People are the greatest assets in any business and yet they appear nowhere on a company balance sheet. As we have said, pharmacy has moved on from being just a product-based dispensing business to one that is service orientated. Good service can only be delivered by well-trained, empowered and motivated people within the organisation. It is important to invest in people development, perhaps by deciding to work toward the Investors in People award, which can bring great rewards.

Time and care needs to be given to making the right choices during recruitment. Remember that employment laws do not make it easy to rectify mistakes. Recruitment must be followed by a proper induction process. All staff must have a clear job description. If you asked your staff to write their own job descriptions while you write one for them, and then compared the two, I bet that you would be surprised at the difference. The training and skilling of all staff should be part of the management function.

Maslow, one of the business gurus, was right when he said that money doesn't motivate people. Other factors, such as empowerment and motivation, do generally matter more. There should be formal annual appraisals and remember to make the workplace fun. People should look forward to coming to work.