary package you were informed of
upon taking the job. For most MGTs, this is a gross (no pun intended)
pay cut of approx. 15-18%

My store manager said he would rather cut hours from SS clerks and
give MORE hours to our MGT crew because we are all hard working,
reliable, knowledgeable and experienced. This is NOT a good long term
decision. Service will suffer from a demoralized management crew, and
people qualified and interested in the job might think twice about a
position that paid $42k last week, $35k this week. The economy won't
be this bad forever.

I'm an assistant manager for Walgreens too.

First, they cut our store hours and we take it out of the Cosmetics
Department. Okay, whatever. Cosmetics is only a huge part of our Self
Serve sales, but whatever, theres some guy sitting in an office
somewhere that knows more than I. Its okay though, MGTs can cover it,
right?

Second, they cut pharmacy tech hours. But apparently thats okay too...
MGTs can jump in any time and help out. I'm at a slow store and an MGT
is needed in there about 3 hours out of every single day. I couldn't
imagine how it is at a 24hr store. But its cool... I like working
pharmacy and it allows me to expand my knowledge of how the company
works.

Third, now they cut my hours. The 4 hours OT was not something "above
and beyond" what we were promised. When I was hired I was told I would
work AT LEAST 4 hours OT every week and that is just how it has been
and will be.

Lastly, they ride our butts to increase sales and improve customer
service ... yet I'm having to work more in Cos or Photo to cover for
those hours. I'm having to work more stocking. I'm spending more time
in the pharmacy. Yet, with all of this they want us to complete the
same tasks, do the same quality of work, now in less amount of time.

I just feel cheated. I go into work every day and bust my butt to make
my store nice. Yet at the same time there are Store Managers that just
sit on their butt around the district and talk on the phone for half
the day. There are EXAs who don't give a damn about the company and
work only half as hard as many MGTs.

Now, I admit, there are a LOT of MGTs that don't hold their own
weight. But there are also many of us who actually care and work hard
and this is how we are repayed?

But Walgreens can pay these cards and get away with it. The job market
isn't looking all that great. I have many friends that are graduating
college and aren't able to find actual jobs. I graduated and went with
Walgreens as a temporary gig and now I've made it something I want to
pursue. But at this rate, they won't have many of the good employees
around for long. There will be greener grass somewhere else at some
point.

I too work for Walgreens, and I'm sorry but I feel no pity for you.
The mgt team is now seeing how the other staff felt when our hours got
cut. I make less than $10/ an hour and live paycheck to paycheck. I've
worked for Walgreens for 4 years, and work just as hard as any manager
in my store. I spend more time on the floor than I do in my own
department, and don't get the pay. It's about time that Walgreens
finally start cutting corporate and management hours. Think how much
money they are saving by not paying $400 a month to every assitant
manager in the company. That adds up to over 100 million dollars.

Oh cry a river for me please. The MGT makes a heck of a lot more than
the other hourly employees in the store. Now with even more of the MGT
duties being handed down to non-MGT such as returns and exchanges, why
do they get paid so much more than anyone else. We also are the ones
who deal with the customers first, and we deal with them ever day.
Managers only come in after we have to catch the front of most all
problems, and they step in and issue an apology and in some case a
your right and we wrong with a side of a $20.00 W-card for your
problems and they off to rebuild another end-stand. Most other
companies would call what most MGT does a stocker. Then a few months
ago when we all got our hours cut back oh some for or five hours a
week did MGT care about that nope, because they was still getting
there 44 hours a week. Now that they are cutting MGT hours and re
budgeting the hours back to the other workers, all I have to say is
boohoo..

You definitly wrote this in the heat of the moment and there are
commenters here who are not aware of the ongoings of a drug store --
especially Walgreens. To those people, the MGTs (Asst Managers) and
EXAs are the VERY backbone of a store. If an MGT is in a store with a
lazy store manager (a very common thing) they are much more of a
backbone to that store. With the recent budget cuts in the stores you
basically had the departments (cosmetics, photo lab) covered less than
100% of the time. There are hardly any hours for a floor person for
stocking purposes and customer service. MGTs are called upon to cover
some of these departments even with a full staff (no one calling in)
along with doing just about everything imaginable in the store. We
Assts weren't complaining about that. We excepted it although we
didn't like it. Now comes the change in the promised 4 hours of
overtime that Asst Managers have been getting for 30-40 years. They
were hired with that promise.

It's bad everywhere and that's what Walgreens higherups are counting
on -- there's no where for these Assts to go. But Walgreens better
start counting on a much less motivated staff.

I hope you find another job, and quickly. I'm afraid that once
Walgreen's gets ahold of this letter, you may not have a job with them
at all.
I know you are upset with them, but taking shots at your managers and
the pharmacists that you work with isn't going to be taken well.

if you hadn't decided to lead with your assertion that assistant
managers are the most important people in the store. It's not that I
disagree with you that you ought to be treated well by your employer;
it's just that I disagree with you that you deserve it more than the
people you work alongside but who have different job titles.

Even if it is true that you and the other assistant do the majority of
the work in your store, I don't believe that it is true in all stores.
And even if it were, customers -- and this is a site aimed at
customers -- probably think pharmacists are more important than
anybody else at a store like Walgreens, because there is little that
an assistant manager can do that will have the kind of effect that
medication errors do. (I almost never go into Walgreens any longer
because of the incompetence of the pharmacists at the one near me; I
doubt I would even know how to spot signs that the assistant managers
are, or aren't, incompetent -- and I certainly don't think I would
quit shopping at a store because the assistant managers in particular
didn't do their jobs well.)

You don't get a whole lot of sympathy from me for not making as much
money as you need when your hours are going to people who make less
than you do, either. Don't they need money too? I'm not going to go
so far as to suggest that you sound like a spoiled crybaby, any more
than I would agree with you that well-trained professionals making
$125,000 are spoiled crybabies, but it was a particularly jarring
description for you to offer.

If you had written this letter to discuss the way all employees are
being badly treated, or even if you'd focused on the plight of the
assistant manager without showing such disrespect for your coworkers,
it would have been a better letter.

Good luck finding a better job. But if you don't -- and I think it is
possible that you will not -- good luck making the "hell hole" a
better place to work. For all of you.

They are not going to cut the Pharmacist's salary because there is a
shortage of Pharmacists. Cut their salary and they will just go
elsewhere.

Good luck finding that better job. Most places now are freezing new
hires and asking employees to work for less. My employer tried but I
was able to be exempt from it because I hadn't taken a pay raise in
all the years I was with them. Others had to take a 10% pay cut.

Basically your letter is screaming what many employees, salaried or
hourly, are feeling nowdays. Welcome to the reality.

Cutting back on OT is the first step in any company's decision to save
money. If they give some OT to the hourly staff its still not costing
them as much as it would for you being a manager. So yes, they are
saving money.
Our hospital system is not giving raises this year in lieu of lay offs
and they have a hiring freeze in effect.

As for the pharmacists these people went to school, got their degree
and earned the right to make more money. If you had done that then you
could be making what they are now.

Stop whining, pick yourself up and get back out there before there is
nothing left to get.

Normally, I would come here and tell you that you shouldn't write a
letter like this but I used to be a Walgreen's Assistant Manager and
it was the worst job I've ever had. The only reason I kept it was for
the pretty much unlimited overtime. I would quit in a second without
the overtime. They work you like a dog. It's not worth it, even in
these tough times.

Yeah, those "prima donna" pharmacists, they're good for nothing except
getting the right drugs in the right dosages to the right patients,
and informing patients of their proper use, so that the patients don't
die. Who needs 'em.

If your bosses find this letter and identify you as the person who
wrote it, you won't have to worry about guaranteed overtime any more.

Ya know, maybe it's me, but in these tough times it just doesn't seem
very smart to publically post a letter full of insults aimed at one's
employer. You may just find out that losing OT is the least of your
problems.

I understand your anger-my husband's company took away overtime too
but he's just glad he still has job security and good benefits!

Finally, and last for sure, I was not aware that your position in the
company mattered MOST as your post title states. I think I'm pretty
darn important too in what I do. I am on the front line daily
greeting and accomodating customers.....Let's rethink this. Maybe we
all contribute to the TEAM.

And I add, Walgreens respects their employees. Imagine working for
someone who threatened to break your fingers for changing the
thermostat setting on the air or stomped on their speaker phone when
the reception wasn't quite right. I have. Walgreens is great to work
for.

I work for Walgreens, I am hourly, I get paid for when I work. I
struggle to survive on my less than $10/hr pay but am grateful for
what I have. VERY grateful. Good luck in your job search...you're
gonna need it.

You still have a job, right? Millions of people would be thrilled
with a pay cut vs. the position they are in now. Glass half full - -
glass half empty - - count your blessings.

that in these troubled times, 600,000 people a month losing jobs, that
some people have larger problems such as losing *overtime* pay. The
economy really is affecting everyone.

This really opens my eyes to the horror.

None of my lower management gets paid by the hour. They are all
salary, and I will get a call monday morning from my DM if I use too
much OT. We have never have guaranteed OT for anyone! It sounds like
Walgreens is getting their business in line. OT is a major cost.

Do you know the schooling that a pharmacist has to go through. Did
you know that the pharmacists have to carry the same insurance as a
doctor?

In this economy you need to be thankful for having a job.


Good Day

The pharmacist makes a hefty salary because they are educated. Do you
have any college education as an assistant manager? You should go back
to school and further educate yourself to work as a pharmacy tech or
whatever job you'd like. I hear commercials all the time about schools
who will offer you degrees and offer night and weekend classes for
adults who need to work but would like more education for a career
change.

As I recall from the news, Walgreens actually did get rid of about 9%
of its corporate and field staff. That's a pretty big hit, especially
if you're one of those guys that had their job eliminated.

My friend, you really need to take a look at the world around you.
34K folks lost their job at Circuit City. 7K just got eliminated at
Macy's. The list goes on and on and on. The WAG comp sales are below
what wall street is looking for, so the stock is sliding a bit (not
dangerously low, but not setting the world on fire). You're not
really going to convince the world to spend more money right now (even
with $800 billion worth of whiz-bang government spending), so the only
choice the company has to meet the bottom line numbers is to cut
costs. It's not a move showing disrespect for any role -- it's a move
to keep the company as healthy as possible in an economy which no one
seems to know how to fix.

Overtime is a huge cost. While nobody likes the "do more with less"
option, in a world where you are trying to keep from having to
eliminate jobs, it's a very real option, and very, very necessary.
You cut projects, you cut every bit of unneeded spending just to
weather the storm.

Many companies have also canned merit increases and bonuses of any
sort. In fact, many of us are just happy the light turns green when
we put our badge to the door.

And if you really want a Pharmacist's salary, I suggest that you might
want to get a pharmacists degree.

Best of luck. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but I'll bet that
when you wake up in a month and realize you have a job when another
couple of hundred thousand folks have lost theirs, you might see
things a bit differently.

I really do. There are a lot of good people getting jipped in this
economy and it's not right.

HOWEVER, If you would like to STAY gainfully employed, I would never
advocate posting an open letter on a public forum calling out
colleagues and questioning senior management's decisions. (not to
mention the implication of where you think their heads have been
stuffed!)

I hope things get better for you and that you get through this
unscathed, but I'd seriously rethink sharing this letter.

Unfortunately this is how it works in the world of retail. The bottom
line is ALWAYS the almighty dollar and Walgreens is no exception. I
hope you can find another job because they are few and far between. I
am sure someone out there would love to replace you, someone who has
no job because 40 hours a week right now is hard to come by!