Working-from-Home Mother
When planning or expecting a baby, the first thing many of us think about is work. What will happen to me? Will I lose my job? Will I be able to afford to stay at home as long as I want to? It’s a tough situation. I notice a “trend” among Australian friends – most seem to have a year off and return to work part-time when their child is around 12 months old, putting the child into daycare a couple of days a week.
This is really interesting because in Poland it’s very different. Daycare is almost non-existent here. I mean, you don’t hear about it. It has a very bad reputation and most people see it as a last resort. But in Poland there are other options available that are not in Australia. I.e. it is relatively inexpensive to hire a nanny. Ok, it is getting more expensive by the year, but for professionals with good salaries it is still moderately to very affordable. Most mothers tend to go back to work after maternity leave ends, around the time the baby is five months old. Several people I know have a grandmother or other relative who can help out with the childcare, which often facilitates going back to work, knowing that your baby isn’t being looked after by a stranger.
My working career may seem bizarre. It seems bizarre even to me that, at 33 years old, I have spent approximately 17 months in full-time employment. (Though recently met someone not much younger who has NEVER worked full-time, and is a freelance writer.) I just couldn’t stand the rigidity of it, added the fact that my pay was the same no matter how much or little time or effort I put in. I honestly felt like a cheat if not much was happening and I wiled away working hours chatting to co-workers, emailing or surfing the web. It felt wrong. I also hated the unpaid overtime and being unable to leave work early if nothing was going on.
Pretty quickly I decided to go freelance. In my circumstances it seemed like the most natural thing to do. Had I stayed in Australia there would have been no way I could earn a living as a freelance Polish-English translator working from home, but here it just seems to keep getting better.
But wait up, I was talking about working motherhood. Ok. So I foolishly and naively assumed I could fit raising a baby in among my work from home. And I know people who have done it! My first contact with a translating friend I proofread for often these days was her calling me with a screaming newborn in the background. She’d had to go back to work within a month of giving birth to her first son as she has her own company and couldn’t afford paying her own maternity leave! Of course she had a nanny, but I still admire her for the ferocity with which she quickly returned to work, whilst enduring sleepless nights and screaming in the background.
I am fuzzy now with how long it took me to start doing any work after having K but it was several months at least, and even then I didn’t take on much. But I had the luxury of not needing to – working for me was and still is more of an intellectual challenge than needing to pay bills. It is also good to know that I could afford to support the household if necessary (though on a much smaller budget than now!).
After Szymon was born, even with a lot of help, I could not face working for many, many months. I was just too tired and unfocussed. Also, despite having a wonderful nanny, there were two small children that needed care and attention and both of us were at it fulltime. So I didn’t start to take in any work till Szymon was 8-10 months old.
A lot of people just can’t understand how it is possible to actually work at home without getting sidetracked. The simple truth for me is – only I answer for my work. My professional reputation depends solely on me. And that’s fine by me. So I have no choice but to live up to it. Any job I take has to be ready to deadline, and the highest quality I can produce. I also have a principle that I do not reject any translating/editing jobs unless a) I know I can’t handle them, b) I really don’t have time. And then I always try to refer the person to another capable translator/editor.
The perks of this kind of work are many. There are also some downsides. One is the amount of time it takes to get paid. This year I got paid in September for a job done late April/early May. By the time I had to sort out how much I was owed, I had forgotten how much I’d actually done on that job, as it was several documents. Luckily in the end I’d done more than I thought! Often I have to “chase” my clients. Recently I realised with a heavy heart that I had been getting underpaid for months, possibly years, of express editing work. I thought the client only paid extra for express translations and that’s why they weren’t paying me more for editing, they in turn expected me to tell them which jobs were express.
But let me tell you about the perks! They are almost limitless (just let me get off my chest the pain of working late evenings and weekends – when a job comes in it needs to be done to deadline and sometimes jobs come in on Fridays).
So the perks. Well, first of all there’s no morning rush of getting dressed and putting on make-up, then fighting the traffic to be at the office on time. I eat breakfast, drop Karolinka off at preschool in my jeans, go to the gym if there’s time, or just head straight back home to the laptop. I work until I feel I need a break. Sometimes my son, who is looked after by our housekeeper, comes in and wants a kiss or cuddle, or just to ask a question. That’s fine and a nice way to be there for him whilst still working. Sometimes though, if it’s just annoying attention-seeking behaviour, we close the doors and tell him Mummy is working. If I have time and need a break I will take Szymus for his afternoon walk. If I have a lot of work, the housekeeper takes the tram to pick up K from preschool while Szymus has his nap, and I can keep working.
After our housekeeper leaves in the afternoon I focus on the kids until they go to bed and sometimes, regrettably, have to fire up the computer again. This may sound unhealthy to some of you, but my recent luxury addition to the home office is a bed tray bought (how embarrassing) at an online store for seniors. It’s perfect for working late nights, when I really can’t handle sitting at the desk anymore (guess what I’m doing on it now?).
Other perks of working from home include:
- tailoring work around my schedule: i.e. working “overtime” one day to have more time off the next day, e.g. to take Szymus to playgroup, attend preschool concerts, etc.,
- getting paid for what I do and not what I don’t do – i.e. mammoth, difficult project = big payout. No work = no pay, but time to play :-)
- being able to do things like go to the dentist, beautician, hairdresser or whatever during the day if no work is on, and not having to take time off or waste weekends on that kind of thing,
- being able to let in any repairmen, etc. at any time of day because I am here. In fact, I was able to monitor and take care of things associated with the renovation of half our apartment while working from home,
- seeing my kids all the time, even when I’m working,
- being able to travel or take a few days off whenever I want to within reason (you can't turn down work too often),
- and, last but definitely not least, being able to work even while away from home, although I do make a point not to take my laptop on all trips as on some I don't intend or am just plain unable to work.
Sometimes I have to work when there's no one else around to keep an eye on the kids. Luckily they play well together these days. More often than not though, I end up putting a film on for them, which earns me 1.5 peaceful hours to work.
The purpose of this is not to make anyone feel bad because they can’t work from home, but to give inspiration to those of you for whom it may be a good solution. I can’t see myself doing a 9-5 job ever again.
This is really interesting because in Poland it’s very different. Daycare is almost non-existent here. I mean, you don’t hear about it. It has a very bad reputation and most people see it as a last resort. But in Poland there are other options available that are not in Australia. I.e. it is relatively inexpensive to hire a nanny. Ok, it is getting more expensive by the year, but for professionals with good salaries it is still moderately to very affordable. Most mothers tend to go back to work after maternity leave ends, around the time the baby is five months old. Several people I know have a grandmother or other relative who can help out with the childcare, which often facilitates going back to work, knowing that your baby isn’t being looked after by a stranger.
My working career may seem bizarre. It seems bizarre even to me that, at 33 years old, I have spent approximately 17 months in full-time employment. (Though recently met someone not much younger who has NEVER worked full-time, and is a freelance writer.) I just couldn’t stand the rigidity of it, added the fact that my pay was the same no matter how much or little time or effort I put in. I honestly felt like a cheat if not much was happening and I wiled away working hours chatting to co-workers, emailing or surfing the web. It felt wrong. I also hated the unpaid overtime and being unable to leave work early if nothing was going on.
Pretty quickly I decided to go freelance. In my circumstances it seemed like the most natural thing to do. Had I stayed in Australia there would have been no way I could earn a living as a freelance Polish-English translator working from home, but here it just seems to keep getting better.
But wait up, I was talking about working motherhood. Ok. So I foolishly and naively assumed I could fit raising a baby in among my work from home. And I know people who have done it! My first contact with a translating friend I proofread for often these days was her calling me with a screaming newborn in the background. She’d had to go back to work within a month of giving birth to her first son as she has her own company and couldn’t afford paying her own maternity leave! Of course she had a nanny, but I still admire her for the ferocity with which she quickly returned to work, whilst enduring sleepless nights and screaming in the background.
I am fuzzy now with how long it took me to start doing any work after having K but it was several months at least, and even then I didn’t take on much. But I had the luxury of not needing to – working for me was and still is more of an intellectual challenge than needing to pay bills. It is also good to know that I could afford to support the household if necessary (though on a much smaller budget than now!).
After Szymon was born, even with a lot of help, I could not face working for many, many months. I was just too tired and unfocussed. Also, despite having a wonderful nanny, there were two small children that needed care and attention and both of us were at it fulltime. So I didn’t start to take in any work till Szymon was 8-10 months old.
A lot of people just can’t understand how it is possible to actually work at home without getting sidetracked. The simple truth for me is – only I answer for my work. My professional reputation depends solely on me. And that’s fine by me. So I have no choice but to live up to it. Any job I take has to be ready to deadline, and the highest quality I can produce. I also have a principle that I do not reject any translating/editing jobs unless a) I know I can’t handle them, b) I really don’t have time. And then I always try to refer the person to another capable translator/editor.
The perks of this kind of work are many. There are also some downsides. One is the amount of time it takes to get paid. This year I got paid in September for a job done late April/early May. By the time I had to sort out how much I was owed, I had forgotten how much I’d actually done on that job, as it was several documents. Luckily in the end I’d done more than I thought! Often I have to “chase” my clients. Recently I realised with a heavy heart that I had been getting underpaid for months, possibly years, of express editing work. I thought the client only paid extra for express translations and that’s why they weren’t paying me more for editing, they in turn expected me to tell them which jobs were express.
But let me tell you about the perks! They are almost limitless (just let me get off my chest the pain of working late evenings and weekends – when a job comes in it needs to be done to deadline and sometimes jobs come in on Fridays).
So the perks. Well, first of all there’s no morning rush of getting dressed and putting on make-up, then fighting the traffic to be at the office on time. I eat breakfast, drop Karolinka off at preschool in my jeans, go to the gym if there’s time, or just head straight back home to the laptop. I work until I feel I need a break. Sometimes my son, who is looked after by our housekeeper, comes in and wants a kiss or cuddle, or just to ask a question. That’s fine and a nice way to be there for him whilst still working. Sometimes though, if it’s just annoying attention-seeking behaviour, we close the doors and tell him Mummy is working. If I have time and need a break I will take Szymus for his afternoon walk. If I have a lot of work, the housekeeper takes the tram to pick up K from preschool while Szymus has his nap, and I can keep working.
After our housekeeper leaves in the afternoon I focus on the kids until they go to bed and sometimes, regrettably, have to fire up the computer again. This may sound unhealthy to some of you, but my recent luxury addition to the home office is a bed tray bought (how embarrassing) at an online store for seniors. It’s perfect for working late nights, when I really can’t handle sitting at the desk anymore (guess what I’m doing on it now?).
Other perks of working from home include:
- tailoring work around my schedule: i.e. working “overtime” one day to have more time off the next day, e.g. to take Szymus to playgroup, attend preschool concerts, etc.,
- getting paid for what I do and not what I don’t do – i.e. mammoth, difficult project = big payout. No work = no pay, but time to play :-)
- being able to do things like go to the dentist, beautician, hairdresser or whatever during the day if no work is on, and not having to take time off or waste weekends on that kind of thing,
- being able to let in any repairmen, etc. at any time of day because I am here. In fact, I was able to monitor and take care of things associated with the renovation of half our apartment while working from home,
- seeing my kids all the time, even when I’m working,
- being able to travel or take a few days off whenever I want to within reason (you can't turn down work too often),
- and, last but definitely not least, being able to work even while away from home, although I do make a point not to take my laptop on all trips as on some I don't intend or am just plain unable to work.
Sometimes I have to work when there's no one else around to keep an eye on the kids. Luckily they play well together these days. More often than not though, I end up putting a film on for them, which earns me 1.5 peaceful hours to work.
The purpose of this is not to make anyone feel bad because they can’t work from home, but to give inspiration to those of you for whom it may be a good solution. I can’t see myself doing a 9-5 job ever again.
Comments
Post a Comment