Only 24 hours a week? That's plenty for working retail. The job is way too stressful to do it for long periods at 40 hours/week.
That’s not terribly low. I once interviewed for a wfh position where they didn’t tell me pay until the interview. 46 an hour. I laughed during the interview. For some reason they still tried to offer me the job.
Go with WFH. I left Walgreens after slightly more than 9 years earlier this year and have been working as a consultation pharmacist on the phones for just over half a year so far . The difference is night and day between my current role and retail . I’d say my position is one of the “unicorn “ or “cushy” positions people talk about . Never work on Sundays , only work 2 Saturdays a month and never more than 8 hours . You get two 15-minute paid breaks and a 30 minute unpaid lunch . During my lunch I choose to take a shower , eat, lay down in bed , etc . Virtually no stress . Yes, you have some metrics that evaluate the quality of the calls you take /how you interact with the patient etc but it’s only 3 or 4 calls a month that are evaluated out of perhaps 1,500-2,000 calls you take a month . Pay is slightly less , around 10% lower than retail but you truly don’t feel it . Patients may call you with questions about side effects of a certain medicine , drug interactions , a package of lantus insulin did not arrive cold and was room temperature and caller maybe wondering if they can still use it or if a replacement is warranted . Another call maybe about a person who can only take a specific manufacturer of adderall or only brand name synthroid due to a medical reason etc . People may call inquiring about a recall they hard about (last one being with quinapril/HCTZ. It’s really a nice job and pretty easy . The challenge is learning the multiple systems /software the company uses because it’s not exactly user friendly like intercom plus at Walgreens so it takes time to learn . I’m at just over 6 months and still learning things though by now I have enough competence with the systems that I am efficient and take anywhere from 75-90 calls per day . Don’t think twice - go with WFH. The only thing I miss about retail is the social camaraderie - there is no social component in WFH and you are isolated . I knew many people in retail , techs, pharmacists, and other employees and now I have 0 interaction with anybody . I realized after leaving WAGS months ago that over time you lose touch with your former colleagues and it’s sad , but still beats retail hands down .
24 hours a week would be awesome but I wouldn't be ok with the salary
I personally don’t have an issue. I have a home office and just close the door. Wife works from home, having lunch and dinner together has been great for our relationship. Walks and exercise during lunch has also helped my health.
Honestly, I had more trouble disconnecting from work when I used to work in retail, because of the PTSD from getting yelled at by angry customers, being overworked and never caught up, etc. Now with WFH, once I log off from my computer, I'm done and don't think about work at all. Plus you get so much time back by not having to commute, leaving a buffer for bad traffic, getting dressed, serving that one last customer after closing, etc. And I find that I enjoy my home even more now since I'm making my lunches in my own kitchen, and taking my breaks on my own couch or whatever.
That is the dilemma and reason behind post.
Herman Miller Aeron chair.
Not right now. You should be aware that in a new fiscal year (Starts Oct 1st), Office of Budget and the Financial Services Center NEVER fully funds any VHA site. Only continuation funds are given while VHACO and VACO fight over appropriations internally. Outside of essential operational positions (which for a VISN, are the mandatory and not consultative ones), no hiring is to be done as budgets are flat from continuation. Any hiring done takes place in 2nd quarter (January) or later when the VISNs get funded and the 1st quarter resource meetings are done.
Good luck, unless you are in a VISN that is starting up a telework network it's almost impossible since they only hire VISN internal and also applicants that live within 30-50 miles incase there are network disruptions or tech difficulties which are rampant in the VHA they will call the staff GS 12's to work at the nearest VAMC of the call center. So good luck but be very aware of what you are signing up for since the VISN call centers are not really as what teleworking seems to be in non-govt facilities. Essentially you better have some good amount of leave saved up when there are network outages etc.....so you can still tele-leave
What type of work do you do?
Working in the PBM game doing PAs. I honestly think this role is ripe for automation, so ideally I’d like to move up to something else. But I started my career working from home doing MTMs.
Nice! It’s so hard to find such unicorn positions though!
Was it easier to get Perm job from contract? Is it same company for MTM and PA? I am doing PAs too but its contract.
When I was doing my mtm contract, it was fairly straightforward since I performed at their expectations. I went from permanent mtm to permanent PA gig.