Our pharmacy technicians at Walmart and Sam’s Club have proven time and again how much they mean to the communities they serve. They took center stage during the pandemic as we tested millions of customers and members, and many did their best to help deliver vaccines across the country. These employees delivered genuine moments of care under extraordinary circumstances, with a smile on their faces and the calm, professional attention that instills confidence and keeps patients coming back.
Simply put, our pharmacy technicians are heroes in their community. They also play a vital day-to-day role in the continued growth of our Health & Wellness business. Now, for the second time in the past year, Walmart is making significant investments in increasing pay and career development for our pharmacy technicians — with the goal of creating additional growth opportunities and opportunities for them.
This is what we do:
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Increases for current employees: As of this week, we’re raising wages for our more than 36,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacy technicians, raising their average hourly wages to over $20 an hour.
This is the second time we have made significant wage investments for this group of employees in the past year, after we also increased their wages in August. It’s designed that way. We’re sending a strong signal to pharmacy technicians everywhere that Walmart is serious about attracting top talent and giving them the tools to build successful careers.
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More frequent increases: Pharmacy technicians will get more frequent, automatic pay increases as we introduce a new progressive pay model designed to set us apart from the competition. For example, new pharmacy technicians get raises that can add up to $4 to their base salary over the course of four years. Pharmacy technicians receive pay increases every six months for the first two years with the company.
We believe we are one of the first major retailers to adopt this type of model – an approach often seen in healthcare systems. This will help employees increase their pay faster as they build their careers and continue to work at Walmart.
- Free Pharmacy Technology Certification: The investments complement our long-standing commitment to pay for eligible employees to become certified pharmacy technicians through benefits such as Live Better U and related programs. Walmart-certified technicians can earn $3 more per hour than their uncertified colleagues, meaning getting a certification can make a big difference to employees and their families. To remove any roadblocks, Walmart will cover the cost of getting certified as a pharmacy technician — from career degrees, on-the-job training and test prep to paying the certification exam fee.
These investments can be life-changing and lead to unlimited growth opportunities for the company. Take Soham Patel for example. Soham immigrated from India to the US in 2015, a year after his marriage, and soon after began working at Walmart as a pharmacy assistant. When her husband died tragically in 2017, she went through various stages of grief: feeling lost, questioning her purpose in life, and worrying about debt if she were to receive an education to support herself.
But thanks to her own hard work and determination, she has found her way. Walmart helped Soham turn her ambition into growth by paying her to become a certified technician and paving the way for the next steps in her career. She also uses LBU to earn a degree in computer science, and her career has changed course – she now works as a project manager on our Home Office Health & Wellness team. That’s the beauty of working at Walmart: you can start in one place, work hard, and build any career you want.
Soham is just one example. The same opportunity is available to all our pharmacy technicians.
Our business is growing and we will continue to invest in our entire Health & Wellness team to drive that growth. We also plan to hire approximately 5,000 additional pharmacy technicians this year to support our vision of delivering the best healthcare.
If you’re interested in joining our team of heroes, making a difference in people’s lives every day, and building the career you’ve always wanted, visit careers.walmart.com!
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