Employers' perspectives on recruiting and retaining pharmacists in regional and rural Victoria, Australia

Pharmacies and pharmacists play an integral role in primary health care. This role is particularly important in regional and rural settings where workforce is scarce. There are many challenges in recruiting and retaining a pharmacist workforce in regional and rural Australia. The literature on rural pharmacy workforce is largely based on employees' perspectives, with little emphasis on employers' experiences. This study aims to explore employers' perspectives of (1) recruitment and retention of staff pharmacists in their regional or rural practices and (2) strategies to mitigate recruitment and retention challenges of regional rural staff pharmacists.

This study was a qualitative, cross-sectional study of a randomised group of employers. A database of 151 unique employers was created using publicly available sources, and a randomised sample of 20 was identified using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with each selected employer. As part of a content analysis, responses pertaining to recruitment and retention were coded.

A total of 473 basic responses were discovered using the inductive coding process. These codes were then condensed into 72 codes, based on their interpretive meaning and similarity. The codes were then sorted and categorised, by their logical and natural epistemology, into three separate but related topic areas: remuneration, work conditions and policy aspects (161 responses, 28 codes); workplace and role satisfaction (231 responses, 31 codes); and social factors (81 responses, 13 codes). The most significant findings included that pay and remuneration are highly inadequate, flexibility both in terms of working hours and scope of practice are perceived to be key factors for recruiting and retaining employee pharmacists, and geographical distance and social aspects persist and were reported as difficult to overcome. Various strategies to address these issues were discussed with mixed outcomes.

Like employee pharmacists, employers emphasised that contemporary pay and remuneration, as outlined in industry awards and agreements, were inadequate. In addition, flexibility both in terms of scope and working hours, as well as a harmonious work environment, are key factors to recruiting and retaining employee pharmacists from an employers' perspective.

This study identified that remuneration, work conditions and policy aspects, as well as workplace and role satisfaction and social factors, are the major challenges for employers in recruiting and retaining pharmacists in regional or rural Victoria. More needs to done to attract and retain a workforce for rural Victoria.