CVS Health announced it will attempt to hire 25,000 additional workers for clinical and retail positions as the U.S. labor shortage continues to impact business.
The large retail pharmacy and drugstore chain will hold a mass hiring event later this week where it will hire full-time and part-time retail workers as well as pharmacists, technicians and nurses, according to a CVS Health press release Monday. Like many U.S. employers, CVS is struggling to keep its locations fully staffed amid an ongoing labor shortage that has worsened even as the economy has recovered, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“This is testing our role in the community,” CVS Health Executive Vice President Neela Montgomery told the Wall Street Journal. “But provided we staff up the way we intend to, we’re going to make our way through this.”
Montgomery said that CVS often hires before the flu season due to increased store traffic in the company’s announcement. The coronavirus pandemic has only added to the need for additional staff.
“Every flu season we need additional team members,” Montgomery said. “But this year we’re looking for even more.”
“With the continued presence of COVID-19 in our communities, we’re estimating a much greater need for pharmacists, trained pharmacy technicians, nurses, and retail store associates,” Montgomery continued. “These jobs offer a rewarding opportunity to really make an impact on public health in our country.”
CVS, which offers more than a dozen different vaccines, has played a major role in the U.S. COVID-19 vaccination effort since December, according to CNBC.
But the ongoing labor shortage has caused some CVS locations across the country to close drive-thru lanes and deny customers vaccines, the WSJ reported.
CVS operates more than 9,900 retail locations across 49 states and two U.S. territories, according to the company’s website. The company’s biggest competitors, Walgreens and Rite Aid, have approximately 9,000 and 2,500 U.S. stores respectively.
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