CVS Caremark Reviews in Columbus, OH Area

I have been working at CVS Caremark part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good pay. Flexible hours. Get to help people. Big company so you can relocate. Can build good professional relationships with the pharmacists. 20-30% off on in-store items.

Cons – Can be relocated at supervisors will. Co-workers underpaid-can cause laziness. The items in the store are pretty expensive so discount isn't so valuable.

Advice to Senior Management – Reward the Techs more because they work very hard and are under-compensated for high scoring metrics. Keep raising the bar and hiring fewer interns so-as-to not overpopulate the future pharmacist pool.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at CVS Caremark full-time

Pros – 20% discount, fast-paced, able to build relationships with diverse groups of customers and staff. Benefits ok. New initiatives ca be helpful.

Cons – No work-life balance for managers. Poor integrity of upper management to store employees. More money for the stakeholders does not filter down to good employees doing a good job for the company. Extreme "big brother" threats without providing support or resources for success. Bonuses tied to several factors, not necessarily store profitability at store level, which makes it a dangling carrot. DMs who make friends with certain managers is a conflict of interest, in my opinion, because it creates resentment among peer groups when the manager friend gets rewarded time and time again overlooking others who are doing good things also.

Advice to Senior Management – Employee engagement surveys are not followed through by upper management. Constant threats of losing your job makes the culture unnecessarily stressful. It would be a good idea to look at regional managers and district managers to see how well they actually support managers and stores. Give real ideas to new people and be a resource for development for the goal of achievement for both parties.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at CVS Caremark part-time for less than a year

Pros – Easy job, everyone is friendly, not a hard time getting a decent amount of hours, they provide lunch when you do have to work on a holiday

Cons – you basically have to work every holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, New Years Eve), a lot a nasty customers, the pay is very poor and raises never occur

Advice to Senior Management – Reward hard work with raises

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at CVS Caremark full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – 20% discount. Cookies presented to stores when teams meet quarterly targets. You get to work extra hours to improve store decor, and use your own supplies. You get to spend holidays at the store, required by your manager. You get to use vacation time to pay employees to work and cover stores when there are not enough hours to complete tasks and provide necessary customer service.

Cons – Long hours daily, weekly, monthly. Expectations exceed the minimum job description on 45 hours per week, due to regular performance expectations coupled with mandatory projects, meetings, directives. Many use their day off to attend day long meetings and mandatory projects. There is no support from upper management to support 2 days off a week - they certainly get their 2 days off, as well as vacations. RM thanked us every year in yearly area meetings for his bonus that paid his son's 1st year and then again second year of college. This boasting is inappropriate for the forum, and further proves arrogance and disregard for employees/management. Especially since raises are given based on who he likes best, rather than performance, improvement, or team participation results. Any opportunity to take advantage of employees are commonplace in my region, as is backstabbing, lying, and unethical practice. Business does not have to resort to this behavior to get desired results. At some point, the CEO should look into unethical practices of upper management in order to truely take charge of the way the business is run in this area. It may help in avoiding lawsuits and retaining good employees.

Advice to Senior Management – Restructuring is only as good as Management who follows the path, and is able to treat staff with respect in order to get the job done. Resorting to threats only exemplifies unethical results. Lawsuits will continue to plague this company until Management decides to manage with respect for employees. Training for Management effectiveness is lacking, if done at all. So many managers have gone trough the system without proper guidance, support, information. Appropriate training would benefit this company, if supported top-down, instead of resorting to threats to obtain results. This only works in the short term, until employees decide they have been beaten enough. Employee engagement is a joke, as upper management are not accountable for supporting results and making real changes for the benefit of all employees. Our employee appreciation meeting included a golf outing where the "in group" could participate for $75. Others do not play golf, therefore disregarded as part of the group.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at CVS Caremark

Pros – Its nice hours for me, easy job

Cons – Too many kids wreaking havic on the place

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at CVS Caremark

Pros – CVS is a good place to work at if you are in a union store, the benefits are very good.

Cons – A lot of good work goes unnoticed, being in a union creates a lack of interest to work hard since your raises are the same every year.

Advice to Senior Management – I think that the leadership of CVS could improve by hiring more personable managers and if more of the managers participated in the competitions it would make it a more interesting job.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at CVS Caremark

Pros – The benefits, but the company as a whole is great to work for.

Cons – Time alotted for scheduled tasks is not always realistic

Advice to Senior Management – Could be a little more flexible with hours, we are not magicians

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at CVS Caremark

Pros – CVS makes alot of smart moves financially. You most likely have more job security in this industry. It is possible to be promoted if you play the game right. Creativity and being proactive are highly regarded. You have virtual creative freedom when it comes to merchandising and sales building ideas. CVS seems to promote a more community feel to each of its stores. Stores are warmer and friendlier than other corporate drug stores out there. CVS store employees can seem like a close knit family of sorts. You know whats going on in your employee's lives and you honestly care.

Cons – Most employees are thought of to be expendible. You are given more tasks and less payroll each year. Customer service is supposed to be number one but the payroll constraints negatively affect it. You seem to do less managing than in other retail industries. You spend your time consumed with tasks which cannot be delegated because of the hours constraints. "Sucking up" seems to the best way to get promoted. Senior management does too much negative micromanaging. You do not always get the respect, pay and acknowledgement that you deserve. Stores are open on holidays, weekends and nights...consider CVS your home away from home.

Advice to Senior Management – Remember your people are your most important asset. Treat them right and the business should thrive. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.