Thinking About Working: Alumni reflections on Remote Work
Noah Leavitt, Director of the Career and Community Engagement Center
Today in Thinking About Working I recap an informative recent conversation I had with Phuong Le ’16 (BBMB).
Phuong has an amazing and very 2022 professional portfolio, including: 1) working as a part-time pharmacist at Walgreens, 2) working as a self-employed NAPLEX (pharmacy board exam) tutor, and 3) a founder & CEO of startup company Inchoate.
How are you working? (i.e. what does “remote work” mean in your specific situation)
Depending on the job!
For Walgreens, I need to be at the store so all of the interactions are in person. Walgreens also has a remote team reaching out to the patient via phone so this team can work from home and Walgreens does provide work laptops for this team to bring home.
For my tutoring and startup work, I work entirely from home. “Remote work” in my case means that every morning, I dress in business casual clothing, hop on a Zoom call (almost always with video on as an internal rule for our team), and talk to my colleagues or customers. While most of my tutoring clients are based in the US, my startup’s staff members are based in different states within the US, Canada, and Vietnam. None of us have to drive or walk to the office to do what we do. As long as we have internet access it feels like we can tackle most challenges a day can bring.
What are the pros and cons of working in this way?
Pros:
- Flexibility — I can work whatever time that I like, as long as I meet the deadline
- Financial savings — I still don’t have a car because I don’t need to drive that often. For rare transportation needs, I just carpool, use the bus or the light rail, or use Uber or Lyft. I’ve been living for almost five years in the land of cold, snow, and inclement weather — Minnesota, and I haven’t had the need to buy a car yet.
- Getting ready — When I go to an in-person meeting at work, it takes me around an hour to get ready and travel to the meeting spot. With remote work, it usually takes me about 15 minutes at most to get ready.
- This is going to be the norm for jobs in the service sector. All of my jobs and fellowships interviews in 2020 were conducted online or over the phone.
Cons:
- Time zones: I am now well versed in converting time zones between Eastern Time, Central Time, Pacific Time, and Vietnam Time. I’m also taking a blockchain course with other members based in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland, and I still have to use a converter function in Google Calendar to send out meetings. In short, the #1 con is trying to find a good time that works for EVERYONE in the group. I recently had a meeting at midnight and I would not recommend it.
- Lack of communication: Some businesses actually prefer in-person interactions because if you have a question you can just go to see the person at their desk to ask that question. No need to wait for an email, text, Slack messages to be read and answered.
- Slacker-alert: While I feel it is more productive to work remotely, there is actually a subset of people who bill for more hours that they actually work. Because of this, some companies have integrated a system that only counts the time that the employee ACTIVELY uses their work laptop. My husband used to work for a Fortune 500 company that implemented this system for work-from-home employees so this might be a new trend among companies with resources.
What are some skills Whitman students probably have that can help them be successful if they are working remotely?
- Find your passion. Working at home can feel lonely at times so make sure that you like what you do and have a good social support system in place.
- Know what works best for you. If you crave/prefer in-person interactions, make sure you make that clear in your job search. Healthcare and some of the service sectors still require employees to work in person. However, if you want to work from home, especially during the COVID pandemic, you are in luck. Most companies these days will let employees work from home when possible to avoid exposure to the virus. Job postings also have been making it clear from the title whether an opportunity is remote or not.
- Manage your time well. If you prioritize your tasks and chipping away at them efficiently throughout the day, work would be more enjoyable, I promise.
Is there anything else that you think Whitman students, faculty and staff should know about remote work?
My Whitman education has helped me hone all of the skills above. I thrived in pharmacy school and at the early stage of my career thanks to the strong foundation from college. The process of tackling a semester-long group projects and thesis that I did was a good model of how I organize and communicate with my team and growing a company from myself as a sole member to 12+ members within two months. And just with the principles behind managing a semester-long project/these, my team is launching a product in six months!
What is a reading suggestion for students who want to learn more?
23 Essential Tips for Working Remotely (Inc. Magazine)
Finally, could students contact you with questions? If so, what is your preferred contact address?
Absolutely! Feel free to reach out to me at sophie@impactpharm.dev