Are WAHMs Working Too Hard?

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Summer is the hardest time of year for Judi Thilges.

She has a business to run from her Peters home, just as she does the rest of the year. But in those three frenetic summer months, she has her four children there with her, because they’re not in school.

“You’ve got to be very organized,” she said about life as a work-at-home mother. “When the kids are in the tub getting ready for bed, I’m in my office.”

Thilges enjoys working at home, but that lifestyle blurs the line between family and career in a way that frustrates some women who thought the move to a home office would be liberating, said Beth Caldwell, who operates two Web sites for businesswomen.

Avoiding a commute, enjoying the comforts and conveniences of home, and being closer to children and other relatives who might need help all lure people into teleworking. But family needs that become apparent at home often can tempt work-at-home mothers to try to do too much, Caldwell said.

America’s stay-at-home workers work more hours, with nearly 40 percent saying they work 50-hour weeks, according to a Census data breakdown by The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger.

Despite that finding, more workers are seeking the sanctuary of home, according to a research project commissioned by WorldatWork, an international association of human resource professionals and business professionals. Almost 15 million Americans worked from home full time last year, a 20 percent jump over the previous year.