2021: Pharmacists Are Moderately Satisfied With Salary, Job Satisfaction, Survey Shows (Part 3)

Part 1 of our analysis of the Pharmacy Times® Salary and Job Satisfaction Survey provided an overview of results. These showed that when pharmacists were asked to rate their overall job satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 7 (with 1 being “not at all” and 7 being “extremely”), the average response among the 151 respondents was 4.41.

Part 2 highlighted pharmacists’ satisfaction with their total compensation, with the average response again being 4.41.

In Part 3 of the series, we further explore pharmacists’ job satisfaction and the factors that contribute to their overall happiness in a position.

Pharmacy Times® asked respondents to determine which 3 factors were their driving contributors to job satisfaction: autonomy, being a key opinion leader in my specialty, challenges, colleagues, compensation, dynamic profession, facility where I practice, improving patient’s health, opportunities for advancement, patient interactions, prestige of pharmacy profession, and pride in what I do.

The top 3 responses among 151 pharmacists were compensation (17.5%), colleagues (15.8%), and pride in what I do (11.4%).

We also asked respondents to determine which of the following were their main contributors to job dissatisfaction: colleagues, commute, compensation, facility where I practice, frustration with providers, interactions with health insurance companies, limited scope of practice, management, work hours, work/life balance, and workload.

Of these options, the top 3 were workload (23%), management (16.3%), and work/life balance (16.3%).

In addition, we asked how motivated respondents were by the potential for advancement in their organization, using the previously mentioned scale of 1 to 7, but few were motivated by the possibility of promotion. Among the 151 respondents, the average response was just 3.32.

When asked how likely they would be to choose a pharmacy career again if they had the opportunity to start over, the respondents indicated a lack of enthusiasm. The average response was 3.34.