Q&A With CVS Health Employees
As a CVS Health colleague, you'll find career opportunities across the organization and at every stage of your career. More important, your work will have an impactful purpose on someone's life including your own.
How employees describe working at CVS Health
Paid vacations is the best part
Review from Sales Dept
The first few years after my hire was fine, but things have severely home downhill in the past few years.
Review from Operations Dept
Well rounded place with well rounded people. Great place.
Review from Sales Dept
listen to the people that work with the public. Take care of the people you have before adding new untested programs are introduced. bring your prices down and more people will want to buy. I dont shop there
I was hired quickly the had to wait over a month to start. I was thrown into a postion with little to no training and no help from my coworkers . I also recive very little hours and I am scheduled differently from what I was told when I was hired .
Review from Operations Dept
What it's like to work at CVS Health
- CVS Health employees generally work 8.7 hrs a day
- Employees at CVS Health report the work pace is extremely fast
- On a typical day, employees at CVS Health have 0 meetings
- 80% of CVS Health employees look forward to interacting with their team every day
- CVS Health employees most often take 20-30 paid vacation and sick days each year
- 82% of CVS Health employees report they are happy with their work life balance
- CVS Health employees typically get valuable feedback on how to improve at work Every Week
- 67% of CVS Health employees call their work environment positive
Q&A With CVS Health Employees
IDX: 0 TOT: 185
How's the vacation policy at CVS Health?
Top Employee Response
I’ve been with the company 6 yrs. I get 120 hrs of vacation. I have to put it in 3 weeks in advance. The only time I was asked no to request vacation was December.
1st Year corporate employee gets 16 days PTO.
17 years & get 4 weeks off the old Longs I would have had 5 weeks
What benefits does CVS Pharmacy provide?
Top Employee Response
Medical dental vision 401k only to full time employees after a year of employment
Nothing for part-time. Days off and Health Insurance if you are full time (over 30 hours a week) You can participate in a stock plan if you are part time.
Insurance, all kinds, discounts on some stuff in store
How do you feel about going to work at CVS Health everyday?
enjoyed the work and challenge. Bad management
I love my job, and the people I work with
Used to look forward to it. I love working with people, been in the medical field for 13 years now but the company has turned into looking at the patient as a cash cow not a patient. There's an internal document that, without directly saying it, basically outlines how to make the most money off a patient they're classified as "Patients of great need". Your supposed to call them more frequently basically to get them to fill more medication. The program name just tries to sugar coat the true intention, the bottom line.
What do people at CVS Health think about the CEO? What do they do well and what can they improve?
A distant figure in a distant land, completely disconnected
They think every decision he makes is to line his own pockets.
That upper management has absolutely no idea what implementation of new "care programs" does and how it effects frontline employees day to day. Programs seem good in theory but, in practice make your job much more stressful. A new program designed to help medication adherence and well as improve the amount of lives we impact aka the amount of money CVS can get out of a person adds, in addition to the other 2-3 hundred calls we make a week normally, the possibility to have another potential 4-6 hundred calls on top of that. Does any pharmacy have time to make close to a THOUSAND calls a week,depending on your volume, extra a week? The answer is no. In my opinion not much is done well enough to be mentioned. They can improve by testing these programs more since they rarely work correctly at first and also stop to think about what this really means for day to day operations. Then again they don't care about the average pharmacy worker. The attrition rate for new hires is 70% in first mo.
If you could make changes, how would you improve the culture at CVS Health?
Top Employee Response
There are a lot of "verbal" policies that aren't well documented, but are inconsistently followed. These need to be officially documented and implemented.
More consistent working hours
Forget micromanaging employees - it doesn't work - studies have proven it time and again.
What does the leadership team at CVS Pharmacy need to get better at?
Top Employee Response
Working with your team and treating your team fair.
I know my direct manager. Anything above doesnt care.
Leadership...simple as that
How often do raises happen at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
Yearly, in May or June. Usually about 3 percent.
Once yearly they should. They try not to but they should.
Once a year.but very little.
Why do you feel undervalued and what would make you feel better about your compensation at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
I've been with the company for almost 20 years. Been through 3 min wage changes and not once every compensated and 2% raises is nothing
The pay is very low compared to what I do. Management receives a bonus every year, techs and cashiers don't we do most of the work
Big people forget about the small people give more of a raise.
What's going wrong and how can it be improved at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
The stress of knowing we will be behind most of the day and not meeting corporate standards. More hours of help.
New management or better training
If i didnt work 90 hours a week without being compensated reasonably for i would love it
What do your coworkers need to improve and how could you work together better at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
Start sharing in doing the work.
Respect and integrity
We work great together, we just don't have enough hours to get everything done that corporate wants us to do.
What is the onboarding process like at CVS Health and how long does it last?
Top Employee Response
Depending on the department, you usually go through a period of training. There are many safety nets in the company in my opinion. Almost to the point where you question whether or not certain people should even have jobs seeing as how badly some of them mess up all the time. Nevertheless, there are safety nets in place and this is definitely not a fire happy company.
The on boarding process is not straight forward. Although you have contacts to assist with questions, I found that no one was able to answer my questions about benefits and vacation. There was no effort by the company to be transparent about this - particularly vacation - before you accept the job. I think this is a poor way to start with any employee. I spent a fair bit of time trying to find the right person to speak to and when I eventually did they couldn't even be exact about what my vacation time was and how it was accrued. I think this, salary and benefits should be part of the offer letter so that employees know from the start how it works. Otherwise, my training information arrived by email regularly so I knew when to be where. It is very important that you communicate your concerns to your hiring manager as they may be able to help or at least point you in the right direction.
2 months
If you could make changes, how would you improve the culture at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
I would show my techs and interns that I value them. Certified techs are skilled at what they do and many have years of experience, so to pay them only a dollar or two more than a totally inexperienced tech is shameful. Even worse is the policy to pay experienced, loyal interns LESS than new hires.
More work from home
Give the stores enough labor to run the stores and pharmacies. One person most of the day isnt a good mix for good customer service
Does CVS Pharmacy drug test or do a background check?
Yes to both.
Yes to both
Yes
How does CVS Pharmacy handle HR issues?
Good hopefully
They place you on suspension and say then wait 2 weeks of unpaid pay and then fire you
I work for a CVS inside of Target so any HR issues would be handled by the Pharmacist in Charge. If the issue is with the PIC, then we can go over his head to his boss.
How's the work life balance at CVS Pharmacy?
All depends on your manager & hours of store.
Very well
more work than life
What's the work from home policy like at CVS Health?
Top Employee Response
I’ve been with the company for six years now. Since I started working from home about a year and a half ago I absolutely love my job, and my productivity has gone up immensely. It’s definitely a great company to work for and it is at times stressful, but definitely well worth it. The benefits are great and working from home makes the job worth it.
This varies by department and role. If you work on phones, expect an inspection by a superior to validate your work space and HIPAA compliance, as well as any department specific rules that may be in place. Some positions are 100% work from home, some are 50%/50%, and some allow for the occasional work from home day.
Very tightly controlled - big brother is always watching.
What unique perks and benefits does CVS Pharmacy provide?
discounts on purchases, matching stock purchase and 401k
Flexible hours
The employee discount maybe.
What would cause you to leave your job at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
Better pay, better compensation, better work life balance
Keep up the present situations.
I should have left years ago.
What interview questions does CVS Health ask?
Top Employee Response
They prefer the STAR method. So lots of, Name a time XYZ happened and how did you handle it, or what action did you take, or how did you respond?
How flexible is your schedule? Why do you want to work for CVS? What do you see yourself doing in 3 years?
The basic run of the mill types of questions. Your flaws, strengths etc. they do have a computer based "morals test" that is very easy to pass aka don't answer that you'll steal things but some questions are poorly worded and could potentially have two answers if you don't pay close attention. If your not paying attention to the wording and accidentally input the incorrect answer that's it your done. The job offer is automatically withdrawn and you can't reapply for a year. There is nothing your potentially new manager can do. That's it try again in a year.
How does CVS Health make decisions around promotions?
Top Employee Response
In the pharmacy it's pretty much if your friends with the manager regardless of how well you do your job. As a technician you really only have one real promotion that comes with a raise and benefits, besides the yearly 3% merit increase (if your lucky). You go from technician to "Inventory Specialist" after a minimum one year with the company. Which is really a meaningless title. It will get you full time status with a 32 hr/wk minimum that comes with benefits, normally no pay increase and a ton more things that your responsible for. The real promotion comes after 2-3 years you can become Lead Technician provided there is an opening which is hard to come by and will most likely require a transfer. It comes with a modest pay increase, makes you a manager and the responsibility that comes with it. After that you've hit a dead end, unless you move to front store or become a pharmacist. It will also get red booked in the company with increasingly smaller raises every year.
Stats mostly.. so production, attendance, quality, how well you play in the sandbox with others..
Job performance, seniority and best fit.
What are you most excited about working at CVS Health?
helping my patients. Esp helping them save money. I work in a lower income community. However, I was marked down on my review for spending too long with people helping them with their formulary and billing. Which ironically is a major thing the company is pushing. Also, my regular duties were no way affected by helping the customers
The upside and downside are the same thing.. Customer interactions.
Working with competent management in Specialty.
What's the office vibe like at CVS Health?
we all hate the company
Open and friendly, although there are always a few cranky/crazy people.
Collaborative
What's the company culture like at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
It is amazing company to work for and people that you get to know. Plus your co-workers are more like your friends. Plus it is just amazing company to work for and all the stuff you get to learn and to understand and also all the new people you get to meet.
Not bad.
good, they work hard on diversity
What needs to change to make the company culture better at CVS Pharmacy?
Top Employee Response
Acknowledgements. Respect for corporate. More possibilities
We need more tech hours and front store hours to get everything done. At times there are only 4 employees in the store. That isn't safe.
Raises and incentives to start. A happy employee is a great employee. And vice versa.
What is the best advice you could give someone during their first month at CVS Health?
Top Employee Response
Just give it some time to get used to how things work. Just remember that it is a major company and we sometimes don’t always understand why decisions are done the way they’re done, but just get past the 3 to 6 month mark and you’ll know if you love it or hate it. I’ve been here for six years and I’ve loved it right off the bat, with the exception of a few things. But since I’ve been working from home the job is amazing I wouldn’t trade it for anything
A lot to learn. Hang in there it eventually clicks!





