WORKING from home is a great option for many parents, the elderly and the disabled and now finding legitimate work without being ripped off has become a little easier, thanks to a new mum.

Leah Gibbs had every intention of going back to work when her daughter was four months old, but her new-found mother's heart had a different idea.

"Everything was turned upside down and I faced every mother's dilemma – I wanted to be with the baby but I also wanted to earn a living as well," the former executive assistant said.

So Ms Gibbs searched online for jobs to do from home.

"I Googled 'work from home' and everything seemed to be a scam, you know, data entry from home, filling envelopes, they all wanted money off you, they were pyramid schemes," she said.

Knowing the pressure on new mums who feel they need to return to work earlier than expected for financial reasons, Ms Gibbs set up the website workathomemums.com.au as a jobs board for genuine employment opportunities for mums to do at home.

"We get 700 hits a day," Ms Gibbs said.

She also recently launched lifestylecareers.com.au – another job board that extends the service for companies and employees, including mature-aged and disabled workers.

Women earn 17.5 per cent less than men on average and according to a recent Queensland Government report into superannuation, women will have half the amount of super that men do by 2019.

Some women are taking control and producing a home-grown solution.

Kathy Benson is earning more than she did in her previous job as an IT research analyst, and all from the comfort of her own home.

Ms Benson remembers the heartache of dropping her son Liam off at day care at 7.30am and picking him up at 5.30pm when she worked in the city.

"He was only two, it was too much," she said. But it was the tragic loss of her second child, Charlotte, from heart failure at just a week old that changed her outlook forever.

When her third child Monique was born a year after the loss, her employer made her redundant, so Ms Benson decided to set up her own business, Kambe, from home.

"I'm a virtual assistant and I do BAS statements, web design and administrative support for about 20 clients," she said.

"I'm more productive, but most importantly I have work-life balance and I can't put a price on that

Press & Media As Seen

Sunrise
Sunday Telegraph
Daily Telegrapgh
Sydney Herald
The Courier Mail
Penrith Star
Take 5
Soap Mag

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