CBA urges pay increases

THE Commonwealth Bank’s national head of healthcare, Cameron Ziebell, says he believes remuneration for employed pharmacists will need to be reviewed “to ensure overall business performance is aligned with the owner”.

Ziebell was commenting in the latest CommBank Pharmacy Insights update, produced in partnership with UTS and based on data produced through its annual UTS Pharmacy Barometer.

The report says optimism in Australian pharmacy has reached record highs, with less pharmacy owners (about a third of the total) expecting the values of their pharmacies to fall over the next three years, while 25% anticipate average value growth of 17.5%.

However Ziebell noted the contrast of sentiment between owners, managers and employed pharmacists, with owners significantly more bullish.

“This may in part be due to relatively stagnant remuneration growth weighing on sentiment among employed pharmacists, with most owners leaving this unchanged,” the CBA exec said.

The report says the “increasingly negative view on the viability of community pharmacy among employed pharmacists may need to be addressed to maximise workplace satisfaction and ensure that capable pharmacists continue to remain in the industry”.

Ziebell noted that pharmacy managers are key stakeholders “and should be incentivised accordingly”.