Not a good company to work for - Pharmacy Technician, Retail Pharmacy Call Center, Caremark Plans CVS Health Employee Review

2.0
12 Nov 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I met many wonderful people during my 20+ years at CVS -- nearly all of my coworkers and immediate supervisors were good people who were great to work with. Pay and PTO seem to be at or above average.

Cons

I worked at a store, a retail call center, and with Caremark plans. Each facet of the company has extremely high expectations from upper management individuals who are completely out of touch with what actually happens in the location every day. -Store pharmacy employees (technicians and pharmacists) almost never get to take a 15 minute break. Lunch and bathroom breaks are also very difficult to make time for due to excessively tight budgeting of hours. -Call Center employees are allowed so little "personal time" off the phone that using the bathroom more than once a day (outside of breaks) requires a note from your doctor explaining your "medical condition". -Employees creating and testing Caremark plans are asked to "volunteer" to be on call several weekends a month. You only get paid if you are actually needed, but cannot be more than 1 hour from ready to work for the entire day/weekend. This means you activities are severely restricted, but you may not get paid at all for this time. If nobody volunteers, then the manager is forced to pick someone to do it. -The insurance that is offered to employees is expensive and terrible. -It is very difficult to get another job within the company unless you know somebody currently working in the department you are applying to. Work history and experience do not carry nearly as much weight as a recommendation from a friend. I saw (many, many times) inexperienced people chosen for positions over highly qualified people.

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5.0
21 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good company to work with

Cons

Hard to get promoted internally

5.0
13 Dec 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I learned a lot working there as far as how to run a business as well as how to develop a team. I had one of the most successful teams in the company ranking as the top store year over year in two separate markets, one in the Northeast one in the Southeast. I was a paragon winner with the company as well. My most recent DM was very supportive. I genuinely thank them for the opportunity and the knowledge that I acquired while working with them.

Cons

Work hours were excessive. To be successful hours worked were borderline slavery. While I willingly worked them to be successful, the week you didn't you were immediately behind. Vacations were almost non existent due to constant visitors from corporate stopping in to do reviews. Holiday weeks were paid 4 days regular 1 holiday and you worked all 5. The facade of the stores looking great when these people stop by versus the reality of the business is polarizing. There were always teams of people and excessive expenditures of payroll thrown into stores prior to their visits. While I understood the need to make an appearance, it was always will always be a backwards way off thinking. Company preaches quality of life for their clients while quality of life for their employees is non-existent. As a "manager" in your average store you will be "managing" a total of one person during your shift, with a total of 10 people at location. Location open hours will exceed total payroll hours ie Sun-Sat 7am-10pm = 15hrs per day x 7 days x 2 people = 210 hrs which excludes the need to have a person unload deliveries that come in during non opened hours. Your budgeted hours will be approximately 208 hrs. I will only mention that during the month of December that there are extended hours for the stores but no budgeted hours to accommodate. Stores are held to strict shrink targets with little to no control over external theft. Remember 2 people at location, if four people enter to steal there is nothing you can do to stop them. These are facts not personal prejudices.

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