Just as with all Head Offices, The Co-operative Pharmacy has a number of different support teams, each offering a diversity of roles and opportunities at every level.All have one simple focus: to support our branch colleagues and make sure we carry out our business in line with The Co-operative values. In other words, to make a profit, but also to make a positive contribution to the world we live in. Working with us, you can be truly proud of what you do.
Here are a few of our key Pharmacy Head Office support teams. Job vacancies can be accessed by clicking search & apply.
Professional
Lead by the Pharmact Superintendent, we have a dedicated and professional risk team which supports our pharmacists on legal, professional and ethical matters, helping our branches to provide the best patient care. As well as dealing with branch professional queries, customer comments and dispensing incidents, they also take a strategic view of how we work, and how we can deliver even better customer service in the future, while ensuring patient safety is at the forefront of all we do.
Human Resources
With over 750 branches and nearly 7,000 thousand colleagues, our HR team supports the business by recruiting talented people, delivering policies, supporting processes and developing capability: helping people to further their careers and achieve their potential. It is integral to making our values come alive throughout the business.
Marketing
Working hard to raise the profile of our brand and our products, this team has varied roles, from understanding customer needs and finding new ways to meet them, through to developing in-store promotions and our on-line presence. We aim to be the number one choice for community pharmacy, and marketing plays a big part in helping us to get there.
Finance
Our Finance team provides information and strategic advice, which helps the pharmacy business to improve its performance and financial efficiency. Their work covers everything from reporting and management accounting to establishing supplier strategies and making business cases for new initiatives. In other words, they are involved in everything. They are vital in helping make sure we maximise our financial performance, so that we can continue to reinvest our profits back in our business and the community.
Buying
Our buyers are commercially switched on and have a strategic understanding of customers’ needs. They are also excellent negotiators, able to find quality products at fair prices. They are constantly on the look-out for new products to meet our customers’ changing needs. Last year, for example, the team sourced and launched a new ‘one-pound’ line, which has proved to a hit with customers and a commercial success for the business.
New Business Development
All businesses need to develop and grow, and we are no different. Vital to our long-term profitability, this team explores new services and channels to market, giving us the edge in a hugely competitive market. For example, the team is behind a recent initiative to open a factory in China to produce our own branded generic drugs at a fair but competitive cost. The scope and scale of ideas and opportunities is limitless, and we are always interested to hear from creative and commercial thinkers.
Property Maintenance and Refit
With such a large portfolio of branches, we need to support them with a dedicated team of surveyors and building specialists. Ensuring that we get the best value on repairs, relocations and refurbishments, they handle over 50 calls a day, so it is a fast-paced environment. It is not all reactive, however. The team is also responsible for negotiating new contracts on equipment, waste management and even renewable energy sources, helping to make long-term savings for the business.