Australians no different

Kylie McIntosh
Autonomy is the most important factor for stay at home mother and Sunshine Coast Business Women’s Network (SCBWN) Executive Coordinator, Chelsea Hunter. That and the flexibility it affords.

Chelsea has been co-ordinating the SCBWN for 18 months and loves it. Since she commenced, her working hours have increased from 10 to 25/week. Prior to this, Chelsea worked four days a week in Employment and Training with Mission Australia. But she quit after giving birth to her second son because she wanted to spend more time at home with her children, four-year-old Jack and, now, two-year-old Harry.

“Work wasn’t able to reduce my working hours so I resigned and then got this job about a week later. It was meant to be. I really thought that working four days/week was too much.

“When I started working from home my husband thought it was brilliant. It took a lot of pressure off him. My previous workplace was very rigid and being a salesman he had a bit more flexibility so he used to take Jack to and from daycare.

“Now he’s able to concentrate on his job,” Chelsea said.
“I have the boys in care two days a week so I’m able to really get into my job on these days. The rest of the time I just work around them. They understand. I think it’s good for them to see me working too. It instils a work ethic in them. I enjoy working and I think work is a really good outlet for mothers.”

Chelsea has her work cut out for her as co-ordinator of the network. Her role entails registering new members, co-ordinating events, managing the website and editing the enewsletter.

But the benefits of telecommuting far outweigh the disadvantages she says.

“I love the fact that I have the flexibility to spend time with the children. And I love the fact that I have a lot of autonomy. Since my hours have increased I get to make a lot of work decisions on my own and this really empowers me.

“I really like talking to people too and sometimes I miss the social side of working as part of a team in an office environment. But the benefits vastly outweigh that negative.”