Friends Make Work Fun!

I love my job at Walgreens for many reasons but I love it most because I work with amazing people. It is so nice to get to go to work everyday and hang out with friends. These are some pictures of my friends that I have made though my work.

Constant Creativity

One of my favorite things to do at work is set up end stands. Sometimes we have certain products that we have to put on the displays but sometimes we can make them ourselves. I like doing this because it allows me to be creative. Here are some pictures of imaginative displays that someone created at my work for the upcoming holiday seasons.

Caring for the Community

Last year Walgreens gave over $1 million to numerous charities. One of the things that Walgreens donates money toward is the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. This is something that my Walgreens store gets involved in. Each year the store that I work for sets up a booth at our local relay for life. Employees stay up all night and walk for the cause. It is a fun event that goes to a good cause.

Over $5 million was raised by Walgreens customers last year. Promotions such as Hope Blooms with You (American Cancer Society-breast cancer research), Take Heart and Give (American Heart Association) and the Buy a Sneaker for a Dollar (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) give customers the opportunity to donate to these organizations right at their local Walgreens store. Right now at my Walgreens we are raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.


Walgreens also helps out by selling apparel where some of the money goes towards the charities cause. One display that we have in our store now is for the Breast Cancer Society.

Walgreens cares for the community is a variety of ways and I am proud to be a part of such a compassionate organization.

To learn more about what charities Walgreens is giving to visit http://www.walgreens.com/about/community/default.jsp.

Healthy Lifestyle Made Easy

Walgreens wants their employees and their customers to be healthy. Every Sunday at 8:30 on Lifetime Walgreens airs a show called Health Corner. This show focuses on ways that Americans can stay healthy.

The show covers a variety of different topics from how to avoid poison ivy to tips on how to stay healthy in your busy life. To find out more about the show you can visit http://healthcorner.walgreens.com/display/router.aspx. I love the show. It is enlightening and entertaining!

In the 2007 September/October issue of Walgreen World it talks about ways that employees can stay healthy while at work. Some of the things they talked about are avoiding soda while at work, eating a healthier breakfast, choosing healthier lunch and snack options, and exercising while on break. They suggested walking to a nearby restaurant instead of driving. That is something that I had never considered. I really enjoyed reading the different suggestions and learned a lot of ways to stay healthy at work.

Walgreens also provides excellent health benefits that are available after three months with the company. They offer medical, dental, prescription, and life insurance coverage. You do not have to work full time to receive all of these great benefits. This is helpful to me and many of the people I work with because we are still in college and it is not possible for us to work full time.

Walgreens also makes it easy for customers to stay healthy. The flu season is coming up and Walgreens is ready. Over 800 pharmacists are prepared to administer flu vaccinations right in your local Walgreens store. Walgreens also has many take care clinics. These are located in stores and allow patients to just walk in and see a nurse practitioner. Home Health Care and Counseling are also some tools provided by Walgreens so that customers and employees can stay healthy.

Customers Count

One of the reasons that I like working at Walgreens is because I believe they are fair, honest, and make things easy for their customers.

Every week Walgreens puts out an ad which shows the sales. If we happen to not have a sale item in stock and someone wants it we will offer them something called a rain check. This is like a pass for the customer to come back at any future time and receive that item at the sale price. Before I started working at Walgreens I never knew that companies had such a thing.

Walgreens weekly add is also available online. This makes it easy for customers to find out what is on sale before they ever come to the store. Customers can print out the coupons right from their own home! To check out Walgreens weekly add just visit http://walgreens.shoplocal.com/walgreens/default.aspx?adref=HomePage.

Customer can also log on to http://www.walgreens.com/ for many other reasons that can benefit them. One of my favorite things about the website is that you can upload your pictures to it and send them to your local Walgreens. They will have your pictures ready to pick up at the store in at least one hour. A customer can also choose to send their pictures to any other Walgreens across the United States. This can be a great tool for customers who have family members that live far away. Any memory can be shared quickly even with those who don’t live close to home. To upload your pictures, visit http://photo.walgreens.com/.

In my last blog entry, Pushing Employees to Excellence, I talk a lot about some of the contests that Walgreens puts into place for their employees. I think the contests are really fun for the employees but the bottom line of the contests is to benefit the customers. Because Walgreens encourages the employees, customer service is taken up to a level far beyond our competitors.

In the near future Walgreens plans to open a 24 hour customer service call center. Customers will soon be able to voice their questions, comments, and complaints at any time of the day or night.

Walgreens is serious about customer service because customers are what make the company a business!

Pushing Employees to Excellence

Since 2005 Walgreens has had a program called Flagship. Every three months the stores and employees are evaluated on their customer service skills. The top two stores in each region are rewarded with a $50.00 Walgreens gift card and a gold star that they can wear on their uniform. The next seven stores receive a $25.00 Walgreens gift card and a red star that they can wear.

This fall Walgreens has put into place a new customer service reward program named Extra Mile Awards. Every time a person receives a gold or red star or gets recognized for having excellent customer service their name gets put into a drawing. This December a winner will be drawn from each region. The first set of winners will get their choice of a Saturn Vue, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Sierra, or a Pontiac Grand Prix. If you don’t like any of these a $15,000 cash option is available.

I am so excited about this new program and I can’t wait to see who wins from my region. It could be me or one of my friends! Having incentives to work for, like a new car, really motivates me to always be aware of how I’m treating customers.

Throughout each quarter we also have contests for each department. This year my stores cosmetic department all won new iPod’s. I was so proud of them.

Our store management also pushes us to be excellent. They tell us what we need to improve on but also give us praise when we’ve done a good job at something.

I really love to work at Walgreens because every employee counts. In our in house magazine, Walgreen World, every month employees are congratulated for promotions and for 25+ years of service. The employees featured range from service clerks to the company’s president. Walgreen World also features a section congratulating recent retired workers and also acknowledges the memories of workers and retirees who recently past away.

At Walgreens every employee is important and they impel us to be the best we can be.

About My Walgreens

Hello! My name is Ali. I work part time at the Walgreens in Greendale, Indiana and I love it. I started working there about a year and a half ago. It is the best job that I have ever had and I will tell you why.

Ten reasons why I love my job at Walgreens

10. They keep everyone informed

9. Every employee counts

8. They get involved in the community

7. They care about their customers

6. Great Benefits

5. They offer incentives

4. They have a fair wage

3. I get a discount

2. It allows me to be creative

1. The other employees are awesome friends