Home offices a must-have in some Off-Island communities

Some may see our Off-Island suburbs as bedroom communities. But though our streets may appear sleepy, look a little closer and you’ll find some neighbourhoods are hotbeds of hustle. According to Statistics Canada, about six per cent of working Canadians usually did so from home (not including those employed on family farms). But in some Off-Island communities, a much greater share has found creative ways to ditch the commute. In Hudson, 18 per cent of residents in the last census said they usually worked from home, and in St-Lazare it was almost 13 per cent. In Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac it was 12 per cent and in Rigaud, 10 per cent. That doesn’t include those who usually work at an office or another job site but opt to work from home a few days a week. Our neighbourhoods are peppered with people who work from home, whether as self-employed small business owners or consultants. Many of the moms and dads you may see kissing their kindergartners goodbye at the bus stop are about to “commute” to a desk or kitchen table at home, where they’ll catch up on emails and start updating spreadsheets. According to the census data, work-from-home residents in Hudson and St-Lazare are most commonly employed in professional, scientific, technical or consulting fields. I know I meet a lot of people in aerospace, pharmaceuticals, sales and project management. In neighbourhoods in these communities that appeal to professionals and executives, a home office space is a musthave for many buyers (in fact, some homes have two offices, one for each spouse). But it’s not just brainiacs and keyboard-tappers who have found ways to work from home. Many area basements have been transformed into spaces where homeowners can sell personal care services, hold supplies and stock for online stores, or other entrepreneurial endeavours. Within my own neighbourhood, I can saunter down the road to get my toenails painted, my dog groomed, or my pants hemmed. There is even a basement boutique, run by a work-from-home mom with an eye for style, where I can pick up a new purse, earrings or dress. And, notably, almost as many residents of Vaudreuil-Soulanges reported having no fixed workplace as who said they worked from home. These are the entrepreneurs who spend their days visiting homes and businesses around the region. They are gardening, catering and baking cakes, cleaning houses, building or renovating homes, or visiting clients. They are the veterinarians, nurses, salons and dog groomers who make house calls (something perhaps less common in a more urban setting), along with people working in insurance and personal finance, massage therapists, construction workers, legal professionals and many more. Avoiding, or just reducing, the pain of a long commute over the bridge may have been the catalyst to choose the hustle over the nine-to-five grind for some. For others, like me and my husband, living Off-Island was a choice made possible by our ability to work from home. Either way, it’s nice work if you can get it.