Home From the Office

Establishing a new work/life balance

For Vancouverite Penny Tuson, her one-year of maternity leave flew by too quickly; just as she was hitting her stride as a mother, she was hitting the streets with her resume. “Seconds after leaving my first interview I burst into tears. The job sounded great, but I just didn’t want to leave Ben,” Tuson recounts. Tuson’s solution was one that thousands of other Canadian parents dream of — she combined an at-home job with the care of her son.

In a recent study by the Vanier Institute for the Family, a Canadian, non-profit organization, researchers found that 90% of Canadians feel that in two-parent families, it would be ideal if one parent could stay home and take primary responsibility for raising children. Working from home meets this goal for many families.