Due to their obligations related to patient health, pharmacies and pharmacists are subject to specific working hours. But what exactly are the legal working hours of community pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, or students? Finally, how can these sometimes atypical schedules be best managed and rotations between teams facilitated?
⌛️Working hours in pharmacies
In the 32 pharmacies per 100,000 inhabitants currently open in France, the working hours mainly concern women. They are now the majority in the sector at 68% according to a 2020 study by the National Order of Pharmacists.
👉A 35-hour base
In pharmacy, as in other sectors, the legal working time is set at 35 hours per week. However, the health mission of this profession and new responsibilities (extending the duration of a prescription, vaccination, testing, etc.) are increasing activity in pharmacies. So overtime, as well as the intervention of pharmacy students to supplement the team rotation, are essential.
As indicated in the Pharmacy Collective Agreement, the maximum effective working time cannot exceed 46 hours in the same week. In the case of increased activity, the average duration cannot exceed 44 hours per week over 12 consecutive weeks.
👉Daily working time
At most, a pharmacy employee cannot work more than 10 hours per day, with a maximum range of 12 hours. This can occur in the event of a colleague's absence, for example.
In addition, they must be given at least a 20-minute break for every 6 consecutive hours worked.
👉Night work
For pharmacies that open after 8 p.m., as sometimes happens in large cities - and when they comply with the Labor Code - employees are entitled to a 20% pay increase until 10 p.m. or between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., the increase is 40%.
👩⚕️Overtime in pharmacies and compensatory rest
Overtime is common in pharmacies. However, it is limited to 22 hours over 13 consecutive weeks, or 44 hours over 26 weeks. Generally speaking, each employee can work up to 150 hours of overtime per year.
Each hour of overtime results in either a pay increase or compensatory rest. The increase is 25% from the 36th hour to the 43rd hour. Beyond that, it increases to 50% more on the gross hourly wage.
For part-time employees, overtime hours are increased by 10% when they do not exceed 10% of the contracted working time. Beyond that, the increase is set at 25% of the gross hourly wage.
📌Organizing and automating pharmacy hours
Due to team turnover and unforeseen events, pharmacy schedules are rarely fixed. At the same time, pharmacies must go digital to respond more effectively to the needs of patients and customers and health insurance obligations.
Automated calculation of working hours is one of the first measures to implement to optimize the organization of a pharmacy.
With Skello, a global planning solution, benefit from simplified planning that is fully adapted to the Pharmacy Collective Agreement, supplemented by:
· Calculation of overtime and additional hours
· The pay variables
· Compensatory rest
· An internal messaging system dedicated to pharmacy staff to establish their requests for leave and changes in hours
This will improve your pharmacy's planning and the quality of life at work for your teams.
