Telework - distance no barrier

By: Paula Heelan, FAAW Director
Published in Queensland Country Life 29 May 2006

While Chris Capel lives on her family owned cattle and sheep station, 90 kilometres north west of Longreach, her geography has no bearing on the work she is able to do from her home, Evesham.  As a teleworker, (someone who works outside the central office using telecommunications), she is part of a group of people working together „Ÿ apart.

With an open mind and the persistence needed to make things happen, Chris is a driving force behind a new research project with the potential to change the future of work for women in rural and remote areas.

Since gaining her first teleworking position with a State government department in 1997, and in recognising the benefits, Chris has been determined to make teleworking opportunities readily available to rural Australia.  With years of experience on voluntary boards at both state and national level, an Australian Rural Leadership Program graduate and an ABC Rural Woman of the Year regional winner, she has been advocating teleworking for more than a decade.

As a board director and past president of the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women (FAAW), and ardent about anything to do with empowering rural women, Chris established a subcommittee within FAAW to investigate the opportunities to increase the uptake of teleworking.

“The project came about because a lack of hard data on teleworking in Australia, particularly in rural areas, was identified by the Australian Government’s inquiry into teleworking last year,” she explains. “When a funding source became available, we pounced on the opportunity to do the research with the focus on rural women.”

FAAW, an independent, non-profit organisation, became actively involved in the teleworking inquiry and when the government hosted a round table at Longreach, FAAW put forward one of 34 submissions.  An Australian Government Office for Women grant followed and FAAW has now appointed research consultant Jane Dowling, (who teleworks from her Ulladulla home office) to identify telework opportunities and barriers.  FAAW will build a database of women interested in, or already teleworking and promote the research to key businesses and other interested parties.

“Employment opportunities are not easy to come by in rural Australia and yet there are skill shortages," Jane says.  “Combine this with the wealth of skilled and educated women in rural and remote areas and you have a win win situation.  Through promoting teleworking opportunities to key employers we hope to raise awareness of the potential contribution from rural and remote women,” she added.  “While teleworking breaks rank with the traditional way of working from a central office, there are significant benefits to be gained by employers tapping into the large numbers of skilled women living in rural, regional and remote areas.”

With first hand experience, Chris knows that both the social and financial benefits of working from home are immense, particularly for geographically isolated women.

“When I was offered my first job in 1997, I was so excited „Ÿ it was like winning lotto,” Chris says.  “Nothing like that had ever happened out here or anywhere else in Australia that I had heard of.”

When she began teleworking, the youngest of her three children was under two – which led to the creation of another job.  “When I first started, my view was that I needed to work as though I was in George Street, Brisbane – where the rest of my department was.  I couldn’t be running off to attend children,” she adds.  “We advertised for a station hand and wife team, so I could employ someone to do my child minding.  This made our station hand position a lot more attractive, as we were able to offer paid work for both.  And for me, it was a supreme child care arrangement.  Whenever I went out for lunch or coffee, there he was, happily being minded.”

Today Chris and her husband David’s youngest child, Miles, nine, attends the Evesham State School, a one teacher school on their property.  Their eldest, Jessica, 21, is studying at The University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba and Duncan, 17, is a boarder at St Peter’s Lutheran College in Brisbane.

Chris says she couldn’t do all the things she manages to do if she was working full time in town and had to drive the 180 km round trip each day.   “If I had to dress up, put on makeup and drive to town, it would be two and a half hours out of everyday.  I’d be exhausted trying to balance everything else I do as well.  And then there’s the rain factor „Ÿ it doesn’t take much for our road to become inaccessible.”

While Evesham has had some late wet season rain this year, the Capels have endured five years of unreliable and deficient rainfall. “Drought has been the order of the day for much of this time.  It has just been one more reason for teleworking,” Chris says.  “Not only do you have a paid working role and reduced commuting, it allows you to lead a fuller life and to focus on something else.  My manager is now in Longreach at the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries and I drive into the office there once a week to meet with him and various work teams and occasionally I travel within the region and to Brisbane for work.”

Chris says having the opportunity to meet with other work colleagues is a great benefit.  “Having the mix of home office work and meeting face to face with others is crucial to the relationship building and if possible, should occur fairly regularly,” she adds.  “I have enjoyed great management support in the four different jobs I have held since I first started teleworking and have found this to be critical.”

Today, Chris continues to work as though she is in a central office.  She says the impulse to work overtime is not easily quelled.  “I am expected to work to standard public service hours and make sure I’m available during those times.  But I also often start early in the morning and work at night and some weekends.  You do that as a teleworker to prove your worth; because you love your job and you don’t take having a job like mine lightly,” she says smiling.

David Arnold who heads the Remote Area Planning and Development Board based in Longreach, employs two teleworkers „Ÿ  both are women who live on remote properties.  He says he is completely at ease with teleworking and while, as a niche role it isn’t for everyone, it should be taken up by more employers.

“Teleworking allows me to access the people with the skills I am looking for,” he explains.  “As project based positions, their work doesn’t require any oversight, it’s all outcome based while working to timeframes.  The trust you put in your teleworkers is two-way.  The job they are doing, with flexible hours, suits them and their lifestyle „Ÿ so they deliver.  It also frees up space in my office.”

Chris says the idea of working from home is gaining momentum.  “While teleworking in Australia has been around for more than 30 years, it hasn’t progressed as much as it could have.  But now with the advances in technology, the benefits and possibilities are increasingly available.  Virtual working in Europe is quite well established, with teleworking organisations set up to link employers and employees.  I am positive that, in the future, we will see many more examples of rural people working from home than we do now.”