Negotiate a severance package early or at hire
Pros
You won't have to worry about micromanaging, remote techs were left to their own day to day activities for weeks at a time. Replacement repair items were shipped directly to my home quickly. Very few after hours work requirements
Cons
Mileage reimbursements for personal car use took 3-5 weeks to get paid out. Not enough employee coverage to take vacation reliably, even with advance notice. After 8 years of merit raises and ZERO disciplinary actions, was 'end of contract' terminated without severance in any form at all. No pay, no extended medical insurance coverage, no job relocation assistance. Lots of empty promises. I was not treated like a valued employee leading up to the separation. Negotiate a severance package. The industry standard is two weeks pay per year of good service. Get everything in writing, no verbal promises will be kept by management at any level. Lower management, upper management and directors will hand out empty promises like candy, with seemingly no intent on keeping them. It's unfortunate, I had a high opinion of zones until the last 3 weeks I worked for them. Layoffs due to end of contract happen, but offering an unrelated incompatible position and then denying a severance package because "I declined an offered position" is immoral, unprofessional, and I'll spend the rest of my bitter days telling everyone my negative experience with zones because of it.
