Walmart said Friday it will adjust working hours for its US pharmacy team and implement it nationwide in 4,600 locations, with drugstore operator CVS Health doing the identical for about two-thirds of its retail pharmacies, amid a good labor market.
The US has been experiencing a nationwide labor shortage because the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced retailers to supply attractive incentives and pay increases.
Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS each raised their minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2021 while Walmart said last 12 months it will increase the typical pay of pharmacy staff to greater than $20 per hour.
Earlier on Friday, the Wall Street Journal first reported CVS and Walmart were cutting pharmacy hours.
Walmart’s pharmacies can be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday from March, while the weekend hours wouldn’t change, a spokesperson for the corporate said. Currently, they’re open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
CVS said the brand new hours of operation, which begin in March, at impacted pharmacies will vary, adding it periodically reviews operating hours to be certain that peak customer demand was being met.
The corporate had 9,900 retail locations including pharmacies, in line with a regulatory filing in February 2022.
Walgreens said in an announcement that at times it had to regulate store or pharmacy hours at some places after staffing challenges impacted retailers and healthcare entities, amongst others, during the last 12 months.